Matt Foley

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For the Australian politician, see Matt Foley (Australian politician).

Matt Foley was a fictional motivational speaker from the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live performed by Chris Farley. The character was created by Bob Odenkirk, although Farley had performed the character in other comedy groups before being a cast member on Saturday Night Live.

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[edit] History

Essentially, Foley was the very antithesis of a good motivational speaker: abrasive, clumsy, and down on his luck. Farley named the character after one of his college rugby union teammates of the same name who is currently in the US Army as a Roman Catholic Chaplain. The character was moderately popular in its time and is now considered some of Farley's best work and certainly one of his best characters. Although Farley's unexpected death in 1997 made it impossible, a film version with David Spade in a supporting role was planned in the last months of Farley's life.

Foley appeared in eight Saturday Night Live sketches. Each sketch usually started with Foley being brought into a specific situation by someone to speak to a group. In addition to appearing disheveled, overweight, and unstylish, he would yell, disparage, display cynicism, and give a clearly negative motivational message. Foley's trademark line was warning his audience that, like him, they could end up being "...35 years old, thrice divorced, and living in a van down by the river!" When members of his audience claimed any kind of accomplishment he would respond with a sarcastic "Well, la-dee-frickin-da!" or similar remark. The sketches would often include Foley giving wildly exaggerated gestures and falling (or jumping) onto a piece of furniture, destroying it or injuring himself in the process. This practice started when, in the character's first appearance, Farley accidentally fell on the coffee table that was part of the set, breaking it in the process. David Spade and Christina Applegate, who were playing the teens supposedly in need of Foley's help, had to cover their own laughter. Spade in particular spent most of the sketch with his hand over his mouth.

At the end of each sketch, he would usually be quickly herded out of his speaking location, where the people left behind would huddle together and comment on him, usually bemused and fearful. Though his speeches always backfired, the end results would usually be successful, in that the recipients did not want to be associated with Foley.

Farley portrayed the Matt Foley character at the 1994 Rose Bowl banquet, delivering a comedic "motivational speech" to the Wisconsin Badgers football team, who were to face the UCLA Bruins that year. (Farley was a Madison, Wisconsin native.) His speech apparently worked: Wisconsin defeated UCLA 21-16.

[edit] List of SNL episodes featured

[edit] Quotations

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  • Matt Foley (introduction): Now let's get started by giving you a little bit of a scenario of what my life is all about. First off, I am thirty-five years old; I am thrice divorced; and I live, in a van, down by the river!
  • Matt Foley (repeated line): I live in a VAN down by the RIVER!
  • Matt Foley (repeated line): Well, la-dee-FRICKIN-da!
  • Matt Foley: I don't know? Well, that and a nickel will get you a nice hot cup OF JACK-SQUAT!
  • Matt Foley: You kids are probably saying to yourself, "Now, I'm gonna go out, and I'm gonna get the world by the tail and wrap it around pull it down and put it in my pocket!" Well, I'm here to tell you that you're probably gonna find out, as you go out there, that you're not gonna amount to JACK SQUAT!" You're gonna end up eating a steady diet of government cheese and living in a van down by the river!
  • Matt Foley: You'll have plenty of time to live in a van down by the river when (pauses to think) you're livin' in a VAN down by the RIVER!
  • Matt Foley:(while furiously pumping his arms) Now you kids are probably asking yourselves 'Hey Matt, how can we get back on the right track!?'
Quotes from October 25, 1997, hosted by Chris Farley.
  • Matt Foley (on a bicycle): All right, all right, all right, I'll pedal! Let's all pedal everybody, make Evan happy! Here we go, pedaling away! All right everybody, you're on the road! Look over to the right. It's your first wife, Linda! High tail it out of there because you owe her three years' child support! Keep pedaling. All right, let's pull into Seven-Eleven and buy a microwave burrito! Okay, we're back on the road, there's your son's dorm! Let's sneak in, steal his student loan check, cash it, and head out lookin' for Asian hookers! Cause if there's one thing Matt likes, it's Hong Kong fuey, ha-ha! Ohhhh yeah!
Quotes from October 30, 1993 hosted by Christian Slater
  • Matt Foley: Once, there was a boy who liked to throw things. He started out throwing eggs. Then, he threw the big game. Then, he threw back a shot of whiskey. Then he threw up. Then he got thrown out of the house, and then he moved into a VAN down by the RIVER!
  • (David Spade): Matt, we were just havin' some fun.
    Matt Foley: So you had fun. How do you think the eggs felt? Hey, let's find out! I'll be you, and you be the eggs. Huh, how does that sound? (picks up Son #1) Hey look at this! I'm gonna throw some eggs around! Look at me go! (Falls backwards on table)
Quotes from April 15, 1995 hosted by Courteney Cox
  • Jay Mohr's character: Señor Foley, where'd you study Spanish, Taco Bell?
    Matt Foley: Muy cómico. Dios frickin' mío!
  • Matt Foley: (to the Venezuelan Father) Dad, kindly shut your damn flanhole!
  • Matt Foley: Viva de Nueva York, ¡es Sábado Noche! (Translation: Alive from New York, it's Saturday Night!)
Quotes from December 11, 1993 hosted by Sally Field
  • Matt:"'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the van
    Your ol' buddy Matt fell asleep on the can.
    The children were nestled two time zones away
    With his first wife and her husband in sunny L.A..
    Matt woke up and realized, with a chill and a quiver,
    That he was livin' in a van down by the river!"
  • Matt Foley: "You're gonna be doin' a lot of doobie rollin' when you're living in a van down by the river!"

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[edit] External links

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