FARLEY REPORTEDLY BINGE DRINKING, `TOTALLY OUT OF IT' IN HIS FINAL DAYS

CHICAGO Comedian Chris Farley, who for years struggled with an excessive
lifestyle, went on drinking binges in the days before his death, newspapers
reported Saturday.

Farley, 33, was seen drinking with his brother, John, at an upscale Chicago
bar early Wednesday, the day before his body was found at his apartment.
Employees of the Hunt Club said the former Saturday Night Live star arrived
about 1:30 a.m. and drank whiskeyandCokes.

"He looked really bad," waitress Laura Berry told the New York Post. "He
was very drunk and he was hyper."

A patron at another bar, Bill Watts, told the Chicago Sun Times that he
saw Farley there last week, and Farley was "totally out of it."

"He walked past me ... not aware of anything, and his mouth kept opening
and closing like nothing I've ever seen," Watts said.

John Farley found his brother's body on the floor of his apartment in the
posh John Hancock Building. Police said they found no sign of foul play or
drugs in the apartment. The results of a Friday autopsy were withheld
pending completion of toxicology tests, which are not expected for four to
six weeks.

Farley's mother, Mary Anne, declined to comment when contacted Saturday at
her home in Madison, Wis. Farley's parents plan a private funeral in
Madison on Tuesday.

But Farley's friends were angered by the reports of his excesses in his
final days.

"Everybody in the world wants to get their 15 minutes of fame saying they
have a great Chris Farley story," said Charna Halpern, director of
Chicago's Improv Olympic theater school, where Farley studied during the
1980s.

"Was he loud and drunk in a bar? It wouldn't be the first time," she said.
"Chris liked to be the life of the party. Was he out of control? It's
really just a matter of semantics here."

Farley who starred in the movies Tommy Boy, Black Sheep and Beverly
Hills Ninja specialized in tightly wound characters who erupted in
veinpopping frenzies. His life sometimes seemed as out of control as the
characters he played.

Former SNL writer Al Franken said producer Lorne Michaels repeatedly
suspended Farley from the show and told him to get help.

"When he got into trouble, Lorne would say, 'You can't do the show, you
have to go to rehab,' " said Franken. "This happened at least twice, where
he was basically told, 'You don't have a job anymore unless you go away and
get help.' This was not something where people around him ignored (his
problems)," Franken told the Chicago Tribune. "It wasn't something where he
ignored it. It was something he didn't have power over."

Halpern said Farley had an "addictive personality."

"Chris was all about just having fun and making people laugh," she said.
"Sometimes he just needed something to make him happy. There wasn't anyone
to make Chris Farley laugh like that."

Farley labeled his brand of physical comedy as "Everybody laughs when fatty
falls down." And he lived in manic pursuit of that laughter, even if it
meant making his ample, unhealthy body the butt of his humor.

His real life oftentimes mirrored his onstage antics. Farley, his head
jerking and arms flapping wildly, looked like he couldn't stop performing.

But for every attempt at sobriety there was the subsequent fall off the
wagon. Friends constantly feared the performer's excesses would kill him.

So when he was found dead, it was a shock but not a surprise.

"People in the industry knew that Chris was not having a good last
yearandahalf," said Andrew Alexander, executive producer and owner of
Second City, the improvisation and sketch comedy theater company that
helped to hone Farley's comedy skills.

"It's something that was expected at some point, but just to have it happen
is a sad thing to deal with," said James Grace, a friend of Farley's who
acted with him at Chicago's Improv Olympic in the late '80s.

Copyright 1997 Houston Chronicle News Services