Artwork by Cap Blackard (Buy Prints + More!)
On March 31st, 1995, Chris Farley and David Spade crashed into theaters with Tommy Boy. Not exactly a critical darling — Roger Ebert famously dubbed it “one of those movies that plays like an explosion down at the screenplay factory” — the coming-of-age road comedy debuted at No. 1 and pocketed an admirable $33 million dollars nationwide. Twenty years later, the Lorne Michaels-produced venture has become a cult classic and one of the best-selling titles on home video.
To celebrate, Editor-in-Chief Michael Roffman called up an old friend, former Consequence of Sound writer Jay Ziegler, to chart the film’s underdog success and explain why it’s without a doubt the greatest portrait of the late Farley. Along the way, the two also pieced together a short list of forgotten quotes and spent an evening talking at great lengths with the man who made it all happen: Mr. Peter Segal. There’s even original art by Cap Blackard and Steven Fiche!
Below, we’ve broken down the whole ketchup popsicle into three sections:
I. Discussion