CHICAGO — In a quiet few minutes before he spoke to a full auditorium in suburban Niles on last week, Tom Farley talked about the default emotion — humor — of his boisterous Irish-American family in Madison, Wisconsin.
One of the biggest generators of laughs was little brother Chris Farley, whose meteoric entertainment career in the 1990s is the main draw when Tom Farley embarks on his speaking circuit to advocate for recovery programs for substance abuse and addiction, like this one organized by Niles Family Services.
“We were all very competitive, very funny, the whole family,” Farley said at the Thursday event. “When we were all together, people would just sit back and watch the Farley brothers entertain. My father (Tom Sr.) was like that. Chris, Kevin and John. For us, it wasn’t about the money, it was the attention.”
Tom Farley was the only one of the brothers that did not give the comedy business a whirl. “My dad told me to study. I’m the Marilyn Munster of the family,” he quipped, referring to a 1960s sitcom.
While the Farleys tended to use humor to address all human situations, Tom Farley acknowledged that a more well-rounded range of emotions is needed to treat someone in emotional and physical pain.
Humor and the cautionary tale of allowing addiction to run rampant were the lasting legacy of Chris Farley, his brother indicated. After honing his skills at Second City with the likes of Stephen Colbert and Bob Odenkirk, the younger Farley’s wildly hilarious, often gross physical humor wowed the country with Chris Rock and Adam Sandler on Saturday Night Live in the first half of the 1990s.
The younger Farley reached even higher into Hollywood before he crashed and burned, with his brother John Farley finding him dead, at just age 33, in his 60th-floor condo at the John Hancock Center on Dec. 18, 1997, according to news reports at the time. An autopsy determined he died of an overdose of cocaine and morphine.
Working in the financial industry in New York, Tom Farley realized through his mourning he could not let his brother’s story go to waste with so many in need.
“I knew pretty quickly within a couple of months I wanted to go into schools to tell Chris’ story,” he said. “I didn’t think his memory and fame would last more than five years. I’ll take those five years and try to prevent some kids going down the same road.”
Chris Farley’s fame has lasted a generation, much of which Tom Farley has spent trying to help others while dealing with his own issues of sobriety and resulting recovery.
Starting as the Chris Farley Foundation director shortly after his brother’s death, Tom Farley recently began working for the Rockford-based Rosecrance recovery organization as its Wisconsin representative. Rosecrance runs outpatient clinics in Illinois and Iowa along with residential campuses and sober living locations within Illinois.
Farley became the first keynote speaker in the village of Niles’ Engage program, which has come out of the pandemic serving some 200 people a week in treatment and recovery programs. Pamphlets from Rosecrance, Niles Family Services and the Maine Township Recovery Connection were available at the event, held at the Niles Senior Center.
Engage developed out of Niles’ dual actions of approving video gaming and allowing a marijuana dispensary, said Darren Brown, the director of Niles Family Services, under whose auspices Engage operates. He said 25% of revenue from gaming operations is earmarked to fund his department’s addiction services.
Marty Cook, a recovery specialist for Engage, connected with Farley to invite him to speak as the program fully rolls out following COVID delays. Farley’s appearance also was timed with National Recovery Month. Engage also partners with Rosecrance.
“We want to provide resources in community, make all realize it happens in every neighborhood, on every block and try to normalize (recovery programs) to get people the help they need,” Cook said.
Farley was buoyed by his tie-in to Engage’s emergence. “This is great. I’m happy to help,” he said.
Chris Farley’s performing idol was John Belushi, who met the same fate due to drug addiction 15 years before Farley’s death. Tom Farley met early on in his activism with Belushi’s actor brother Jim Belushi.
“He advocated more treatment programs,” Tom Farley said. “He got his Armenian up and I got my Irish up. But here we are all these years later. He was right. I see that we can always do prevention. But now (addictions are) so overwhelming that we need good treatment. I will give Belushi credit for that.”
COVID made a bad substance abuse situation even worse, Farley said.
“I’ve been doing a lot of webinars talking about what we’re going to be left with after this pandemic is over,” he said. “I’ve got to stop talking about it, and I was fortunate enough to hook up with Rosecrance. Not just talking about treatment and recovery, but get people into treatment and recovery.
“The pandemic was a blessing in a sense. It showed us how much we need connection. Mental health and substance abuse are diseases of isolation. People have these diseases because they feel so isolated.”
Farley praised the full house for showing up to listen and hopefully spread the word.
“I come into communities like this,” he said. “I get the attention. But I’m leaving. There is help available. For me, it’s all about messaging. There’s nothing worse than having a disease in your family or school, and not knowing what to do.
“Chris was in real crisis and my parents didn’t know what to do. If Chris was still alive, he’d be trying to help people.”
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