Matt Foley

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

History

Essentially, Foley is the antithesis of a good motivational speaker: abrasive, clumsy, and down on his luck. Farley named the character after one of his Marquette University rugby union team-mates 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 one of his best characters. Plans for a film version with David Spade in a supporting role were interrupted by Farley's unexpected death in 1997.

Foley appears in eight Saturday Night Live sketches. Each sketch usually starts with Foley being brought into a specific situation by someone to speak to a group. In addition to appearing dishevelled, overweight, and unstylish, he yells, disparages, displays cynicism, and unintentionally gives a negative motivational message. Foley's trademark line is 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!" In most sketches, whenever a member of his audience responds with some statement of accomplishment, Foley responds with, "Well, la-dee-frickin-da!",......
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