Adam Sandler Played a Tribute to Chris Farley on ‘Saturday Night Live’

Adam Sandler returned to “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, and for most of his return to the show that made him a world-famous comedian, he was on familiar ground. Whether it was the joking reference to his departure from the show in the opening monologue or participating in a crazy pre-taped music video about the philosophical issues related to holes in his clothes, his first stint as a host after his early-’90s departure from the show had a lot of traditional Sandler silliness.

But he struck a serious note with a touching tribute that came near the end of Saturday’s episode. Reprising a tribute that was part of his recent Netflix variety special “100% Fresh,” Sandler honored his former fellow “Saturday Night Live” cast member Chris Farley.

The song runs through a bevy of the recurring and one-off segments that made Farley one of the show’s most memorable ensemble players. From motivational speaker Matt Foley to an overenthusiastic Chippendale’s auditioner to a handful of the commercial parodies that he headlined, Sandler revisits the comedian’s career from the perspective of a friend.

The song also goes into Farley’s off-screen life, with Sandler including lines about meeting him for the first time and about his notorious post-show antics. You can hear the emotion in Sandler’s voice as he talks about seeing Sandler for the last time and the difficult task of saying goodbye to a friend. Farley died at 33 in late 1997 after an accidental drug overdose.

Watch the full performance of Sandler’s song (which also includes a reference to Farley’s performance in “Tommy Boy”) below: