Both Farley and Belushi found their big break on "Saturday Night Live", but while the latter established a gallery of roguish characters during his tenure on the show, Farley's niche was self-effacing humour. Week after week, Farley rubbed our noses in his obesity and other, psychologically linked shortcomings, asking us to laugh at him, not with him.

And then he would yell at us for doing so. At least, his louder, angrier creations seemed to--looking back on Farley's skits, his spontaneous, sweaty outbursts appear to fill the faces of his co-stars with genuine dismay. Never before had "SNL" experienced a cast member whose shtick was so rooted in humiliation--the need to feel it, and the need to dish it back.

Farley's sadomasochistic hostility shone clearest in his portrayals of Matt Foley and "Chris Farley". As the former, a "motivational speaker", Farley would discourage people from dreaming big--Foley didn't want anyone to amount to more than he, a loser who "lives in a vaaaaan down by the riverrrrr!" As host of "The Chris Farley Show", he would ask very real celebrities pointless fanboy questions, and arbitrarily punish himself upon realizing the ignorance of a particular inquiry.

I realize I'm coming off a tad clinical. So how's this? I love Chris Farley; he made me guffaw through sheer force of will, and I miss him. No one has ever been as funny dressed as a woman. But his pain bleeds through this greatest hits package, which offers a bittersweet portrait of a true original.

What’s included?
Tim Meadows
Tim solemnly introduces this retrospective
Andrew Giuliani
Farley as Rudy Giuliani's rambunctious kid--a terrific opener
Chris with his Mom
Exactly
Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker
Matt tells teenagers David Spade and Christina Applegate that they'll never succeed, then body slams a coffee table
Schmitt's Gay Commercial
Two single guys fantasize about beer and hunky men; also on The Best of Adam Sandler
Chippendales
The famous skit that sees Farley competing with a ridiculously buff Patrick Swayze for a job as an exotic dancer; hilarious, despite its "look at the fat man" hook
Chris in Drag Montage
Includes the one I've been waiting for: Farley as a fry-hording "Gap girl"
Superfans - Jordan
Michael Jordan guests on Bill Swerski's Superfans, a cable-access program run by overweight sports bar patrons. Farley fakes an all-too-real heart attack in this segment
The Chris Farley Show
Another montage: Farley interrogates Jeff Daniels and Martin Scorsese
Update Bennett Brauer
Another Farley signature character: a commentator who places his insecurities between quotations
Physical Comedy Montage
Farley's shape did not hinder his ability to pull off some difficult slapstick
Schillervision - Coffee
An unhinged parody of those 'Hidden Camera' coffee commercials
Impressions Montage
Farley is not remembered for his impersonations
Lunchlady
Another crossover from the The Best of Adam Sandler disc. Whatever I said about it then still applies
Dress Rehearsal Montage
Farley's wigs and such come unglued
Japanese Game Show
See The Best of Mike Myers
The Herlihy Boy
An unrewarding riff first seen on The Best of Adam Sandler
Focus on Beauty II
No real punchlines, but I can't resist this send-up of Cher's (played well by Christina Applegate) infamous hair care infomercials

Bonus material: another, nearly identical "Bennett Brauer" routine; a hilarious commercial for "Hibernol", the cold medicine that leaves you comatose for an entire season (I'm a sucker for Rip Van Winkle disguises); and airdate info for all aforementioned sketches.

The video and audio quality of this disc is about what you'd expect--they can't turn water into wine. (The image looks slightly cleaner than a standard cable signal.) The stereo track gets the job done--actually it sounds great, but there isn't much in the way of left-to-right separation. Since "SNL" is broadcast weekly in Dolby Surround, I was a bit surprised to see only two channels light up on my receiver. Somewhat frustratingly, the viewer is forced to endure two difficult-to-skip advertisements for "SNL" DVDs upon first inserting The Best of Chris Farley, although the response time of menu commands has been blessedly sped-up since The Best of Mike Myers.-Bill Chambers