Guest Interview with John Farley – Part 2

Misadventures in Hollywood:  Guest Interview

John Farley Edition – Part 2: 10/16/13

We are picking up from where we left off last week with more misadventures from John Farley in the entertainment business.

The Interview – Continued:

Bruner & Stevens: You’ve been a part of a lot of Happy Madison Productions. How is it filming with Adam Sandler?

John Farley: Oh, Sandler Productions are great! Adam has what we all call, Camp Sandler. We can play basketball, football and all kinds of fun things when we aren’t filming. It is such a good and crazy atmosphere. So you get to play around when you aren’t shooting, but when you are, it’s like a pressure cooker. Adam is happy-go-lucky, but when they yell action, he gets really serious. He can expect a lot from everyone, which is really good. He’ll ask the comediennes to give him a few different improv takes on a scene sometimes.

Bruner & Stevens: So it’s always fresh then. That seems like a great way to go. He knows what he’s doing obviously. He’s really successful.

John Farley: Yes, he is. He’s really a good guy. He cares about his friends.

Bruner & Stevens: How was it during The Best Damn Sports Show Period days? We know you did some work for that show.

John Farley: That was a lot of fun. We had some crazy times on that show. They hired us to do some comedy segments for them. We also got to meet some of our sports idols.

One time we had to do a story on the Raider Nation. That’s the official name for the fans of the NFL Oakland Raiders team. We went to the home of one of the crazy fans, named The Penetrator. He had a normal job during the week, a mattress salesman, I think. On the weekends he would get “in uniform” and go to a game…and get crazy!

The Penetrator got us all geared up. We glued on crazy stuff, like glitter, etc. and we went to the Oakland Coliseum for a game. We had to go through the “Black Hole,” which is a pretty scary place. It’s the dangerous part of the coliseum. It’s where thugs and Oakland gangs hang out.

The camera crew was already on the field. We walked down some steps and some guy grabbed Kevin and started yelling, “Hooray, Raider Nation!” Kevin instinctively grabbed him back. Then Kevin started slapping the fans back and threw him around. The two of them kept it up and kept yelling, “Hooray!” It wasn’t in an angry way, just passionate. Then the crazy energy got to me and I grabbed the guys friend and started yelling, “Yay!” We were all throwing each other around!

Security stepped in, so Kevin and I showed our press passes. Security said to us, “What is going on? Why the heck are you two starting a fight? What kind of show is this?”

We tried to explain that it was not a fight, but just a good natured brawl.

Bruner & Stevens: Did they let you go right away?

John Farley: Yes, but they thought we were crazy.

Bruner & Stevens: What kind of things did you do on Saturday Night Live?

John Farley: Kevin and I got to be featured extras in a lot of the skits. We hung out in Chris’ dressing room all the time. I loved it when I got to watch the musical guest from the side of the stage. It was like you were fifteen feet from a famous rock star. We would go in the limo with Chris to the after party every time. That party went on all night and it was a lot of fun.

During one of the skits I did, a homeless guy got into the studio and stole my clothes. Security looked for him as soon as I reported it and caught the guy leaving. He was wearing my clothes. I got to wear some of my wardrobe home and the show washed my clothes and then sent them to me. I made out on that one.

Bruner & Stevens: What are some of the things you are doing lately?

John Farley: I had a good part on the kids show, “Crash & Bernstein,” for Disney. My character appeared in a two-show arc. I played Mr. Green and I was a bad guy. I was trying to find Crash, the puppet character, so I could take him back to the manufacturer for a recall. He would be burned in an incinerator.

I had to have marshmallows thrown at me and then later in the show, they were to throw gumballs. Actually, these items were supposed to be coming out of Crash – from his back end. They had a machine that was going to blow out the marshmallows and gumballs. They were checking it to see if it worked right, and well…it didn’t. When they got to the gumballs, they came out so hard that they broke glass. It would have taken my head off! So they had grips throw the items at me. The marshmallows were fine, but when they threw the gumballs, they threw them hard and fast. A lot of them! I had welts on my head and face for a week.

Bruner & Stevens: It was probably worth it though. We saw the show and you were in it a lot. It was great. You did a really good job.

John Farley: Thanks, it was a lot of fun. Everyone was so much fun to work with.

Bruner & Stevens: You had a mishap shooting a commercial, didn’t you? They had you in an elaborate costume, right?

John Farley: Right. That was the Burger King commercial I did. I played a giant pig. I went to the Stan Winston Company to get fitted for the 75 to 100 lb. head gear – the pig head that I had to wear in high heat on blacktop, and with a flannel shirt.

They tried hard to keep me comfortable. When the director yelled “cut,” immediately they would blow air up the costume head and down the shirt. The guy operating the contraption left it in my costume and walked away once. It overheated and caught fire.

They had to get the pig head off of me as fast as they could so my head wouldn’t catch on fire. It was a challenge, but they did it. The pig head was melted, burnt and distorted looking after that. They had to use it though because it cost $500,000, and there was no spare.

I still have the plaster mold of my head and shoulders that they used to make the costume.

Bruner & Stevens: There are a lot of things that go on that the public is unaware of. You really have to love what you do in order to be okay with the misadventures, right?

John Farley: Right. I do love what I do.

We wish for everyone more adventures, and fewer misadventures – but when the misadventures do occur, we hope that you can laugh them off and move on.