Loading ...Farley family gives out funny money
Chris Farley seems to be caught in time as the beer guzzling college frat boy, yet today he would have been 43 years old. To honor his memory and four and half years at Marquette, Chris Farley's family created the Christopher Farley Scholarship to present to the student who uses humor in a creative way, according to Gary Meyer, associate dean of the College of Communication.
"This scholarship is notably different," Meyer said. "It celebrates something we usually don't – the use of humor in everyday life. Humor is so important, and this is an opportunity students wouldn't have otherwise for those who use humor more regularly, with more practice."
Chris Farley majored in communication, with a theater and business minor, according to Michael Price, the former associate dean of the College of Communication and Farley's adviser at Marquette.
"His father wanted him to be a business major and take over the family oil company, but Chris wanted to go into comedy," Price said. "His parents agreed that if Chris got the degree, they would let him do comedy."
Tom Rownd, one of Farley's 12 roommates at the notorious "Red Door" house on North 19th and West Kilbourn streets, said that the first night he met him, Farley said he would be on SNL.
"He was beloved on campus," Rownd said. "If you met him a couple times, he would do anything for you, and so would his family."
Rownd also said he constantly provided entertainment for the roommates, once throwing a smoke bomb into a crush's house and accidentally setting the drapes on fire.
"He was a delightful, funny, fairly good student who craved attention," Price said. "He was very warm-hearted and genuine."
The scholarship is worth $1,500 and is for College of Communication juniors. Applications are due Monday and available in Johnston Hall 111.
Students are required to interview with Meyer and two other associates, and perform a creative skit to show how they use humor, Meyer said.
Many of the applicants are in theater, broadcast, MUTV and Marquette Radio. Some perform characters from MUTV, like Joe Fernandez, the winner two years ago.
"It was so clever," Meyer said. "Part of the skit was hitting his face with a shovel, and he fell to the ground and had burns on his legs. Part of it was the physical humor that Chris did."
The students are also asked how they use humor to affect the lives of others.
"Many students reply how they use humor to help children, by storytelling in a hospital, or playing the guitar and singing," Price said.
The student's auditions are videotaped and sent to Chris Farley's family, who helps pick the winner.
"It's a nice way to keep them involved," Meyer said. "Mrs. Farley said that 'You never know when the next Chris Farley will show up.'"
Please be advised that all comments must adhere to our comment policy. Click to learn more.
Thank you for your interest in The Marquette Tribune. We encourage you and all our readers to provide feedback and constructive criticism in the comments section of our articles, editorials and columns, regardless of whether you share our viewpoints. To ensure a constructive and courteous discourse, we ask that you abide by the following principles:
1) Use your real name and email address. Email addresses will not be published, but we will use them to contact you if necessary.
2) Relate your comment to Tribune content or to what other commenters have written.
3) Comments may not contain personal attacks, racism, sexism, or hatred and may not use gratuitous profanity.
The Tribune reserves the right to delete comments that do not meet these guidelines. We are not able to screen comments before they are posted; if you feel a comment violates the above guidelines, please notify us at editor@marquettetribune.org.
Comments are closed