Thirty years later, Christian Leitner isn’t sure he knew it was coming. In 1994, he entered the NBA in his second season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Maybe someone notified his agent, but he doesn’t think so.
The former Duke star remembers seeing the ad on ESPN one day. Chris Farley, in his prime on “Saturday Night Live,” wore Laettner’s No. 32 jersey and recreated his buzzer-beater against Kentucky that made NCAA Tournament history iconic moments.
“All I know is, it came out and it was hilarious and it was great,” Lightner told Competitor.
Farley aired three commercials on ESPN, all promoting college basketball, and all are remembered for the physical comedy and pranks that made Farley so beloved and famous.
In one spot, Farley was Michigan’s Rummel Robinson at the free throw line, needing two free throws to win the 1989 national championship. “He made it look…” Farley said before firing and missing, not once, not twice, but six times, in one of his famous Farley yells of frustration. (“Get in there!”) after each brick.
In another game, it was Michael Jordan at North Carolina in the 1982 championship game, but instead of hitting the game-winning jumper from the wing, Farley decided to step back for a three-pointer (he was ahead of his time in that regard) , there was no three-point line in college basketball at the time.
But Lightner’s ad was so brilliant, so funny, so farly.
“Well, I’m Christian Laettner,” the comedian began, wearing a tight-fitting Duke University uniform. “1992. Duke-Kentucky. Kentucky leads by one and Christian gets the ball. Two seconds left.”
Farley turned to face five Kentucky defensive players, who were life-size cutouts made of plywood. He dribbles and shoots turnaround jumpers, just like Laettner did on that unforgettable afternoon in the Eastern Conference Finals in Philadelphia.
No.
“Get off the glass!”
“Get your own rebound!”
miss.
“The ball is loose!”
Farley dove and knocked down a Kentucky gap. Finally, he made a layup and raised his arms in celebration.
“Duke wins! Game of the century,” Farley shouted. “and That is This is what happened! …Well, that’s almost it. “
In fact, that’s what happened.
In 1993, Glenn Cole was working at Wieden+Kennedy, an ambitious advertising agency based in Portland, Oregon. Although today Wieden+Kennedy is a global advertising agency, at the time Wieden+Kennedy devoted most of its resources to one client: Nike. It’s famous for “Bo Knows” and Mars Blackmon telling Jordan “money, gotta be shoes.”
Cole, a 24-year-old copywriter, is the youngest in the company. As a former sprinter at the University of Oregon, he enjoys the creativity and storytelling offered by commercials, especially those from Wieden+Kennedy. He described himself as “the idiot who was an intern half a minute ago” in that environment. But his superiors valued him and assigned him an ESPN campaign with a simple assignment.
Promoting college basketball.
“Got the keys to this cool car. No one paid attention to it,” Cole said, referring to all the attention the company paid to Nike. “I have an ESPN basketball event. I watch a lot of ‘Saturday Night Live.’ I’m obsessed with Chris Farley.”
Cole had an idea. A common basketball moment – playing alone on the playground. Tie game. The clock sets. 3…2…1.
But shots rarely fall. Countdown reset. There are no race-winning heroics, just comebacks on asphalt.
“So I thought it would be fun to use this metaphor to be weird,” Cole said. “Then I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, Chris would be the perfect person to do this.'”
Farley, nearly 30 years old, is a rising star. The New York Daily News called him the breakout performer of Saturday Night Live’s latest season, bringing the same “volcanic magnetic energy” as Eddie Murphy and John Belushi before him . His talent and comedy began to transfer to the big screen. “Tommy Boy” starring Farley and David Spade will be released in 1995.
Even better in this case: Farley is a sports fan. He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and played hockey and football. At Marquette, he played club rugby. On “Saturday Night Live,” he played basketball with cast members at the 76th Street Basketball Court in Riverside Park.
“Chris is a talented physical comedian,” said Farley’s manager, Doug Robinson. “A lot of people don’t know that Chris is really a great athlete. He moves really well. He loves sports. So if Chris was going to do physical comedy, he was committed to whatever he was doing.”
Cole flew to Los Angeles to pitch the concept to Farley. ESPN asked him if he had a backup plan in case Farley said no. “Of course,” Cole said.
In fact, he didn’t.
“I remember thinking, ‘This is a long shot,'” said Beth Barrett, the event’s producer. “In that era, it wasn’t as common for celebrities, star athletes, comedians and musicians to pitch ads as it is now. It was almost like a bad thing to be in an ad.”
Cole met Farley in Farley’s hotel suite. Farley wore a tweed suit with a messy design. Cole came up with his vision, and Farley got it right away. The comedian got off the couch and started doing Lightner’s scene. He knocked over a vase, which made Cole immediately realize, “Oh, I have to find something for you to knock over.”
“Yeah, that sounds like fun,” Cole remembers Farley saying. “let’s do it.”
The ads were shot a few days later at a studio in Los Angeles. Today, celebrities may appear with a variety of entourages. But at the time, Larry Frey, the event’s creative director, recalled that Farley’s manager arrived early and Farley himself stopped by later. Around lunchtime, Spade arrived.
“He’s literally like a 10-year-old kid and they call it recess,” Frey said. ‘Full of energy. Like, ‘Hello everyone! I might mess up today.‘Super self-deprecating. Super enthusiastic. And just improvising. “
They shot spots in Michigan and North Carolina first, mostly because Cole knew Farley’s plans for Laettner and didn’t want to risk injury.
(In addition to the commercials, Farley also shot a series of promos that never aired. In the promo below, Farley holds two stuffed animals and acts out a dialogue about the upcoming rivalry game . Of course, the mascots soon turn on each other, and then Farley, and the promo ends with Farley’s signature outburst.)
For Lightner’s ad, Cole offered a simple explanation.
“Listen, I’m going to put you on the three-point line,” he recalled telling Farley. “We’re going to start this play the way we remember it in our collective memory. And then look, man, try to shoot, but if you don’t shoot, then hurry up and finish the game and surprise me.”
Farley, released.
Farley at his best.
He lunged past Kentucky standouts Deron Feldhouse, John Pelphrey and Travis Ford, knocking them to the ground.
“It was a whirlwind,” Barrett said.
Good ideas don’t always translate. Cole knew immediately this man had done it.
“In every one of those shots, after the first take of each shot — all three shots — I was like, ‘Oh, f—, this is going to be incredible,’” he said. .
In “The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts,” authors Tom Farley Jr. and Tanner Kirby describe this period as the pinnacle of Farley’s life.
The comedian had battled drug and alcohol addiction, but tried to stay clean after visiting a rehab facility in Alabama. The author writes that Farley was confident but ultimately a losing battle. Farley died of a drug overdose in 1997 at the age of 33.
When Cole and Barrett look back on that day in Los Angeles, the experience is as compelling as the finished product. Farley was his usual self in front of the camera. (After every take, he would ask, “Was this fun?”) But he was also personable and engaged throughout the eight hours.
“We would hang out in the lounge between takes and he would ask questions and take an interest in other people,” Barrett said. “And it’s just a little silly. It’s just one of those very rare experiences in advertising where at the end of the day you actually get to know someone. It’s just awesome.”
Farley and Cole had a great relationship and they went back and forth, exchanging ideas, and Farley asked him if he would be interested in writing for him on “Saturday Night Live.” Cole panicked, thinking: “What if I can’t put out great content every week? “ It’s an unbelievable proposition, but Cole loves what he does. He refused.
“As far as I know, this is my third project in advertising, but it’s the first one where I feel like I’m working with someone to make something better than what I or he could have made independently,” Cole said. said he is now co-founder and chairman of global advertising agency 72andSunny.
A year or two after the commercial aired, Lightner was walking on the jet bridge, preparing to board a plane. He couldn’t remember which airport he was going to or where he was going, but as soon as he boarded the plane he noticed a familiar face sitting in first class. It’s Farley.
Like most celebrities, Farley kept his head down and tried not to draw attention, but he made eye contact with Laettner. Farley stood up, and the basketball star and comedian hugged and laughed together.
“Great advertising,” Lightner told him.
Chris Farley and Glenn Cole backstage at a college basketball commercial shoot. (Courtesy of Glenn Cole)
(Above: Daniel Goldfarb/ Competitor; Photos and video courtesy of Glenn Cole)
