Chris Farley’s Dirtiest ‘Tommy Boy’ Joke Was Cut

Paramount is currently celebrating the 30th anniversary release of Tommy Boy, and for good reason. It’s a comedy classic that has held up over the years (despite Roger Ebert’s crushing review), its iconic star Chris Farley is getting a big biopic from Josh Gad, and it has a new 4K UHD release that’s visually stunning and full of great special features. Its director, Peter Segal (50 First Dates, Anger Management), took some time to travel down memory lane with MovieWeb and look back at the film. He even shared more about a specific behind-the-scenes moment that, in his commentary track for Tommy Boy, he said was “too R-rated” to discuss.

The moment in question was one of several takes during the endlessly quotable “housekeeping” scene, when David Spade pretends to work for the motel the characters are staying at. “You know, we always tried different jokes. And when Chris was answering the door for David’s ‘Housekeeping,’ he was wearing a bedsheet around him,” explained Segal. “We said, okay, then he’s gonna drop the sheet and say, ‘Oh, Richard, hold me.’ Okay. The first one’s gonna be, he’s gonna have underwear on, but it’s gonna be tighty whities, and you’ll see his crack and whatever. The next one will change the kind of underwear to see if that might get a better laugh. And in the third one, let’s try no underwear at all. It’ll just be a butt shot.” Segal continued:

I said, “And Chris, for the love of God, don’t turn around. Let it just be your back.” And, of course, you know what happened. So he, not only when I yelled ‘Cut,’ turned around, but started dancing. We lost it because it was hilarious. But I also said, “Take the film out of that camera right now. We’re not sending that back to Paramount.”

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Chris Farley Was a Sweet Perfectionist

“He was definitely a perfectionist, and he was very athletic. He would do all of his own stunts,” explained Segal in his recollection of the SNL star, who passed away in 1997 at the young age of 33. Segal related a story of Farley’s frustration over an early scene in the film in which his character performs a spontaneous cartwheel after graduating, and shared how he helped Farley get out of his own head. “I remember doing the hallway scene after he graduated. He was not satisfied with the way it was going, and he was getting very flustered.” Segal continued:

“And so I sort of decided I was going to try to treat him a little bit like a football player. And I told him to do 20 push-ups and calm down, then run around the courtyard. And it worked. And he came back, and he was breathing hard, and he was calmed down. And I said, ‘Okay, when you’re ready, we’ll try it again.’ And it was that physicality I just sort of recognized in him as an athlete, that sometimes he just needed to, you know, calm down.”

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Farley was comfortable around Segal, and the director explained how they bonded during the difficult Toronto production of Tommy Boy. “We had a lot of dinners. We went out a lot. And I think just talking about his family, talking about his father, I think, and talking about how there were a lot of people who were naysayers about our movie,” said Segal.” Because it wasn’t based on existing SNL characters, and also at the time, the ratings for Saturday Night Live were at some of their lowest. So there was a lot of pressure.” Segal continued:

“And I think realizing that we were both in it together, as well as Spade, it kind of gave us a bond that was calming in itself [despite] all of the crap that was going on with production, not having a script, which drives every department head nuts, because what are we shooting tomorrow? There was a calmness in just our unity, that we were doing this together and it meant a lot. It wasn’t just a job. This was a pivotal point in all of our careers.”

Newly remastered under the supervision of director Peter Segal, Tommy Boy is presented for the first time on 4K Ultra HD in a 4K/Blu-ray™ Combo or in a Limited-Edition SteelBook®, both of which include hours of legacy bonus content and access to a Digital copy of the film. They were released today, March 25, 2025. You can also rent or buy Tommy Boy through Paramount Movies here.