Bob Odenkirk actually wrote motivational speaker Matt Foley Sketch on SNL made famous by Chris Farley

Know the famous Chris Farley sketch on Saturday night live where he plays motivational speaker Matt Foley, who lives in a van by the river?! Of course you do. He is one of the characters synonymous with both Farley and Saturday night liveand apparently should also be associated with Bob Odenkirk.

Odenkirk is best known for his roles on the AMC series breaking Bad AND Better call Saulas well as his brand new show Lucky Hankand many other movies and series, but before you know him so well as an actor, he was a screenwriter Late Night with Conan O’Brien as well as Saturday night livewriting for the latter over 132 episodes over eight years.

He is responsible for many hilarious sketches and during his recent appearance on The hot ones (via CB), Odenkirk related this story:

“I love Chris, and then the motivational speaker sketch I wrote for him, the one that worked so well… We had an improv, and we were all playing teachers in a school, and it was like a ‘Don’ t Do Drugs’ rally, and we were talking to students, and he did his coaching character. And it was Matt Foley. He might as well have used the name Matt Foley. He didn’t have the story, ‘van down the river,’ he didn’t he was a motivational speaker, but, you know, he was saying, [imitates Matt Foley]. It stuck in my head, like everyone else, and I came home that night and I wrote that sketch, and I’ve written hundreds of sketches in my life, and I wrote it exactly the way it was done, even though Robert Smigel added breaking the table.”

He went on to say:

“My daughter once asked me, ‘What was the most fun you’ve had in show business?’ and I said, I did this sketch with Chris Farley. I played the father in the sketch and we did it seven times a week in Second City. Every time I did it it was the funnest time I’ve had in show business .

It’s a fantastic memory and a very interesting link from Odenkirk to Farley. Who is your favorite Chris Farley character? SNL?