In her appearance on Dax Shepard's podcast, Susan Morrison spoke about Lorne Michaels’ response to the struggles of Chris Farley with drugs and alcohol during his time on "SNL." After John Belushi's overdose in 1982, Michaels adopted a more hands-on approach to addiction, feeling responsible for the well-being of his cast members. Morrison described how Michaels would have serious discussions with Farley about his substance abuse, impose suspensions, and even send him to rehab, but ultimately, these measures were unsuccessful in saving Farley from his tragic fate in 1997.
When Belushi died, it really hit him hard. And I think he felt like this whole approach of just letting people do their own thing on their own time, this was the wrong approach. We're a tribe, we're a group, and we have to look out for each other.
By the time Chris Farley comes along, ten years later or whatever, from the beginning he clearly had addiction issues. Lorne would call him into his office and give him these talks about the drinking or the drugs.
It was like the kind of thrill of being in the principal's office, but at the same time, you're getting in trouble. He couldn't metabolize it, but Lorne had really changed his approach.
And obviously, it didn't do it for him. After getting clean once and relapsing, he'd been suspended by Michaels, who sent him to a series of really tough love rehab places.
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