#Chris Farley and David Spade Got in a Nasty Fight Over Rob Lowe on the Tommy Boy Set

David Spade remembers the huge fight he had with Chris Farley on the set of 1995’s Tommy Boy. The movie is a cult comedy classic, but making it wasn’t very easy for the two actors, who were with each other 24/7. Spade reflected on the making of the movie in a new interview with Rob Lowe, who also has a role in the movie, thanks to the success of Wayne’s World, which was another Lorne Michaels production.

In the 1990s, Chris Farley and David Spade were not allowed to take a week off to work on Tommy Boy. So, they would take a private jet from Saturday Night Live to Toronto, where they were shooting the movie. This meant that the two actors were together all of the time. The travel and work schedule was difficult, to say the least. Spade, who is already skinny, says he was losing weight, while Farley was gaining weight. He was “eating all the time,” and “we were all burned out. We were both f***ing dying,” Spade says. It’s like an old married couple; we’re fu*king fighting all the time. We were never apart.”

One night after arriving in Toronto, Chris Farley claimed to have the flu, so he decided to go to bed early. David Spade was up and felt like he needed a drink, so he called Rob Lowe. “We don’t tell Farley. Because of course we don’t. We see him every godf****ing day,” Spade recalls. Spade and Lowe thought nothing of it and appeared on the Tommy Boy set early the next morning. Farley had somehow found out about the drink and he was very upset.

According to David Spade, Chris Farley started staring at him, “biting his lip, which meant they we’re about to have a fight. That was his tell.” Spade goes on, “And he looks at me, and he asks, ‘How was your night? How was Rob Lowe?'” Farley was upset that he did not get an invite to go have a drink at the hotel bar. “How’s Rob Lowe?” the comedian asked again. “How’s your precious f****ing Rob Lowe?” Spade replies, “I don’t know,” but Farley would not let it go. “How was drinks last night,” Farley asked. “Oh, is that what we’re getting at?” Spade asked. “It was fine. It was alright.”

The two went back and forth until David Spade walked outside to eat some lunch. Apparently, it was freezing outside, but Spade was just trying to enjoy a tuna sandwich when Chris Farley came out to join him. “How’s Rob Lowe?” Farley asked again, but Spade was in no mood to engage, so he ignored it, which led to Farley stepping on Spade’s hand and his tuna sandwich “with his big f****ing boots, with all his thousands of pounds.” Spade then threw a Diet Coke on Farley, and an enraged Farley threw Spade down a small set of stairs. Spade recalls, “I stand up and say, ‘Are we in a fight?’ And the [director says on the walkie-talkie], ‘Action!’ and [Farley and I] just stare at each other, and we turn and we walk in.”

At this point, David Spade was sure that the production of Tommy Boy was going to be put on pause for a few days, but things went back to normal soon after. It sounds like making the movie was grueling for the two comedians at the time, though Spade still looks back at the experience with positivity. He says, “Look, we had a blast. All my memories of Tommy Boy were fun. It was stressful. It was hard.” Spade wishes he knew then what the movie was going to mean to people, but that’s impossible to gauge. “But Tommy Boy, I hear about more than any other movie… We had greats seats for Farley, so I love it. I’m just glad to be a part of something.” You can check out the rest of the interview with Spade over at the Literally! Podcast with Rob Lowe.