Christmas in NYC 1994: Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, and the Hanukkah Song

There was no greater place to be than in NYC in December of 1994.

In 1994, the Rangers broke a 54-year Stanley Cup drought by beating the Canucks in 7 games to bring the cup to NYC. I recall it so fondly because everyone was a Ranger fan that year, and the team's Captain, Mark Messier, made it a point to carry the cup to almost every bar and restaurant in the city. New Yorkers started to become proud of their city again. The NY Knicks were a three-pointer away from their first title since 1973 (I still can't forgive John Starks for that game), and long-suffering Knicks fans hung on every shot. I, your humble narrator, was flat broke and living on his mom's couch, determined to make it in the Big Apple.

But the thing I remember most about 1994 was the holidays. Like every born and bred New Yorker, I learned to stay away from Times Square and Rockefeller Center after Thanksgiving. Those areas were for tourists who shuffled like skyward-glancing zombies towards a tree that you never seemed to be able to get to. Even if one were to make it north of 47th Street and 5th Ave, you still had a good two hours or so until you could make it to the tree. All of this to watch a tree (no phone pics at the time) and goofy couples skating (stumbling?) on a round path of ice. But this year was to be different. I had tickets to see my first ever Saturday Night Live, and watch a few of my heroes (Chris Farley and Adam Sandler) in their not ready for prime time comedy show. I left 3 hours early, determined to push my way through the zombie horde and make it to the safer environment of the famous Studio 8H at 30 Rock.

It's hard to describe how incredible the experience was. I sat in the audience with my jaw agape, and even this jaded, loud-mouthed New Yorker watched silently in awe. I watched the organized chaos that was the stagehands running back and forth, the banter of the not-ready-for-prime-time players as they were getting ready, the MC prepping the audience, and the host prepping for the monologue. There was a nervous energy that you feel whenever something unscripted and hyped is going to happen.

But my primary focus was on Chris Farley. Chris Farley was the big lovable and boisterous teddy bear that broke everything in his path, just for a laugh. I could relate to Chris and his need to be loved, through laughter. The insecurity that comes from being a fat guy in a little suit who needs to win people over by being so over the top. He made it funny to be vulnerable. Leave the witty banter up to the SNL snobs like Dennis Miller, Farley was going to fall over and break things, and his sidekick Adam Sandler was going to make silly noises, and we were all going to laugh our asses off.

As I watched before the show, Farley and Sandler stood towards the front of the stage talking to a group of cute college-age girls. Sandler stood directly in front of them and chatted them up while (unbeknownst to Sandler) Farley stood behind him mockingly imitating his every gesture. The audience loved it. Farley was wearing a Hulkamania T-shirt under a too-tight coat with a backward baseball cap. He had his hands in his pockets with his head slanted downward and sort of kicked at the floor in an aw-shucks manner. Sandler finally turned around and saw Farley. It was entirely unscripted. This was not a chemistry that you can fake, and you could sense that these guys genuinely loved each other. I often find that our most memorable moments are not the ones that we all prep for. It's the ones that just happen.

We watched the Rosanne Barr monologue, we watched as Green Day and an incredibly young-looking Billy Jo Armstrong brought the house down with Basket Case, and then we watched Dennis Miller introduce Adam Sandler and his new holiday song.

Sandler started -

"I wrote a brand new Hannukah song for you Jewish kids to sing, and it sounds something like this... "But when you feel like the only kid in town without a Christmas tree, here's a list of people who are Jewish, just like you and me... Guess who eats together at the Carnegie Deli, Bauser from Sha Na Na and Arthur Fonzarelli."

I remember thinking at the time how amazing it was as if we all knew we were watching SNL legendry in the making. "Put on your yarmulke, here comes Hannukah, so drink your gin and tonic, and smoke your marijuanica."

I floated out of 30 Rock over the still-packed plaza and reflected on the past year, and how lucky I was to, despite being flat broke, live in the greatest city in the world at such a great moment in time.

In the following years, I would see Farley out in the city, one time with George Wendt of Cheers after a "Da Bears" skit on SNL. Farley was always the center of attention. But you just knew that the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long. Farley died a few years later, and I felt as if I had lost a good friend, we all did.

I have become more sentimental in my middle age, and more nostalgic. I miss the innocence of the time. We all laughed with a Jewish kid from NJ singing a silly Hannukah song that made so many people laugh. Sounds corny, but there was way more laughter and less anger in people, especially at this time of year. I miss that.

I will never forget that feeling that I got from being one of the 10 million people that during Christmas 1994, belonged to the greatest city in the world. Visit the Website Slyde Innovations.