Matt Foley was a motivational speaker character created by comedian Bob Odenkirk and performed by Chris Farley on the American sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live (although he had performed the character in other comedy groups before being a cast member on Saturday Night Live). Essentially, Foley was the very antithesis of a good motivational speaker: abrasive, clumsy, and down on his luck. Farley's comedic energy was the driving force behind the character and the humor. Farley named the character after one of his college rugby union teammates of the same name (who is a Roman Catholic priest in Chicago and pastor of St. Agnes of Bohemia in Chicago's Little Village).blank">http://school.stagnesofbohemia.org/faculty.htm The character was moderately popular, so much as to be carried over to a feature film. Although Farley's death in 1997 made it impossible, a film version with _David Spade in a supporting role was planned in the last months of Farley's life.

Foley appeared in eight Saturday Night Live sketches, and the sketch usually started with Foley being brought into a specific situation by someone to speak to a group. In addition to appearing disheveled, overweight, and unstylish, he would yell, disparage, display cynicism, and give a clearly negative motivational message. Foley's trademark line was warning his audience that, like him, they could end up being "...35 years old, thrice divorced, and living in a van down by the river!" When members of his audience claimed any kind of accomplishment he would respond with a drippingly sarcastic "Well, la-dee-freakin-da!" or something similar. The sketch would often include Foley giving wildly exaggerated gestures and falling (or jumping) onto a piece of furniture, destroying it, or injuring himself in the process. At the end, he would usually be quickly herded out of his speaking location, where the people left behind would huddle together and comment on him, usually bemused and fearful. Though his speeches always backfired, the end results would usually be successful, in that the recipients did not want to be associated with Foley.