Welcome to the deep dive, the place where we
take the stacks of sources you send us and distill
them down to the essential, fascinating, and
often surprising truth. Glad to be diving in.
Today we are profiling a man whose career trajectory
is, well, it feels like two conflicting identities
wrapped up in one very nervous, often deadpan
comedic package. David Foley. That duality is
not just an interesting fact. It's really the
engine of his entire career story. It's fascinating.
How so? Well, on one hand, you have the architect
of this anarchic, gender -bending, truly strange
sketch comedy, a foundational member of the kids
in the hall. Right, the groundbreaking stuff.
Exactly. But then on the other hand, you have
the deadpan, traditionally successful network
station manager Dave Nelson from the iconic sitcom
news radio. Two completely different worlds,
almost. Pretty much. So our mission today is
to track that incredible journey, examining how
a high school dropout from Toby Coke, Ontario
became a talent versatile enough to move from
playing, say, a sassy Sizzler sister. Which was
brilliant. To a dramatic lead in the recent season
of Fargo. It's quite a leap. That span from bizarre
sketch work to critically acclaimed drama is
extraordinary. Okay, let's unpack this and maybe
anchor ourselves in the origins first sounds
good Dave Foley was born on January 4th 1963
in Etobicoke and it's an interesting contrast
when you look at his background Yeah, his mother
Mary came from Stafford, England and his father
Michael was a steam fitter OK, so a pretty standard
working class background. Exactly. It's a blue
collar, solidly Ontario upbringing that gives
absolutely no surface hint of the surreal, often
frantic genius that would eventually define his
comedic persona. You just wouldn't predict it.
No, not at all. It makes the start of his career
even more interesting. So the first crucial phase
of his professional life is really all about
finding his medium, his voice. He dropped out
of high school relatively early. Which is a key
detail, right? Yeah. suggests he wasn't aiming
for a conventional path. Definitely not. He actually
started in stand -up comedy first. He pursued
that solo path for about a year, maybe a little
less. Stand -up. Hmm. But he quickly transitioned,
didn't he? He did. And that transition, well,
it proved to be probably the single most important
decision of his life. OK. What was it? He started
taking improvisational classes at the Toronto
Second City Training Center. Ah, Second City.
The launching pad for so many greats. Exactly.
That move. placed him directly in the epicenter
of this burgeoning Canadian comedy scene. It
was the place to be. And that's where the magic
happens, I guess, the connections. And that's
where the synergy truly begins. It wasn't just
the formal training, though, that helped. It
was the connections. He met Kevin McDonald there.
His longtime collaborator. Right. Who became
his artistic partner for decades. McDonald actually
gave him a job as an usher at a local art house
theater. An usher, okay. Yeah. So it established
that foundational bond outside of the structured
classroom environment. You could almost say the
infrastructure for the kids in the hall was literally
built in improv classes and, well, local theater
aisles. I like that. So those bonds, they solidified
pretty quickly then. Very quickly, leading to
the legendary formation of the troupe in 1984.
So that's Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch.
Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson, a five -person
collective that just, you know, rejected typical
sketch formulas. They weren't doing mother -in
-law jokes. No, definitely not. And they honed
their act live for a while first. They spent
four years developing their material live before
their eponymous TV sketch series debuted in 1988.
And that ran until 95. Yep, 109 boundary -pushing
episodes until 1995. Truly unique television.
When we talk about Foley's current ability to
handle dramatic work like Fargo, I guess we have
to look back at the demands of Keith, right?
Absolutely. He wasn't just telling jokes. He
was embodying complex, often deeply felt characters
that were designed to subvert norms. His versatility
was the linchpin. It really had to be. You really
see the sheer range in the characters he played.
Take Hecubus for example. Oh yeah, Hecubus. Demonic,
heavily eyeshadowed, totally theatrical. Or think
about the Sizzler Sisters. One of the Sizzler
Sisters. Aggressively cheerful and slightly menacing.
And that was such a brilliant exercise in gender
subversion, wasn't it? Yeah. There were women
who dressed and behaved exactly like men, just
with much better wigs and makeup. That's the
key. Keith wasn't about quick laughs all the
time. It felt more like performance art disguised
as comedy. Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
And he had a real knack for embodying authority
figures who were slightly unhinged, yet completely
committed to their unhinged reality. Like the
E .T. and love boss. Exactly. That character
consumed by corporate anxiety or the swaggering
bizarre Bruno Puntz Jones. Bruno Puntz Jones.
Wow. And then you have the weirder, more subtle
concepts like Mr. Heavyfoot. or heavy foot where
the joke is just his feet are heavy. Yeah. A
character whose main trait was having disproportionately
heavy feet. Or the paired slightly affected characters
of Jocelyn and Lex. Right. So within this format
fully proved he could be manic, sweet, bizarre,
or the straight man. Sometimes all within like
a three minute sketch. That intense character
driven work. It was essentially his version of
a dramatic acting school, wasn't it? You could
definitely say that. It laid the groundwork.
But this is where it gets critical for understanding
his professional path. The pressure cooker of
the Kids in the Hall eventually, well, it kind
of shattered. Right, leading to the conflict
over their 1996 feature film, Kids in the Hall,
Brain Candy. And this schism, this break, became
the accidental catalyst for his next career chapter.
It pushed him out of the nest, so to speak. That
film, it sounds like it was a really painful
process for them. Foley was initially involved,
but the sources say he abruptly left the writing
process. Why was that? Well, he cited intense
dissatisfaction with the script quality, for
one. But crucially, it was also the internal
strife that had apparently consumed the troupe
dynamics by that point. So real tension. Yeah,
it sounds like a genuine, painful split over
artistic control and creative direction. They
just weren't on the same page anymore. And the
drama intensified with this, like, bizarre contractual
gamble he took. It really did. In an attempt
to secure some benefit for his friends, even
though he was leaving the writing side, Foley
signed a deal that allowed the rest of the troupe
to be paid for the script development, but he
did it operating under the deeply cynical belief
that the film would never actually get greenlit
or shot. He said it was dead in the water. Pretty
much. He was trying to do them a favor, maybe,
while assuming the project itself was doomed.
But of course, the universe loves irony. The
film was greenlit. Exactly. and Foley found himself
contractually obligated to appear in it despite
his deep artistic resentment and the fact that
he hadn't contributed a single line to the final
version. Wow. So he had to act in a movie he
fundamentally disagreed with. Yep. And this specific
detail is a testament to the conflict and his
complicated loyalty. Dave Foley is the only member
of the founding group who is uncredited as a
writer on Brain Candy. Uncredited as a writer.
That says a lot. It does. He was present physically,
but professionally and artistically distant.
It really solidified his need to find a career
path outside of the troops dynamics at that moment.
Yet despite that decade of tension, they did
get back together eventually. They did. The artistic
bonds proved too strong to sever permanently.
He rejoined the troupe in 2000 for live work
and was fully integral to subsequent projects.
Like the 2010 reunion miniseries, Death Comes
to Town. Right. And the highly anticipated 2022
TV series continuation on Amazon Prime. So it
shows that even after profound professional trauma,
that original artistic identity was never truly
abandoned, just. maybe put on hold or augmented?
Exactly. It evolved. Hashtag tag to sitcom success
and character driven roles. So the brain candy
debacle, as painful as it sounds, it kind of
provided Foley with the perfect, albeit slightly
rough escape hatch. Pushing him directly toward
his second defining career chapter. Mainstream
network success with news radio. Right. And this
wasn't just a pivot. You could almost call it
a rescue mission. Paul Sims, the creator of News
Radio, was an enormous fan of Foley's k -i -th
work, especially that strange, detached, intellectual
undercurrent of his comedy. Uh, okay, he got
it. He totally got it. And he wrote the role
of station manager Dave Nelson specifically for
him. Wow, tailor -made. That space volumes about
the respect he commanded in the industry, even
coming off the Cahithe conflict. Absolutely.
That his next major role was custom -built for
him is pretty significant. And the beauty of
Dave Nelson over the, what, 97 episodes from
95 to 99? Was how much the character was fundamentally
based on Foley's actual quirks. It was this fascinating
merging of actor and role. So the show mined
his real personality. Pretty much. His genuine,
documented, intense coffee addiction. Coffee.
confessed almost obsessional love for the classic
1960s sitcom Green Acres. Green Acres? Yeah.
Seriously. That's amazing. It's such a brilliant
example of using the actor's DNA to flesh out
the character. Totally. His relentless need for
caffeine was so central to his persona that the
writers devoted an entire episode to it. Right.
Season two, episode three, called Smoking. where
the staff tries to help him manage his addiction.
He wasn't just playing a role. He was playing
this carefully curated version of his straight
man self. Exactly. Which, in a way, is just as
much of a performance. True. So after the sustained
rhythmic workload of network sitcoms, Foley then
made a major shift that tested his quieter side,
I guess. His voice. Yeah, into voice acting and
family films. This is an area where his lack
of aggressive ego maybe allowed him to shine.
Starting with a pretty huge one, right? Oh yeah.
Notably as the lead voice of Flick, the nervous
inventor Ant, in Pixar's 1998 smash hit, A Bug's
Life. Flick is definitely the anchor of his voice
portfolio. And that character has shown remarkable
longevity. He keeps popping up. Foley reprised
the voice for unexpected cameo appearances, like
in the hysterical outtakes of Toy Story 2. Those
were great. And the brief epilogue of cars. You
even hear him in specialized media, like a segment
of Robot Chicken and the game Lego, The Incredibles.
Flick lives on. He does. But the sources show
his voice portfolio expanded rapidly beyond just
the family sphere. Oh, absolutely. Consider the
complete contrast. He voiced the synthetic intelligence
Yes Man in the massive 2010 video game Fallout.
New Vegas. Yes, man. That's such a different
vibe. Totally different. This character is a
detached, highly enthusiastic, yet non -human
AI that perfectly utilizes Foley's slightly nervous,
eager to please, yet fundamentally kind of cold
delivery style. That ability to sound both earnest
and totally detached. That's kind of his trademark,
isn't it? It really is. He was also Terry, the
highly anxious two -headed monster in Monsters
University in 2013. And Terry Perry. He was Terry.
Yep. And the highly disgruntled Elf Wayne in
the Holiday Special series, Prep and Landing,
remember those? Oh yeah, those were cute. Ran
from 2009 to 2011. And he took on a key main
role as the highly stressed Chris in the animated
series Danvice from 2011 to 2013. Wow. The range
there is truly impressive. You've got high budget
Pixar, cult video games, Holiday Specials, adult
animation. He really covers the map and voice
work. And outside of animation, he continued
to leverage that trademark nervous energy in
future films throughout the late 90s and 2000s.
Right. One role where he actually returned to
his writing roots was 1997's The Wrong Guy. Ah,
yes. The Wrong Guy. He starred as Nelson Hibbard,
this office worker who misinterprets a crime
scene. Thinks he's going to get blamed for his
boss's murder. Exactly. And runs off to live
as a fugitive. But critically, Foley co -wrote
the screenplay. for the wrong guy. That's important.
It proves that the artistic ambition that fueled
Keith was still there, just maybe applied to
a more traditional narrative structure this time.
He wasn't just an actor for hire. Good point.
And he secured supporting roles in some pretty
widely seen studio productions, too. Definitely
like 1999's Blast from the Past, where he played
Troy, Eve's housemate. Brendan Fraser or Alicia
Silverstone? Yeah, fun movie. And in 2005 superhero
comedy Sky High, he was Jonathan Boy, or the
All -American Boy. All -American Boy, the sidekick.
These roles placed him squarely in the realm
of the highly recognizable character actor. You
see him pop up, you're like, oh, it's that guy.
Exactly. But we absolutely must address the elephant
in the filmography. Uh -oh. Which one is this?
the deeply bizarre and, let's just say, controversial
2007 film Postal. Postal, oh man, Ooby Bowl.
The one and only Ooby Bowl's highly divisive
adaptation of the notorious PC game and fully
appeared in it as Uncle Dave. Uncle Dave, okay,
and this is the one where... For listeners keeping
track of his more adventurous dramatic choices,
this is the film where he notably appears nude.
Right. OK. Well, it certainly showcases his willingness
to take risks, maybe, and jump into projects,
regardless of how outlandish or critically reviled
they might be. It definitely shows a certain
lack of pretension about the work itself. Or
maybe he just needed the paycheck sometimes,
which we'll get into. Fair point. A working actor's
got to work. Hashtag three. later career versatility
and surprising appearances. Okay, so as we transition
into the 2000s and 2010s, Foley really cemented
his status as that go -to recurring guest star.
Yeah, a reliable presence whose distinct comedic
timing could just elevate any episode he appeared
in. You knew you were in good hands. Exactly.
He even briefly stepped into the hosting chair,
remember? Leading Bravo's celebrity poker showdown
back in 2004. Oh, I vaguely remember that. Was
he any good at poker? I don't know about his
poker skills, but he hosted it. His real strength,
though, remained in character work. For sure.
And he became immediately recognizable to mainstream
audiences through these great recurring roles,
like Stuart Lamerac on Will and Grace. Yes. Jack
McFarland's dry -witted boyfriend. He was great
in that for five episodes between 2003 and 2004.
That's classic Foley taking a potentially broad
sitcom -y role and infusing it with that detached,
slightly world -weary delivery. Perfectly put.
But one of the most delightful roles in this
period, I think, has to be Dr. Fulton. On the
middle. Brick's school therapist. Yes. Where
he appeared periodically from 2012 to 2018. Such
a great character pairing with Brick. And this
role provided one of the best, like, inside jokes
or Easter eggs in modern television. Oh, you
mean the... Yes. Dr. Fulton. this quiet, contained
figure giving advice to the equally unusual Brick
Heck. And in the episode Life Skills, Dr. Fulton
is advising Brick about his socially awkward
classmates. Right. And after this perfect awkward
pause and a knowing glance, the character specifically
refers to the unusual group of students as the
kids in the hall. Huh. It's brilliant. A direct,
explicit, and perfectly timed nod to Foley's
own comedic legacy embedded right there within
a Family Network sitcom. It's just Chef's Kiss
perfect. That moment really encapsulates his
career beautifully, doesn't it? The constant
tension between the anarchic past and the comforting
mainstream present. Totally. He was also a fixture
on Hot in Cleveland. Right. He actually made
an early, unrelated guest appearance as a charity
doctor in season one. Oh, I didn't realize that.
Yeah. But then he came back later as Detective
Bob Moore, a role he played across the last three
seasons between 2013 and 2015. So he clearly
made an impression. Seems like it. And his commitment
to network stability continued with a main cast
role as Pat Heine on the ABC sitcom, Dr. Ken
from 2015 to 2017. With Ken Jeong. Right. He
remained prolific right up to the present day,
appearing as Gary O 'Brien for three episodes
of Young Sheldon between 2021 and 2023. Just
constantly working. Always working. But the sources
highlight what might be the most significant
recent shift in his career. Which is? His main
role as Danish Graves in the fifth season of
Fargo in 2023. Fargo. OK, yeah, that's huge.
And that's more than just a guest spot, right?
It's a central, major, dramatic character. Exactly.
Danish Graves. the name alone. Fargo is the ultimate
signal of a dramatic pivot, isn't it? Oh, yeah.
And maybe a validation of the core acting skills
he honed way back playing those highly specific,
intense, Kaith characters. I think so. Danish
Graves is this severe, calculating corporate
lawyer, almost menacing. Wow. To seamlessly move
from the goofiness of, say, the middle or even
news radio to anchoring high stakes, critically
acclaimed, dramatic narratives, that's the definition
of versatility. It really is. It proves that
the foundation he built back in 1984 prepared
him for literally everything, even roles entirely
devoid of overt comedy. Amazing trajectory. And
moving beyond traditional formats for a second,
Foley was also an early adopter of digital media.
Oh yeah, like what? He starred in the 2009 web
series The Sensible Traveler with Bobby Fargo.
It produced six episodes. Bobby Fargo, any relation
to this? Nah. Probably not. But the series was
noted for its success right out of the gate.
It reportedly racked up over 20 ,000 hits by
early 2010, which was pretty good for a web series
back then. It showed his enduring appeal even
in emerging platforms. Interesting. And his music
video work. That's where the anarchic spirit
of Kids in the Hall seems to continue to live
outside of scripted TV. Totally. He appeared
in numerous videos, often playing these exaggerated
or strange characters that required that heightened
performance style. Like the one for Odds. Yeah,
the 1993 video for Odds, Eterosexual Man. He
appeared along siloed Kaleith members Mark McKinney
and Kevin McDonald. Okay. And initially they're
playing these intensely stereotypical macho jocks,
a type of character they often mocked on the
show, the comedic punchline. Foley then inexplicably
turns into a woman. perfectly capturing the troupe's
fluid, absurdist approach to gender and identity.
Classic Keith. He maintained that edge later
too, right? He did. Appearing in the alternate
video for Colorado's American Arama in 2008.
What did he do in that one? He gave this really
pointed parody of the controversial American
Apparel CEO Dov Charney. Ooh, biting. Yeah. And
in 2012, he took a starring role in the punk
band O .F .F.'s video for Borrow and Bomb. O
.F .F., okay, cool. Where he played a professional
educator named Dale Antwerp hosting this very
awkward public access talk show called Teen Talk.
Huh. Perfect casting. This commitment to collaborating
with alternative media figures and musicians
is key, isn't it? It ensures his work remains
fresh and unexpected. And it proves he hasn't
forgotten his counterculture roots. Even while
doing network sitcoms or, you know, Fargo, he
keeps afoot in both worlds. Hashtag tag IV, personal
life, financial strain, and resilience. Okay,
so To truly appreciate Foley's incredible professional
longevity and resilience, especially that recent
successful dramatic pivot into Fargo, we really
have to look behind the curtain. Yeah, there
was a period defined by intense personal struggle,
particularly acute financial strain based on
the sources. Right. Let's maybe establish the
marital timeline first, which is marked by both
separation. and, interestingly, subsequent reconciliation.
His first marriage was to Canadian writer Tabitha
Southee from 1991 to 1997. They had two children
together. His second marriage was to actress
Chrissy Guerrero from 2002 to 2008, resulting
in one daughter, Alina Khiara Foley. Who later
became a child actor herself, right? That's right.
Now, the interesting pattern of reconciliation
occurs with his second wife, Chrissy Guerrero.
They separated, but then? They separated, but
subsequently reconciled and actually remarried
on New Year's Eve December 31st 2016. Wow that
suggests a powerful enduring bond despite whatever
challenges led to the separation. Good for them.
Yeah now okay. Turning to the child support crisis,
this had a profound decade -long impact on his
career choices and even his physical location.
This is related to his first marriage. Yes. This
crisis began with an interim child support agreement
issued back in 2001 obligating him to pay his
first wife, Tabitha Sawathy, a really substantial
sum, $10 ,700 a month. $10 ,700 all. A month?
Yeah. How was that figure determined? Well, that
figure was based entirely on his high earnings
during the absolute peak of the news radio years,
primetime network show money. Okay, but when
a network show ends... Income fluctuates wildly
for actors, right? Well, correct. Especially
back then. Wildly, yet that obligation remains
static and, well, brutally high. By 2011, he
publicly claimed his earnings had declined to
such a degree that the $10 ,700 sum constituted
literally 400 % of his income. 400%. That's impossible.
Completely unsustainable. Utterly unsustainable.
And he was caught in this incredibly rigid legal
bind. The child support was governed by Ontario's
Family Responsibility Office, or FRO. And they're
known for their stringent enforcement mechanisms.
OK. He was unable to get the obligation retroactively
reduced in court, meaning the debt just kept
compounding. Interest, penalties, the works.
Oh, man. The consequences must have been dire.
They were. He ultimately owed over half a million
dollars in back payments. Half a million dollars.
And this debt created a literal professional
and personal exile for him. Exile? How? He stated
publicly that he believed returning to Canada,
his home country, would result in his immediate
arrest upon entry as ordered by the FRO. He couldn't
go home because of child support debt. That's
what he believed, yeah. It was essentially a
decade of working primarily in the United States
while effectively banned from his homeland due
to bureaucratic financial enforcement. Imagine
that psychological weight. I can't even that's
unbelievable this financial and legal cloud persisted
for how long 12 years Okay, until 2013 when the
lawsuit with Salvi was finally settled. Okay,
so resolution eventually came It did, allowing
him to resume work in Canada. But the sheer cost
of this ordeal is best summarized by his own
words. What did he say? Regarding his acceptance
of the lead role in the CTV sitcom, Spun Out,
which filmed in Canada, he needed the work specifically
to clear the debt. Right. His, quote, perfectly
encapsulates the situation. I made enough money
to pay the price of admission to Canada. Wow.
the price of admission to Canada. That speaks
volumes about the resilience required to carry
that kind of debt and professional pressure while
maintaining a prolific and, you know, outwardly
cheerful career in comedy. It's staggering, really.
And beyond the financial strain, Foley has also
been extremely candid about his longstanding
severe battle with clinical depression. Right,
I've read out that. And this is where we encounter
maybe the most profound and unexpected twist
in his personal narrative, a dramatic health
scare that actually led to a positive shift in
his mental health. OK, what happened? He openly
discussed that he used to drink quite a bit,
his words, and that he finally stopped drinking
permanently on December 22, 2014 after a really
severe incident. What was the incident? While
intoxicated, he fell backward and hit his head.
Caused a major head injury. Oh no. How bad was
it? The injury was extremely serious. It was
diagnosed as a subdural hematoma. Which is bleeding
around the brain, right? Yeah. Very dangerous.
Exactly. It's a serious bleed between the tough
outer layer of the brain and the surface of the
brain itself, typically caused by trauma. He
required immediate medical attention and spent
four days in the intensive care unit. Four days
in the ICU. That's terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.
But while traumatic, the long -term mental outcome
was astonishing and highly unexpected. Really?
How so? In 2019, so about four years after the
incident, he reported that he had not had a drink
since the fall. OK, so sobriety stuck. That's
great. Yes. But even more profoundly, he reported
he had experienced almost no depression following
the injury. Wait, the depression he'd battled
for years. It just lessened after the head injury.
Largely resolved, according to him. It suggests
that this physical trauma somehow reset or altered
a long -standing chemical or neurological imbalance.
It's a really bizarre, almost unbelievable outcome.
That's incredible and incredibly strange. Neurologically
fascinating, I guess. Definitely raises questions.
Regarding his current life, he maintained residences
in downtown Los Angeles for years, but the sources
say he subsequently moved to New York City in
2022. East Coast now. Seems so. And one character
trait remains immutable from his news radio days.
Let me guess. Coffee. Coffee. His dedication
to coffee. He still claims to drink up to 50
cups a day when I am on set. 50? Okay, that might
be hyperbole, but still. That habit somehow fuels
his versatility, I guess. Or maybe it just keeps
him awake. Could be both. Hashtag outro. Wow.
Okay, so Dave Foley's journey. It really is defined
by these high contrast demands, isn't it? Yeah.
He helped co -found one of the most anti -establishment
and archaic sketch comedy troops in history.
Truly groundbreaking stuff with calf. Only to
transition seamlessly into the quiet, deadpan
competence of a mainstream sitcom lead on news
radio. A complete pivot, really. And now he maneuvers
effortlessly between children's voice work, reliable
recurring comedy roles, and these critically
acclaimed dramatic turns like the severe Danish
graves in Fargo. His defining professional characteristic
is that ability to be entirely different things
at once. It's like the chaotic, manic energy
of a character actor is hidden just beneath the
highly capable, unassuming suit of the straight
man. That's a great way to put it. And understanding
his intense personal struggles, that decade -long
financial crisis that literally enforced a professional
exile from his home country. And his sobriety
journey tied into that serious head injury. Right.
That's essential context. He maintained his professional
output because he literally had to keep working,
didn't he? To pay the price, as he put it, of
his own freedom and admission back home. The
resilience is just incredible when you know the
backstory. But the final most profound thought
we are left with, it has to be that unexpected
neurological connection forged in crisis. Yeah,
the head injury story is wild. He suffered a
severe physical trauma, the subdural hematoma.
afterward reported that the persistent chronic
depression that plagued him for years has largely
resolved. What does that truly suggest? Not just
about Dave Foley's unique recovery but about
this still unknown interplay between acute physical
injury and lifelong mental health challenges.
It's baffling. It suggests maybe a lifetime of
underlying neurological pressure or imbalance
that was completely counter -intuitively released
or corrected through a traumatic physical event.
It absolutely reframes how we perceive the high
-energy, often frantic comic persona he has embodied
for decades. Yeah, you wonder what was going
on underneath all along. The laughter often hides
the cost, doesn't it? It really does. That knowledge,
that self -discovery sometimes comes at an unimaginable
physical cost. Well, that's certainly something
for you to maul until the next deep dive. Thanks
for joining us. Thanks for having me. Fascinating
subject.