The Bully Boys Part 1

The message Dan Aykroyd heard on the answering machine was disquieting. It was March 4 1982, and Dan was in the office in New York he shared with his partner and best friend John Belushi. The message he heard was from Belushi. John was in L.A. working on a movie script, and, as Aykroyd feared, Belushi was on a drug binge. The sound of the voice was depressed and sad. Dan was frightened that his partner was in serious trouble. That night , after trying and failing to reach John, Dan went to have dinner with John's wife, Judy. They both feared the same thing. Dan wondered if he should get on a plane and fly to L.A. and grab John and bring him home. He was sorely tempted. Both Judy and Dan decided to give it one more day. If John didn't make it home, Dan would go get him. The next day, John was dead... Belushi and Aykroyd met in Toronto's Second City in 1974. John, after 2 years in the Chicago Second City, was in New York recruiting talent for the National Lampoon Radio Hour. John had been a star in Chicago and was rapidly becoming a comedy force in NYC. Dan, with Toronto's Second City, was a rising star himself. Mutual friends told them both that they had to meet each other. John came up to Toronto. Dan was later to describe it as ''the door opened, and there was a raging snowstorm happening, and this figure came in full of charisma. That's how I met Belushi''.. Introductions were brief. John joined the cast onstage for the show [ the cast included Gilda Radner and John Candy ] . After the show, Dan took John to an illegal bar he owned that sold bootleg whiskey. As they sat at the bar, the feeling of long lost brothers finding themselves emerged. Dan played some blues music on the jukebox. John didn't know blues, he was a rock and roller. Dan filled him in on the blues. A fellow friend, Howard Shore , was there and suggested that someday John and Dan start a band themselves: that night began the genesis of The Blues Brothers.. Dan didn't want to leave Second City, so , he stayed. John took Gilda to NYC with him. The two new friends made a pact to stay in touch. At home in New York, John told his then girlfriend Judy that he met a great guy named Aykroyd, and, though he didn't know how, John was sure that someday they would work together.. In 1975, a young producer named Lorne Michaels started a show called ''Saturday Night Live''. He immediately hired Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, Chevy Chase, and Garrett Morris. Jane Curtin was to follow later. There were two spots remaining in the cast. Lorne knew he wanted Aykroyd, but, he was scared of Belushi. He heard the stories of John. Even though everyone who knew John agreed he was a comic genius, there was an uncontrollable part of his personality that was intimidating. After meeting John, he suggested that John come to the open auditions. John was pissed, no one else in the cast had to audition, why him? Nevertheless, he prepared to come to the audition and blow the minds of everyone there. He did. The remaining problem was waiting for NBC to approve them. The network had fears about Belushi and Aykroyd: comic gifts aside, these two were tough, bad assed, and fearless. The network wondered if they could control them.. They were hired... and, no one could control them... SNL premiered in the fall of 1975. Chevy Chase became the first breakout star of the show [ much to the annoyance of Belushi]. The show caught on with the public as the first season went on. John and Dan shined under Chevy's glow of fame. After one season, Chevy left, to be replaced by John and Dan's friend Bill Murray... Working together now for the first time, Belushi and Aykroyd's friendship deepened...