On March 5, 1982 John Belushi died of a drug overdose.
Saturday Night Live premiered when I was in my senior year of high school. I remember that first year, it was a strange show, I couldn't quite figure it out completely. But by the second year it was becoming the hip new comedy show. It helped create a new brand of comedy. Nowdays you see the effects of the show in almost every movie and show around. But then it was different.
I remember John Belushi doing the Samurai. Watching it made no sense but it was so funny. Or the deli owner..."cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger." The crazed Joe Cocker impression. He was brillant.
On his 30th birthday (1979) he had the number one album, "The Blues Brothers," the number one movie, "Animal House," and the number one late night tv show, "Saturday Night Live."
Like too many hollywood stories his did not end well. Fame and fortune turned into days of drugs. It's a sad story that we've seen played out too many times and still see being played out as evidence by Brittney Spear's recent antics.
What could have been is one of the saddest lines in the English langauge. What could have been...
4 comments:
Belushi was a pure comedic genius.
No coke. Pepsi.
Thanks for the memories :)
Although I have to confess, the very SNL I watched was the "bass-o-matic" episode. To this day, it makes me queasy to think of it.
He was truly one of the greats.
I think John Belushi was another example of how a brilliant mind battles demons we never really know about.
He was definitely one of a kind...Those were the days when SNL was so hysterical I couldn't wait until it was on...
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