All language subtitles for Belushi.2020.WEBRip.XviD.MP3-XVID

Okay? Am I ready?

Yeah, we're ready.

Okay. All right.

Are they ready?

Now they're ready.

Okay, I'm gonna do
some loosening-up exercises.

Take to the right.

Okay.
Take to the left.

A double take to the right
and a double take to the left.

Okay, let's work
on the eyebrows now.

Ready?
Right eyebrow.

Up, down, up, down, up, down,
and start.

Okay, left.

Up--up, down, up, down,
up, down.

Okay, up, down, up, down.

Hello?

Ms. Shuster,
this is Tanner Colby

calling about
the John Belushi interview.

Yeah, hi.

Mr. Michaels, how are you?

Good.

Tanner Colby, can I ask you

to call me back
in ten minutes?

That is not a problem.

Okay, thanks.

How about some Brando?

You was my brother, Charley.

You should've taken care of me
or some'n.

Could've been a somebody.
Could've been a contender.

Are you taping
or making notes?

Uh, taping.
Is that okay?

You should always
ask permission

before you tape.

Okay. May I tape?

Yes, you may.

What are you doing?

It's gonna be like
an oral history

told in the words of the
first-person participants

because no one's ever done
a real biography

of John as a performer.

You know,
when he showed up,

it radically altered
the landscape of comedy.

I just wanted to give more
of a full portrait of him

as a human being.

Oh, okay.

No, no, no.

Want to do Steiger quickly?

Terry, Terry, Terry,

what are you talking about?

What are you talkin' about?

Don't talk to me that way!

Give me a light,
Johnny.

I'm going nuts, here.

He was one of the most
lovable and tragic characters

I've ever met.

He could be completely kind

and thoughtful and generous
and wonderful

and, at the flipside
of the coin,

be chaotic and tortured,
you know?

He also was hilariously funny.

He just had
a sort of giant humanity

that hooked into
the collective unconsciousness

of people's funny bone.

All right, all right.

John always had appetites

that were completely out
of control for everything,

but I didn't start
to worry about him

until they were
at the Universal Amphitheatre

playing for 7,000 people.

Thank you.

I looked at John
on the stage, and I thought,

"He's on the most popular
comedy television show

of our generation"...

Live from New York,
it's Saturday Night!

But, no!

I logged a lot miles
training for that day,

and I downed
a lot of doughnuts.

That's why
Little Chocolate Donuts

have been at my training table
since I was a kid.

He's in the most
successful comedy film ever.

This is absolutely gross.

That boy is a P-I-G, pig.

See if you can guess
what I am now.

I'm a zit.
Get it?

And now he's onstage,
fronting an amazing band.

Suspenseful music

My first thought was,
"How great for him."

And my second thought was,

knowing his appetites,

"I don't think
he'll survive this."

The Chips'
"Rubber Biscuit"

energetic scatting

I was a sophomore
in high school,

and a bunch of the senior guys
gave us a ride home.

And that was
when I first met him.

Hi.

My first date was homecoming,

and he was homecoming king.

That was a good introduction
to my life with John,

because he has
to go dance with the queen...

And I have to dance
with her boyfriend.

When I first was
getting involved with John,

his passion was football,

but he was beginning
to do things onstage.

He did the varsity show,

and he came up with lots
of little skits,

like a little jug band.

He had a vision of the show

so he just grabbed
his friends

and said,
"Here's what we're gonna do."

And they did it.

His vehicle was a motorcycle
that he was very fond of.

He bought it on his own.

I wasn't supposed
to ride on motorcycles,

so he would have to borrow
my parents' car to go out,

but I thought
it was very cool.

I did write a list of what
I wanted from a boyfriend,

'cause, you know, you have
to manifest these things.

It was "good at sports, smart,

musical, and funny."

And he was all those things.

And, of course,
I thought he was Italian,

as I think most people did.

I didn't know
where Albania was

when he said he was Albanian.

"Is that a country?"
I was like, "Albania?"

And I think he always felt
that immigrant label

pretty strongly...

that his family
were foreigners.

When we first moved
to Wheaton from Chicago,

John was six years old.

John lived in a world
of his own.

He was just like a little man.
He just took care of himself.

His father was
an Albanian immigrant.

He was embarrassed
by the way he spoke,

and he didn't express himself
at all.

He wanted to be a cowboy.

He wanted to come to America
and be a cowboy.

John's family
was a mystery to us.

None of us had ever heard
of Albania, God knows.

He was very ashamed
of his home,

and we never went
inside his house, ever.

We all wanted
to be American.

So, if your parents spoke
Albanian in the house,

it was kind of embarrassing
to you.

Well, you know,
he was kind of intense,

you know,
around the house

but around the dinner table
every once in a while,

he'd really let loose.

He'd do impressions
of everything.

Could've been a contender.

He loved
to be a performer, you know?

As a three-year-old kid,
he used to go the neighbor's,

walk into a room,
and do a show.

John just wanted
to make everyone laugh.

Of course,
my dad didn't, like,

even see the humor in it,
you know?

He'd just keep eating.

Country music

But the strong influence
in our house,

that was my grandmother,
who didn't speak English.

She loved John very much.

"Johnny nunnas,"
she used to say.

She used to go,
"Johnny nunnas."

I don't know what it means,

but it sounds really warm,
you know?

Well, I'm a king bee

bluesy music

Buzzing around your hive

John's dad was
in the restaurant business

and owned a restaurant
in Chicago.

He stayed there, like,

five nights a week
or something.

Come back on the weekend.

His father was a serious guy.

When he was young,
he started drinking.

He was abusing it,
and he stopped.

He did not drink.

Really was a hardworking guy

and away from the house a lot.

The idea was to get ahead.

It was all
about the American dream.

His mother,

she worked in various
restaurants as well.

She wasn't around a lot.

And she herself
had aspirations.

She wanted to be an actress

and actually ran away once
and did a play.

Like, left home.

No one knew where she was.
Showed up,

she's got a little apartment
and doing a play.

And then she came home,
and that was the end of that.

I just thought
that she felt sad...

...that things hadn't gone

how she would've liked.

I don't think John's parents
really understood his essence.

They didn't have the exchanges
with him to know it.

They didn't share
that kind of time.

It was Nana who provided
the unconditional love

for the kids.

Oh, boy,
what a fun night to drive!

He'd play the records
something like a million times

until you go crazy.

Boy, hit that semi dead-on.

Jonathan Winters
and Bob Newhart.

You must've
been doing at least 65.

I was doing 90, clown!

And he'd imitate them
in the mirror.

And then he'd write little
skit things off of it

and do them.

Special guest this morning,

four-foot-two, 656-pound
Elsa Fattinsky.

And then once
he starting doing it,

he said that he felt like
he could, you know,

go somewhere with this life,
you know?

Earth tremors
were felt around the world

to Schkorgus, New Jersey.

And then in the band too.

He had a band, you know?

And he'd bring these kids,
anybody who could play.

And he'd show up
with this whole mob of kids.

That was the way he was.

He would bring ten kids
with him.

Rock music

He felt like
he didn't have a family,

so he tried to create his own.

John was the star
of the class.

He was so in control
when he was doing a play,

and he was so funny.

You just knew he was special.

And when he found Judy
and they found each other,

I mean, that was it.

The John and Judy relationship

is really one of those things

that you hear about
in storybooks.

From the time I first met him,

it seemed like he was always

leading me into new doors
and experiences.

And it was like John had
some kind of magic.

He attracted people.

His enthusiasm was such
that you got revved up

and then you wanted to do it
too, whatever it was.

He decided to audition
for a summer stock theater

in Indiana.

I think he was
the youngest performer

they ever had who they paid.

I believe
he was paid $45 a week,

and he was expected
to mow lawn and paint as well.

Dear Jutes, well, here it is.

Twenty minutes to ten.

We're going through the
readings of our first play.

I don't have a real big part
in this one.

I play a general.

This is really
Hicksville, USA.

I can't believe it.

When I ride my bike in town,

the local yokels think
I'm a Hells Angel.

I'll write as often as I can,
sweetheart.

You know what they say.

Absence
makes the heart grow fonder.

Your one and only, John B.

Dear Jutes,

I'm listening to the Beatles
album Sgt. Pepper.

Whenever I hear it,
I think of you.

Especially "A Little Help
from My Friends."

I've lost about five pounds.

I'll fast for two weeks more
so we can go swimming.

I smoked pot the other night.

It's really something.
It's better than being drunk.

I might take it again,
but I don't know.

We got some reviews
from the papers.

I got some good ones.

A few papers
said I was superb.

When I get back,
we'll have to go

to Second City once
to see a show.

I hear it's great.

Directions on going out
on dates

with anyone except John B:

do not take bath and/or shower
three days prior to date.

Do not use deodorant
before date.

Do not brush teeth
and/or use mouthwash.

Wear mother's dress
which covers entire body.

Tell date that you have mono,
cramps, and halitosis.

If he tries to kiss you,
kill him.

He had a real penchant
for getting his feelings out.

My family was very Waspy

and emotions
weren't really discussed

and he was very clear
about those things.

A poem
by John Keats-Belushi.

I wander through
the dark forest of my mind

in search of something
that I must find.

There is no purpose
to this little strife

to find the answer
of what should be life.

The bountiful monotony
of this petty place

is broken
by an understanding face.

For there the answer lies,

the answer to my cries.

I am forever yours

and yours alone.

John.

His experience
at summer stock

was a really important
confidence builder,

and it gave him a broader
outlook on the world

and what was going on
and how he saw himself in it.

But when we went
to Second City,

that really cemented
his passion for acting.

Hi, Melvin. Sorry I'm late.

I was working
down at the agency,

and I don't recognize you.

You're new, aren't you?

Well, not terribly. I'm 30.

Soft dramatic music

The most memorable part
of the evening to me

was that as we left,

John stopped, turned around,
and said to me,

"This is what I want to do...

be an actor and create."

And I'd have to be prepared
to support us

because he was going to
probably never make any money.

So I was prepared.

But it was very much expected

that he would go into business
with his father

and take over the restaurant.

That was his father's dream
for him.

But John knew it wasn't
what he wanted to do,

and he knew it would be wrong
to try to do it

because his heart
wasn't in it.

And that was John Belushi 101,
you know?

You don't do something
that you don't believe in.

Dear Judy,

I guess I'm going through what
they call an identity crisis.

You know, "Who am I?
Who do I want to be?"

Any way you look at it,
we're gonna suffer in life.

The only thing we can do

is choose which way
we will suffer.

Sure,
I've got big plans for us,

but what if I fall on my face
and we're miserable?

Being a basically happy person

prone to occasionally
melancholy despair,

I'm not sure of anything
right now

in this whole damn,
fucked up world.

The only thing I am sure of
is that if it wasn't for you,

I'd be a mental
and physical wreck,

and you're
the most wonderful thing

that's ever happened to me.

I think you're the one person
who really understands me.

Love, John.

The Stooges'
"Down on the Street"

heavy rock music

Within the following year,

he went to college and had
organized two friends of his,

Tino Insana
and Steve Beshekas,

into a group that they called
the West Compass Players.

Just like he pulled a band
together earlier,

it was,
"Let's make an improv group."

John was
the most serious actor,

even in those days.

And he would continually
study improvising and comedy,

and he read
three newspapers a day--

and a real political satirist.

We would go to the coffeehouse
and hang out and rehearse.

Okay, buster, on your feet!

And those sketches were
about cops beating up hippies.

Everything
was about hippies.

Were you with him

when he went down to protest
at the convention?

Oh, yes, I was there.

It was Judy and John and I,

went down there,
and we were ten feet away

from the incident
that started the riot.

We were so much a part
of the counterculture.

We were the '60s.

John was very much
opposed to the war.

He became quite radical.

So there was a lot of politics
in his improv,

and he was having a lot
of fun.

Of course, John still
had the Second City,

that hallowed institution
of comedy,

as what he wanted to do,
and it turned out

that they had heard about
the West Compass Players.

And they called and said,

"Why don't you come in
and audition?"

John Belushi!

They invited him
to join the main stage cast.

It's first time ever anybody
was put on the main stage

who hadn't been
in the touring company.

My biggest recollection

was his amazing magnetism
with the audience.

He changed Second City,

'cause all they used to talk
about was philosophy

and intellectual concepts.

And John would come in there

and play this hippie
off the street

who's lost his memory
from smoking too much pot,

and the audience
would go nuts.

He became our strongman.

And instead
of stealing every scene,

he knew how to save any scene.

Literally, he'd walk onstage,
and people would laugh.

Mr. Truman Capote.

And his driving
ambition was the other one.

He wanted to succeed.

I remember him carrying his
reviews around in his pockets.

We went to the local
TV station to do a show,

and I remember seeing John...

"I'm John Belushi, and here's
what they say about me."

I mean, geez,
who carries his reviews?

Before John came,
I was the long-haired guy.

I was the hippie, the freak,
the radical, whatever,

but he was genuinely
all those things.

And it's kind of like
what was happening

with the whole generation,
you know?

He kind of shattered
the limits

and brought rock and roll
to the show.

He said to me one time,

"You got to go onstage
like a bull in a bullring,

with that much energy
and that much physicality.

Just jump out there
and do it."

We really felt that we were

in the presence of genius.

John would've done anything
for a laugh,

and, you know, that carried
over into everything else.

I mean, he was heroic
in his consumption, you know?

And I both admired it
and feared it

and realized that
it would take John really far,

but there was something safer
and more comfortable

about being me

than there was
about being him.

Discordant violin notes

You don't have
a cigarette on you, do you?

- Yeah.
- Ah, thanks.

Did you grow up
in Chicago?

Yes.

- Are you Italian?
- No, I'm not.

- What are you?
- I'm Albanian.

Oh, really?

Who was the little guy
in Abbott and Costello?

Was that--
that was Costello.

Do people ever compare you
to him?

- No.
- No?

- What's your opinion of him?
- I don't like him.

- You don't?
- No, I don't.

No? Why?

'Cause I don't think
he's funny.

Huh.
How do you see yourself?

I don't see myself
as any type at all.

I see myself as a new type,
you know?

I take each thing as it comes

to try and bring
whatever energy that I have,

which makes it different
than other performers.

You know?

I want to do things
that are new.

Upbeat rock music

National Lampoon

has been called
a MAD magazine for grown-ups.

Its hallmark is a kind
of anarchistic social satire.

We were the humor
empire in the United States.

And we were doing this play
called Lemmings

about a rock concert.

I'd like to welcome you to
the Woodchuck Memorial Festival

of peace, love, and death.

Lemmings
was a parody of Woodstock.

It was the "woodchuck"
festival.

Lemmings are little animals

that, when
they get overpopulated,

they just run
and jump over cliffs,

and that was sort of the idea.

One, two, two, one.

The target this time

was the current
counterculture,

which had its own gods
and divas

who had not really
been made fun of,

so taking shots, so to speak,
at people like Joe Cocker,

Crosby, Stills & Nash, Dylan.

We already had
Chris Guest and Chevy Chase,

and then the director came
to me and said,

"We heard that
there's this guy in Chicago

with the Second City
who is absolutely fantastic."

So I said, "Well,
get on a plane and grab him."

- Hey! How you been, man?
- Hey! Hey, hey, hey!

In a crowd

of extraordinarily talented
people,

he was the electrical force
that held it all together

and gave the show its focus.

National Lampoon's
"Lonely at the Bottom"

band playing
jazzy show tune

Well, I'm standing here,
singing my song

There ain't nothing to do,
and all my friends are gone

I had sunshine
and a country home

I've been on the cover
of Rolling Stone

- But it's lonely
- Yes, it's lonely

He was clearly the star.

He had a great command.
He had confidence.

And, you know, we all
looked up to him that way.

Yeah, now all my friends
are gone

Oh, yeah,
who will help my friends?

Oh, yeah, who will
help my friends?

Oh, yeah,
who will help my friends?

Uh-oh.

Hey!

What a day.

I got to get up.

Whoa.

What

Would you do

If I sang out of tune

Would you stand up

- And walk out--
- One, two, three!

Part of the appeal
for Lemmings was definitely

the fact that the role was
to be a rock star.

But that was also
when cocaine was introduced.

Psychedelic rock music

You can't talk about
John and not mention drugs

because John did do a lot
of drugs.

But it was part
of the culture,

and everybody
was actively saying

that drugs enhance
your artistic vision.

And it was even encouraged
to a certain extent.

But, I mean, it didn't affect
his performance

or anything like that.

God, this is the biggest
quaalude I've ever seen.

Onstage,
he was dangerous.

He gave the impression
that anything could happen,

so you were engaged
by this raw id.

And it was vulnerable,
the way an id is.

There's nothing protecting it.

It must've hurt a lot.

In a way,
John was more fragile

than those of us
who appeared more fragile.

The biggest
White House scandal

in a century
broke wide open today.

As the show
was running,

during the day
was the Watergate thing.

What did the president know,
and when did he know it?

All right, you.
Cool it.

So at night,

we would do a version
of the Watergate hearings.

You know what?

Please be quiet.
Please.

It was called
"Mission: Impeachable."

All right, I would like
to introduce at this time

President
Richard Milhous Nixon.

This
is another exciting chapter

in the true-life drama
of John the Judy-lover.

I got my woman,
and that's all I need.

When I started working
at the Lampoon

in the art department,

Michael O'Donoghue
was doing a book

called the
Encyclopedia of Humor.

So we became friendly.

And then Michael started
National Lampoon Radio Hour.

I had suggested John
for the show,

and, slowly,
because he came to trust me,

he said,
"Okay, let's bring him in."

Good evening.
This is John Belushi.

And this is the
National Lampoon Radio Hour.

You idiot! Now move!

He's dead.

You killed Ziegler when
you pushed him, Mr. President.

I didn't push him.

Mitchell pushed him.

Don't blame me for everything
that goes on around here.

I could've
been an anal retentive instead

of a thumb-sucker,
which is what I am.

Let's face it, Charley.

Here, kid,
you better take this.

You're going to need it;
I don't have time

to fool around with you.

I just dropped a big load
in my pants!

Anybody who he thought
was talented

he would basically want
to have work with him.

And John was responsible
for bringing everybody

that he knew from Second City
into the Radio Hour.

He brought Gilda down,

Bill Murray, Harold Ramis.

And then Michael O'Donoghue
ended up splitting

from the National Lampoon.

So we needed another director,

and the obvious choice
was John.

You are listening to the
National Lampoon Radio Hour.

Hey, you guys!
Come in for a second!

Get out of that shower and stop
horsing around over there!

Stop snapping those towels.
I got something to say.

John always was
the anchor for everything,

even socially.

He and Judy would have
the Thanksgiving dinners,

and it was his house
that you'd go to to hang out.

They were already
like a married couple

when they were so young.

And she was always by his side

and just as funny and dark
and crazy as everyone else.

I'll tell you,

Judy was a great
steadying influence on John.

People knew that
he was gonna become a star.

And he knew it.

But Judy, she always kind of

brought him back down
to Earth,

'cause as talented and wild
and impulsive as he was,

whenever some sort of order
was imposed on him,

either self-imposed
or otherwise,

it had a good effect on him.

Don't want to discuss it

Think it's time
for a change

You may get disgusted

Start thinking
that I'm strange

That case
I'll go underground

Get some solid rest

Never have to worry

About who's got what
and what is best

I said oh, oh, Domino

Roll me over, Romeo

Time for a change

All right

I met him in Toronto.

He came up to grab people
for his radio endeavors,

but I couldn't do it 'cause
I had a TV show in Canada.

One of
the greatest things John found

was a friendship in Danny.

Mm-hmm.

You know,
Danny and John were really,

I mean, amazingly tight.

We fell in love
the moment we met

'cause he was just one
of those characters

that walked into a room
and high wattage from day one.

And, you know, we saw the
worth in each other right away

for a really
enduring friendship.

You know, the great thing was

everyone liked everyone else.

I mean,
no one was getting rich,

but we did not have
to hustle.

No one had
to take second jobs.

And I think
we all started feeling,

"Hey, maybe we are as good
as we hope we are."

Hi, I'm your
host-person, Gilda Radner,

and tonight I'm gonna read you

the people who contributed
to this week's show.

John Belushi,

Chevy Chase,
Brian Doyle-Murray,

Chris Guest,
Doug Kenney,

Bill Murray,
Joe Flaherty,

Harold Ramis, Ed--

- It's Ray-mis.
- What?

Ray-mis, not Rah-mus.

You want to spell it?

R-A-M-I-S. Ramis.

And how do you pronounce that?

Pronounce it Ray-mus.

Do you say,
"Will you slum the door?"

Will you just read
the credits right, Gilda?

And there you have
the essential struts, pillars,

and crutches of
the American comedy industry

as we have it today,

and John was, like,
one of these cohesive forces

bringing it all together,
you know?

Low, ambient ringing

I'd seen John
in his show with Gilda

and Billy Murray
and Harold Ramis.

You know,
I thought he was interesting,

but I wasn't knocked out.

Dramatic music

There was a young
executive named Dick Ebersol

who came over to NBC to be the
new director of Late Night.

He and I had a bunch
of meetings.

I just sort of added up

everything
I was interested in,

which was comedy and music
and politics and films,

and threw it all together,

and I sort of at the beginning
had the ingredients.

I didn't quite have
the recipe.

Okay, rework.

I mean,
Saturday Night Live

was the same format as the
National Lampoon Radio Show.

And most of the actors came

from one
of the Lampoon shows

and a number of the writers
and what have you.

Lorne, of course, denies it.

Both Michael O'Donoghue
and Chevy

wanted me to meet with John,
and they were big fans.

But at our first meeting,

he said that
he didn't do television.

You know, like I'm supposed
to convince him to do it.

And I thought,
"Oh, it's trouble.

He's trouble."

Because I was looking for,
you know,

a group of people who saw this

as the opportunity
that I saw it as,

which was a sort
of cultural upheaval,

and the enemy, to me,
was ambivalence.

He went in
with his attitude

and told him immediately
that he hated television

and his television
had spit all over it.

He pretty much turned
Lorne's conviction true,

that he thought John would be
not the right mix.

Lorne didn't like to
have his authority challenged,

and Belushi's macho flexing

was not something that Lorne
was gonna warm to, you know?

Right.

He didn't like power plays.

We were the last two
to get hired for that show...

Because they weren't sure--

- We were too much.
- We had reputations of--

I had what you call
a bad attitude, you know?

"How about TV?"
I was kind of a punk.

You know, I said, "I'll let you
have me on your show."

I was real--the worst way
to try and get a job.

Lorne Michaels
was not nuts about me.

So when I went in to audition
for Saturday Night,

he said,
"What are you gonna do?"

Turned around and went...

dramatic music

Just before I was
on the Saturday Night show,

there was a station
in New York

showing a samurai movie.

It was Toshirô Mifune.

Oh, my God.

Couldn't believe it.

The sword fighting was
fabulous,

and I was fascinated.

So I just got doing it
around the house.

Like, I would take
this broomstick

that we had in the house
and I'd stick it in my belt,

and I'd...

I'd go up to my cats,
you know,

with a sword and go...

They loved it, they loved it.

Dramatic music

Can you hear me up there?

Pick an adjective.

It was great;
it was horrible;

it was fascinating;
it was exhausting;

it was exhilarating;

and that was before
the show had launched.

Well, it was like

being in a college dorm,
you know?

We had beers
and smoked the herb.

Well, you just smelled
it in the air, and you knew.

And there was definitely
cocaine around.

Walked past Lorne's
office late one night,

and there's Belushi,

was snorting coke off
of Lorne's desk.

You know, Lorne was long gone
by that time.

I remember John and Lorne

getting into some kind
of fight and Lorne firing him.

Anne Beatts said
that you fired John

just before the start
of the show; is that--

God, it makes perfect
sense that I would have.

I was like, "No, no, no,

we have to put this
back together."

And I went and found him in
some divey bar on 48th Street.

Said, "Go back and apologize."

And Lorne, of course,
you know, did take him back.

Beginning on October the 11th,

Saturday Night premieres
a whole new live venture.

What should we look for
on your program?

- Anxiety.
- Fear?

Yeah.
It's--

Will all of you
be seen every week?

Well, we've got eight,

and we're hoping
for two to really work.

I mean, so not all of these
people will become stars.

Quiet, please.

And then,
despite Lorne's misgivings,

John was in the opening

of the first
Saturday Night Live ever.

Let's begin.

Repeat after me.

- I would like...
- I would like...

To feed your fingertips...

To feed your fingertips...

- To the wolverines.
- To the wolverines.

- Next, I am afraid...
- I am afraid...

- We are out...
- We are out...

- Of badgers.
- Of badgers.

- Would you accept...
- Would you accept...

- A wolverine...
- A wolverine...

- In its place?
- In its place?

- "Hey," Ned exclaimed.
- "Hey," Ned exclaimed.

- "Let's boil"...
- "Let's boil"...

- "The wolverine."
- "The wolverine."

Next...

Live from New York,
it's Saturday Night!

I mean, it wasn't,
like, an instant megahit,

but it did build to that
relatively quickly.

They became a new group
of cultural icons.

The editorial was about Jewry,
not jewelry.

Ooh, well,
that's very important.

Yes.

Never mind.

It was very, very popular

because of its attitude.

Honey, did you send
for interior demolitionists?

It was expressing
the rebellion

that the ordinary person
was feeling.

We were children of the '60s.

We'd come out of free love
and sex, drugs, rock and roll,

but also out of civil rights
and feminism,

and there was nothing on the
airwaves that fed back to us

the culture we were living.

It's just a word association.
Colored?

Redneck.

- Burrhead.
- Cracker!

New Shimmer is a floor wax.

No, New Shimmer
is a dessert topping.

- It's a floor wax.
- It's a dessert topping.

It's a floor wax,
I'm telling you.

It's a dessert topping,
you cow!

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
Calm down, you two.

New Shimmer's a floor wax
and a dessert topping.

- Mr. Bee?
- Yes?

Congratulations,
it's a worker.

It's a worker?

In the very first days
of Saturday Night,

all John did was be a bee,

which he didn't like doing.

There were roles
he thought he could do better

that someone else would get.

He didn't think he had a voice
to express that

or be taken seriously
'cause Lorne made the choices.

Do you think we like this?

No.

But we don't have any choice.

We'd walk down the street,

and someone
would hang out their car

and point at John and go,
"Hey, Mr. Bee!"

It was not what he had dreamed

his life in television
would be.

Meanwhile...

And now

Weekend Update
with Chevy Chase.

I love it when you make noise.

Remember when--
I got to go, hon.

Good evening.

I'm Chevy Chase,
and you're not.

Chevy had his "I'm
Chevy Chase, and you're not,"

so he was getting
pretty famous.

Don't move.
There's a bee on your hand.

From the first show
to the one I did,

which was the fourth show,

"I'm Chevy Chase,
and you're not"

became part
of the pop culture.

Live from New York,
it's Saturday Night!

It was the
Chevy Chase show.

Chevy, Chevy,
I love when you fall down

It's Saturday Night
on my TV

Oh, but Chevy, every time
you take that fall

I wish
that you were falling

Falling for me

Good evening.

I'm God, and here's the news.

When Chevy, you know,
did take off very quickly

and John didn't,
that was confusing to John

and did cause some problems.

- You comfortable?
- Oh, yeah.

Okay, good.

Oh, he'd go
on his tirades and sulk.

There was a lot of,

"How come Chevy's
in more stuff than I am?"

That was after, at night.

You know,
he'd come over to your hotel

and then start moping and ask
if he wasn't "in" enough.

And that he was talented,

or wasn't he talented
or what is it?

"You are talented,
just not, you know,

doing what Chevy's doing
at the moment."

"Why not?"

He did not
throw himself into the group.

He didn't come into the office
a lot and discuss sketches.

I spent most of my time
in the office with Lorne.

All the way up
from Second City

to National Lampoon, John had
always been the ringleader.

Yeah.

He had been the top banana,

and now it was all about Chevy
all the time,

and that was driving
John crazy.

Then with the samurai
on Richard Pryor's show,

that was sort of
the breakthrough.

John already had
the character,

and that came about because

Richard did not want
to come to the offices

so I had John head over
to his hotel room

and work with him there,
and Richard was like,

"I got to do that.
I can do that with him."

Fellas, which one of you is
gonna carry my bags upstairs?

Everybody, you know,

New York Magazine and
Rolling Stone and everybody

was focusing on Chevy,
but John, I don't know,

his energy
and the danger of him,

the kind of excitement
whenever he came on screen

was jarring...

and a comedy
I hadn't seen before.

Ah-choo.

It was
a very mixed year for John.

It was a disappointment
on a level

that he wasn't able
to have the voice he wanted,

but there was a certain family
sensibility for John,

in that Danny was there,

and it was a very strong...

very strong friendship.

I get the feeling that out of

all the "not ready
for primetime" players,

you two are really
close friends.

Well, actually for
the first year of the show,

none of sure it was gonna
go past seven shows,

so I crashed at his house,
you know?

So we'd take trips.

Like, you know, Dan and
I would get sick of the show,

and we'd get a driveaway car

and just burn across
the country in three days

with the CB radio.

He'd drive like a madman
and we'd talk about something.

We'd play music, you know?

He turned me on
to the Allman Brothers

and I turned him on
to "Ride of the Valkyries."

Wagner, you know,
which he'd never heard.

As we were sailing across the
Nevada mountains, you know?

Wagner's
"Flight of the Valkyries"

And then at the end
of the first year,

Chevy announced
that he was leaving the show.

Hey, Mr. Chase.

And with Chevy gone,

the thing John most hoped for,

which was that he would be
the alpha male,

now had happened.

Now he had
what he said he wanted.

Right now, NBC,

one of the country's
largest corporations,

with billions in assets...

Is waiting for me,

a stupid, troublemaking
punk actor

from Wheaton, Illinois,
to open the show.

And everybody says, you know,

John was, you know,
the everyman,

and that's why
he connected with people.

Well, John had that
connection with the audience

where they can see
right into his heart.

You know,
when I think of Ireland,

I think a lot
of colorful Irish expressions,

like "top of the morning
to ya,"

"kiss the Blarney Stone"...

There was
so much vulnerability

that you thought
you knew who he was.

"I'd like to smash you in
the face with my shillelagh."

Ladies and gentlemen,
Mr. Joe Cocker!

Seems I've got to have...

I remember standing
on the floor once,

Lorne saying, "It's Gleason."

And you think about it,
it was Ralph Kramden there.

There was something so
blue-collar-ish about him.

Ahh.

It was almost like
he didn't have

a command of the language.

Where he made you laugh

was when
he was breaking things.

Joe Cocker's
"Feelin' Alright"

Conveyance of conspiracy

with the raise of an eyebrow.

And you hooked into the ride
that he was going on.

At least when George C. Scott
won the Oscar,

he didn't accept it.

You know, Marlon Brando
sent up an Indian.

Now, you could've sent up
an Indian.

But, no, no, no!

People reacted to John
and loved John

in the same way
that they love gangsters.

I'm not feeling
that good myself, oh

Oh, no

Of course, I'm talking
about Elizabeth Taylor.

Liz, welcome
to Celebrity Corner.

Gangsters
are blue-collar immigrants

who live the American dream

by basically going outside
the system

and breaking all the rules.

Well, thank you so much, Liz.

It's been a real treat

for me to have you
on Celebrity Corner.

And I think all your fans
in the whole world

are joining me when I say,

"Good luck with that diet."

John was the leader,
after Chevy,

of "all for one, one for all."

You know, he loved the show.

Would you consider
yourself an anarchist?

A disciplined
anarchist, yeah.

Yeah, sure.
I'm an anarchist.

One thing I think I'm not
is a professional.

I mean, I'd rather be an
anarchist than a professional.

Because I think there are
too many people

just kind of sitting down
and letting things happen.

I like to shake things up
a little bit.

Today with the success
of Saturday Night,

TV comedy
is changing TV, right?

Wrong.
Dead wrong.

You see, we're an exception,

a tropical island
in a sea of video sludge.

But that first
intoxicating period of success

is incredibly confusing,

'cause you get to meet
everybody you ever thought

you wanted to meet
and they want to meet you.

John lived his life
in these eight-hour shifts,

and if you were with him
for eight hours,

you thought, "Well, God,
he must be exhausted.

But I'm going to bed."

But then there was
a whole other group of people

that he hung out with.

John and Danny both
were at a point

where they were famous,

and so their lives
were no longer the same.

They couldn't just go to a bar
somewhere and sit around.

That was no longer
a comfortable reality

because people were on them
all the time.

Do you remember
when the Blues Bar opened?

Oh, yeah.

You were there
for opening night, right?

Oh, yeah.

John and Danny's
Blues Bar was such a shithole

that it took my breath away.

It was tiny, it stunk,

and also had
the most terrifying bathroom

I've ever seen in my life.

But it was the most
spectacular jukebox.

And I remember Keith Richards
being there,

and the Allmans would
kind of set up in one corner

and Francis Ford Coppola
and Danny tending bar.

There was no money
changing hands.

There was nothing sinister.
It was their fantasy.

And it instantly became

the coolest party
in the history of New York.

Oh, freedom

It was a very heady time,

and I think he started
to lose his balance a little.

Hello?

Hi, Jane.
This is John.

- John Belushi.
- Hi, John! How are you?

Not too good, actually.

You probably noticed I haven't
been in the show yet.

Well, I just wanted
to tell everyone

that I am in the hospital.

I hurt my leg,
but I will be back next week

with or without my leg.

Uh-huh.

John began doing lectures

at colleges with Danny,
and on this particular show,

for whatever reason,

he decided
to jump off the stage,

and he broke the cartilage
in his knee.

He was put on painkillers,

and when they stopped
the painkillers,

he was not ready to stop.

And it got pretty out
of control.

Look, I can't put
this man on television.

He's barely awake.

Lorne,
if John Belushi could speak,

he'd tell you he's got
to go on.

Doc, I-I-I-I don't understand.

Why are you so convinced
that this man can do a show?

Well...

to be perfectly honest,
it's about my fee.

In the second year,

your prediction
that John would be trouble

- sort of came to fruition.
- Yeah.

And if he doesn't get paid,
I don't get paid.

And if I don't get paid,

I'll be forced
to cut off his drugs.

Live from New York,
it's Saturday Night!

He was testing all
the boundaries at that point.

The boundaries
of his relationship with Judy,

definitely with everyone
at the show.

Well, let them take you
for a clown

And they're bound
to bring you down

You got to make it
through the world...

I'd come up to the show,

and I was walking
into the studio,

and there's bleachers there,
and as I got in and under,

I saw that John and some woman
were kissing.

And he saw me
and came right after me,

and he grabbed me and said,

"I swear to God,
she just kissed me."

He would be late.
He would be erratic, you know?

He did have difficulties,
obviously.

I mean,
the phrase "where's John?"

Was said as frequently
in rehearsals

as, "Live from New York,
it's Saturday Night."

It was difficult
working with John.

I don't know whether it was
ego or ambition or the drugs,

but he didn't seem to respect
the women on the show.

He was very hard
on two of the women writers

and kind of just made it
a categorical,

"I don't like their work,

I don't want to do their work"
kind of thing.

And, of course,
they often wrote for Gilda,

and I think she felt
he was being mean and unfair.

Even so,
John would do stuff

like refusing to be in things
we wrote

and saying that girls
weren't funny.

And I mean, believe me,

all those men who
are accusing John of sexism,

I don't think their records
are too clear either.

John had to always look
like he was the boss.

It was a, you know,
a descent into hell.

I'll just leave it at that.

If you can

During that second season,

it just seemed
we were slipping apart.

He was being distant,

not responsive to concerns
I had about his drug use.

And I began to not trust
what he was telling me.

He wasn't following through
enough with things he said.

I felt I wasn't important
anymore,

and it didn't feel like
his interest was with me,

and that's really pretty much
why we split.

So he went to LA.

I'm the head
of the John Belushi fan club.

Yes, how's that?

What's this for?

We're making a documentary
about him.

You know Sally Kirkland?

No, I don't.

- She's a sweetheart.
- She is a sweetheart.

We're making it about people
who are about to make it,

who didn't make it,
who are gonna make it.

Now, here's Bob, right?

He's been in Hollywood for
two years from Brooklyn, right?

Y-yeah?

And all of a sudden,
he's a big star.

I'm not a big star.

That word
is not real anymore, man.

He probably has more to say.

That show's a hit,
and he's the biggest hit--

I was telling him
the first night

that you came to Hollywood

and you said,
"My God, should I shave?"

Right?

'Cause all of a sudden,
everybody knows you.

And they didn't know you the
last time you were here, right?

Uh, no--
oh, my friends knew me.

Well, I'm not
talking about your friends.

I'm talking about people
just walking in the door

- at the Comedy Canteen.
- No.

No, they didn't know me, no.

But they did this time?

Some knew me.
Some...

will never know me.

Some don't care.

Psychedelic music

Dearest Judy,

I've never doubted
your love for me.

I have doubted your faith
in me.

Experience
has taught you that.

When I dislike myself,

I think the people who like me
are fools

to like an asshole like me.

I know I'm inconsistent.
I work very hard.

I don't want
to be like my dad.

He never talked to my mom.
I am better, aren't I?

I'm trying to be clear,

but it's hard to understand
and explain.

Maybe it's nothing,
a coke paranoia.

I want to be with you
for the rest of my life,

but I don't think
you believe me.

I know what I'd like to do
after we talk more.

One, buy new clothes.

Two, stay away from drugs
and drug people.

Three, try to exercise.
Four, lose weight.

Five, stay home with you
and talk.

Six, go out more with you.
Seven, stop seeing others.

Eight, understand
other's needs.

Nine, be happy.

Ten, love you.

Please, let's talk.

Harmonica music

For about a month,
we didn't live together,

and then one day,
he came back.

He convinced me
that he loved me

and that he couldn't always do
what I was hoping,

but this time was unique

and that we were gonna change
our trajectory.

We decided to go to Aspen
for vacation.

My brother lived in Aspen,

and I heard him tell
my brother

we were gonna get married
while we were there.

Meanwhile, I personally
had forgotten

the idea of getting married

because of the way things
had just sort of all gone.

I said, "John,
I heard you say to my brother

that we were gonna
get married."

And he said, "Well, yeah.
Aren't we?"

Dark rock music

My dear sweet Judy,

a letter is so inadequate

to explain how I feel
about you.

It's just there,
living inside of me,

a living organism
that I need to live.

To my first
and only Valentine forever.

Love, John.

He was obviously
experiencing some wild peaks

and some dark troughs.

And then he
and Judy got married,

and things really
settled down.

Exactly.

It just seemed
like he needed that.

I went to visit John
at Saturday Night,

and I remember walking down
the street

with all these people I'd been
with when we had nothing,

when just having a job
was good enough.

And now I looked behind us,

and limousines were slowly
following us down the street,

you know?

Seemed like
they were the beginnings

of a kind of wretched excess.

You know, for John,

who lived for so long
with some sense of destiny,

what was kind of a hopeful
arrogance, you know,

turned into a kind
of expectation

of his own success.

And that was before
Animal House.

All right, you bastard.
Let's go, right here!

Upbeat oldies music

Hey, baby, won't you take
a chance...

Food fight!

My wife at that time said,

"You've always wanted
to write a movie

about your college
experience."

So Doug Kenney and I
started writing,

and then Doug and I recruited
Chris Miller,

who was the Lampoon's
resident college expert.

One thing
about Animal House is that,

at the center
of every great animal house,

there was a great animal.

And we looked at each other
for a beat,

and we all simultaneously
said, "Belushi."

And the script
wasn't designed

for Bluto to burst through.

It's just, John burst through.

Mr. Blutarsky...

zero-point-zero.

He's the ladies' man

Was it over when the Germans
bombed Pearl Harbor?

- "Germans"?
- Forget it. He's rolling.

Let's do it!

Holy shit!

Animal house

Seven years of college
down the drain.

Animal house

In the script,

John's character
had much more dialogue

than he does in the movie.

I took most of his lines away

because this idea of Bluto
as kind of--

you know,
I told him to channel

Harpo Marx
and the Cookie Monster.

It's just appetite.

Don't know much biology...

And what Belushi had
that was so great--

you actually can watch
his thought process.

You know,

you can see the ideas seeping
through his skull.

But what both the
Cookie Monster and Harpo have,

despite their
destructive tendencies,

is they're both very,
very sweet,

and that's the strength
of John's performance.

Good.

And a lot of the
stuff that people remember

is just John.

Hey.

There was a scene

where he's cheering up
Flounder.

To me,
it's this examination of John.

Because he really did
want you to have a good time,

and he could do
the most outrageous

and totally
unforgivable behavior...

...because he was
so damn charming.

John came to this movie
ready to work.

He went there with Judy.
They rented a great house.

It was a very familial affair.

He was there
with all guns blasting.

He was very creative.

There was no weirdness;
there was no acting out.

John, you know,

thought of himself
as a physical God.

I think he probably
would've thought

he could be a ballet dancer
if somebody asked him to.

But he always
introduced me as,

"Oh, this is my friend Bruce.
He's a great actor."

And after a while,
I said,

"John, why do you make
that distinction?

You're an actor, I'm an actor.
What's the deal?"

He said,
"Oh, no, I'm a sketch player."

And I think that's one
of the things that drove John

and frustrated him so,
is that he was so talented

and what he did came
so naturally

and without apparent effort
on his part

that he kept thinking

somebody was gonna find out he
wasn't really doing anything.

He was just cutting up.

The deal is he was cutting up

as one of the world's most
talented physical comics ever.

How do you think
the movie is coming along?

Are you pleased with it?

I'm very pleased with it.

I think it's the best thing
I've ever done.

It was really one of
the most remarkable previews

I'd ever gone to.

I've had some very big hits
since then,

but I've still never had
a screening like that one.

Excuse me, sir.
Is this the Delta house?

Sure.

Come on in.

From the moment Belushi
appeared on the screen

and peed
on the freshmen's trousers,

the audience went crazy
and didn't stop going crazy,

and if they could've torn
seats out,

literally,
they would have.

What about Animal House?

It's a comedy that I did,
and it's coming out today.

It's a stroll down memory lane
with a blowtorch.

Toga! Toga!

Toga, toga, toga!

It is toga fever,

and it is sweeping
college campuses

throughout the country.

Something
that happened to John

is instant stardom.

I mean, he was
a television personality

on a late-night fringe show,

and then out of this movie
comes this stardom,

and that's terrifying.

Around the movie,
there was this craze.

So Newsweek
put him on the cover.

That was certainly,
you know,

turning him
into a famous face.

It's more difficult
after that.

John was way more
comfortable onstage

than anywhere else.

And I always said to him,

"I don't understand
how you can do that.

Get up on the stage,
you have no fear whatsoever."

And he always said,

"Yeah, but you do the thing
that I can't do,

"which is you're
more comfortable in life.

I don't know how you do that."

He didn't really talk
to me about the difference

between movie stardom and
television stardom or that.

He did want to conquer
all mediums.

I think one
of his biggest prides

was his success
with the Blues Brothers act.

He was just ecstatic.

We're very fortunate
to have this person with us--

Mr. John Belushi.
Can we bring him out here?

Johnny Lee's
"Hey Bartender"

Went partying
the other night

Started drinking
and got real tight

I blew each
and all my friends

Felt so good,
I had to blow again

I said, "Hey, bartender"

I got turned on to blues

when I was filming
Animal House.

I mean, really into it,
you know what I mean?

So I've spent the last year
trying to learn

as much as I could,
you know, about blues.

One more time!

I'd carry albums with me.

When I would just go see
somebody or I'd go to work,

listening--I mean, I'd drive
my friends nuts, you know?

Draw a-one, two

Three more glasses of beer

He said to me,

"We're gonna do
the Blues Brothers.

We're gonna do, like, a band."

And he got Danny
to play harmonica, you know?

And then he said, "Okay, Judy,
you're gonna be the designer

and, Laila, you're gonna be
the president

of the Blues Brothers,

and you're gonna put it
all together."

I think John used the blues
as a way

to keep everybody together.

To sort of create a family?

Yes.

You know,
it was a real common effort,

but mainly led by John,
you know? He really--

It came out of trust
and people saying, you know,

they weren't sure what it was.

I knew what it was.

I knew exactly
what it was gonna be.

But they all showed up.

We got the best musicians
in the world.

Went partying
the other night

Started drinking
and got real tight

I blew each
and all my friends

Felt so good,
I had to blow again

I said, hey...

A lot of people thought

that it was kind of a joke.

I don't think people realized

that we really had
a great band

and that John
could really sing.

Three more glasses of beer

Once we actually performed,

I think we put to rest
that it wasn't a joke,

and it was a love of the music
that was driving John.

Come on down
and drink with me

I said, "Hey, bartender"

The whole thing,
it's a theatrical thing.

Like, you know, Greek theater
has the mask, you know?

Well, the Blues Brothers have
the shades and the suits.

So it basically looks
like '50s hipster junkie.

They look like cops.

They look like hit men,
you know?

Rabbis.
Some guys thought--

But the fact is
that Jake and Elwood

aren't any of those things.

They're just, like, musicians,
you know?

Well...

And here you are
on television every week.

What I'm getting from you is
that underneath it all of it,

the biggest fantasy is
to be a rock-and-roll star.

That's it, pal.

Hey, bartender

Hey,
bartender

Hey, bartender

Draw a-one, two

Three more glasses of beer

Atlantic Records wanted
to do a live album,

and that first night
at Universal Amphitheatre,

the crowd was just wild.

You know, John had loved being
in a band and wanted a band,

and now he had a band.

The best band in the world.

And I just thought,
"My God, they did it."

The Blues Brothers'
"She Caught the Katy"

We recorded the album,
and it was released

and pretty quickly went
to number one.

Triumphant blues music

She caught the Katy

And left me a mule...

That's when
the 1941 deal came down,

and he turned to me and said,
"It's done.

You know, I'm working
with Spielberg,

and I think
this means I'm set."

And left me a mule to ride

My baby caught the Katy...

Boy, you must be a busy guy.

You do Saturday Night Live;
you have time for movies;

you have time for
the Blues Brothers projects.

Plus, I mean, I'm a
night manager at Burger King.

I have to keep working.
You know, I'm like a shark.

If I stop, I'll die.

John? Hello?

Hello, hello, hello!

- Hello.
- Hello!

So why did you call, dear?

I called because

he's the greatest guy
on Saturday Night Live.

Aw.

If he just keeps on
doing what he's doing,

he's gonna make so many people
in the world so happy.

Well, I hope so.
Thank you.

Thank you. All right.
Let's take another call.

Let's see.
Hello?

On his 30th birthday,

the Blues Brothers
were number one,

he was on the number one
television show,

and Animal House was the
number one grossing comedy.

He was high on his success,

but he was unsure
of what people wanted from him

and how to relate to people.

All right, one more.
Hello.

- Hello?
- Hello!

That was
a difficult change for him.

BCN here.

Yes, I have one question.

Yeah, sure.

What is your drug
of preference?

Uh...

That's a good question.

Go ahead, John.
You can answer that.

Um...

I don't--I don't--
I don't tell people that.

Right.

That's a very good answer.

He was a very
American-like force.

I felt that
what made you laugh about John

was peculiarly American.

The raw energy
of this country

was summed up
in the way he hit the stage,

but at the same time,
I've always felt

that there's an enormous void
at the center of America,

a void that has to do with
promise and disappointment

and impossible expectations.

Behind all this energy
comes what?

The American dream
is ultimately just a dream.

When you finally get where
you're going, what then?

Hello?
Olympia Restaurant.

Cheeseburger, cheeseburger.

- Two Pepsi, one chip!
- Yeah. To go?

Four cheeseburger.

Cheeseburger, cheeseburger,
cheeseburger, cheeseburger.

Cheeseburger, cheeseburger,
cheeseburger, cheeseburger.

No--no fries.
Chips.

The one character

that I know definitely comes
from, you know, the family

is the "cheeseburger,
cheeseburger" guy.

No Coke, no orange, no grape?
Okay.

When I watched
the character, I went,

"My God, that's my dad."

I don't want a cheeseburger.
Eggs over lightly with sausage.

No, no, no, no; no eggs.
Cheeseburger.

You stopped serving breakfast?

No.
No breakfast.

- No breakfast?
- No.

All right.
I just want a couple eggs.

No breakfast.
Cheeseburger, huh?

I don't want a cheeseburger.

It's too early
for a cheeseburger.

Too early for cheeseburger?
Look.

Cheeseburger,
cheeseburger,

cheeseburger, cheeseburger,
cheeseburger.

Cheeseburger,
cheeseburger, cheeseburger.

I'll have a cheeseburger.

Bluesy rock music

Here we are
up in Julian, California.

And up here coming towards us,
Adam Belushi.

That's difficult.

With the first money
we really had,

one of the things we did

was to get a ranch
in California for his parents.

They weren't terribly close,
but he loved them,

and he wanted
to do nice things for 'em.

They were immigrants who,
in one generation, had a son

who had reached heights
they couldn't have imagined.

But it just didn't seem
to make a difference

to their relationship.

One of the things
that John struggled with

in his emotional life

was thinking
his parents weren't happy.

Adam seemed depressed,
and Agnes was up and down,

maybe bipolar.

He felt that his success

was supposed to help heal
the family,

yet he couldn't make that
happen.

It was very painful.

I think it really crushed him.

Hi, Jane.
How are you?

Hi, Dan.
Fine.

- How's Patrick?
- He's good.

I hear John's still out
in California.

What's he doing,
eight to ten for possession?

No, no.
He's really quite sick.

He has a bad ear infection.
He can't go up in an airplane.

Like, he can't land, or his
ear drum will burst, so...

Oh, I sure hope he didn't catch
it listening to himself sing.

- I'll see you, Dan.
- Sure.

Funky rock music

In the course
of 20-some-odd shows a year,

now, suddenly,

John was often
a bigger star than the host.

He was making 1941.

There's a short film
that I've never run

with John sitting
around a pool,

'cause it was the one time
John missed a show.

Right...

...because he broke
his leg or hurt his leg or--

- An ear infection.
- Whatever.

- Okay.
- Yeah.

Whatever it was,

he couldn't get on
the plane, blah, blah, blah.

And they made this film
for the show,

which was all
about kissing John's ass.

Mm-hmm.

I think we all just felt,

"Hey, you can't do this."

Yeah,
everyone says that, you know,

people didn't realize his
problem was as bad as it was

because he always
pulled it together at 11:30.

Yeah.

The Kate Jackson show.

Yes.
Here's the story, okay?

John is the fucking center
of the show.

It's about
Fred Silverman,

and he's playing
Fred Silverman.

You all remember
Freddy Silverman?

He'd been out with,
like, Ronnie Wood, you know?

And he was a mess.
And he was coughing, you know.

He looked terrible,
and the doctor says,

"John can't go on."

And I was just
somewhere between rage

and very little sympathy.

And I said, "Well,
what happens if he does it?"

He said, "Well, he could die."

And I said,
"What are the odds of that?"

And he said, "50/50."

And I said,
"I can live with those odds."

John looked at me,
he opened his eyes,

and he did the show.

And he was bad.

Dissonant dramatic music

I think he did everything
he could to hang on that year,

but John didn't know how to do
anything except full throttle.

So being a movie star meant,
in his brain,

that he had to turn
his back on this other thing.

I think
he never reconciled it,

and he got deeper and deeper
into the unhappiness

that comes with living

for what everybody else says
is the ideal life, you know?

Blues music

Mark.

John Belushi!

- How are ya?
- I'm fine.

You're up doing
the movie today?

Oh, yeah.
We're doing Blues Brothers.

Yeah.

Well, me and the Lord...

we got an understanding.

We're on a mission from God.

Sometimes I wonder

Danny and John
called me, and they said,

"I think there's a movie."

And it told the saga
of these brothers--

how Jake had been in prison,

how Elwood had to wait
for him,

how they had
to save the orphanage.

All against the backdrop
of their hometown of Chicago.

It was very important
that it be Chicago.

I mean, John, he was like--
he was a god in Chicago.

Ladies and gentlemen,
"Joliet" Jake Blues,

John Belushi!

John was just this big event.

Once you have that kind
of television fame,

you belong to people.

You live in their homes,
in their TV sets.

Everyone felt they knew him
and could just come up to him

and give him drugs
or do whatever

because he was their friend.

Okay, let's go.
Thank you very much.

Does it disturb you
to be an idol?

Yeah.

Does it disturb you
that so many people know you

and grab you
and recognize you?

Yeah, yeah,
you feel like a freak.

Is your family
theatrical at all?

Not at all, no.

- What'd your father do?
- He was a hit man.

These are all personal
questions I'm not gonna answer.

We can talk about television.
We can talk about movies.

Want to talk about something
like that, okay?

My personal life
really doesn't mean anything.

- You don't want to do that?
- No, I don't.

He enjoyed it for a while,

and then I think he felt
more haunted by it.

I know
there was a period where

it got really frenetic,

and so they opened a Blues Bar
in Chicago.

I was up late
with him and partying

up at Chicago Blues Bar
virtually every night.

You know,
we're having a lot of fun,

24 hours, 365,

going out and immersing
ourselves in the music

and going to Maxwell Street

and really living what we were
making the movie about.

We owned the town.
We owned the city of Chicago.

You know, we used to hail
police cars on the way home.

And to own a city and have
a partner to share it with,

that was just, you know,
the peak of life.

Roll camera!

Blues music

One night,
nobody could find John.

Someone said, "Well, I saw him
walking over across the street

and went into that
neighborhood over there."

I went to a house,
knocked on the door,

and a guy came to the door,
and he said,

"Oh, yes. Mr. Belushi--
he's in on the couch.

He's asleep."

Turned out John
had walked off the set,

gone to somebody's house,
knocked on the door, said,

"You know who I am.
John Belushi.

I'm tired.
I'm hungry."

He walked
into the guy's fridge,

made himself a sandwich,
had a glass of milk,

and then said, "Can I crash
out on your couch?"

Perfect stranger.

Answers, cast,
ready for rehearsal, please.

Danny was the one

that used to call him
"America's guest,"

because he could
go to anybody's house

and sleep in their beds
and eat their food

and watch their TV,

and there was no stopping John
doing anything.

Somehow, he got it
into his head

that I should date Danny.

So then Danny and I started
meeting in parking lots

and making out.

And it was
John's favorite thing ever.

The arrangement was

John and I were the bad kids,

and Danny and Judy

were the police.

Help you boys?

- You got any, uh, white bread?
- Yes.

I'll have some
toasted white bread, please.

You want butter
or jam on that toast, honey?

No, ma'am.
Dry.

Got any fried chicken?

Best damn chicken in the state.

Bring me
four fried chickens and a Coke.

You want chicken wings
or chicken legs?

Four fried chickens and a Coke.

And some dry
white toast, please.

Y'all want anything
to drink with that?

- No, ma'am.
- A Coke.

Be up in a minute.

We got two honkies out there

dressed like
Hasidic diamond merchants.

Say what?

They look like they're
from the CIA or something.

What they want to eat?

The tall one wants white bread,

toast, dry, with nothing on it.

Elwood.

And the other one wants
four whole fried chickens

and a Coke.

And Jake!
Shit, the Blues Brothers!

On The Blues Brothers,

John was different,
and it was hard.

But you know that whole thing
about America's guest?

Well, it's true.

He could be abrupt
and unpleasant,

but most of the time
he was totally charming,

and people adored him.

Having said all this--

and I don't want to make it
sound worse than it was,

because I don't think we lost
four or five days shooting

at the most because of drugs,
which is a lot--

but there's a couple of times
on the movie

when I was really worried
about his health.

And you can see it, you know?

There's some scenes
where he's there

and some scenes
where he's not.

It's 106 miles to Chicago.

We got a full tank of gas,
half a pack of cigarettes,

it's dark,
and we're wearing sunglasses.

Hit it.

Rock music

Traveling
at the high speeds he did,

he was just really
way out of control.

And the more they tried
to control him,

the more insane it got.

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

It was clear
to everyone at that point

that John had a problem
with cocaine.

There was
a point where everyone said,

you know,
"He's really killing himself."

And then when he didn't, then,
you thought,

"Well, maybe John's right.
Maybe he is invincible."

John would be okay
for a while,

and then he would go
on a bender,

and he would feel so guilty
and so tormented by it.

It was just terrible.

He just felt like he'd let
everybody down, you know?

And in those days,
people thought it was, like,

a question of self-will
or whatever, and it isn't.

It's a disease and has
nothing to do with willpower.

But we didn't understand that.

It started to slip

into something
that was hurting him,

'cause he used to come over

and sleep
on my couch sometimes.

And it would keep me up
all night

because his sleeping
was so wet,

the sound in his chest
was so heavy

that I was worried
that he wasn't gonna wake up.

Now, you know, I had, like,
a few nights of it,

scattered, you know,
when he'd be at the house,

but that's how Judy lived.

You could leave as a friend.

You could just go
do your life,

but that was her life.

John's drug abuse
was disturbing to everyone.

We had some conversations
about rehab,

but he didn't like that idea.

I know I spoke, myself, to
some doctors who had told me,

"Wait till he's passed out
and then call,"

and they would make the
arrangements and commit him.

But I just--
I couldn't do that.

And that was when Nana had
a heart attack at the ranch.

And John was not being
cooperative.

He didn't want to go.

He said,
"I know what she's doing.

She's waiting for me to come
so she can die."

I said, "Why don't
you give her that," you know?

"Why don't you let her
have that, John?"

So we went.

He was making the nurses
laugh and he made Nana laugh

and he was kind of pretending
to scold her

for making everybody worry.

And then he put his head down
on her pillow

and fell asleep.

She said, "Johnny tired.
Go home.

Go sleep.
Sleep late."

I remember something about
"don't get up early"

or something.

The next morning,
the call was that she died,

and he just broke down.

I think that's when
he began to realize

that he'd crossed
into really dangerous behavior

and needed to find a way out.

And bringing in Smokey
was something he thought

was gonna help.

Let's talk about Smokey.

Smokey was Richard Nixon's

primary Secret Service
bodyguard

from the time Nixon went
to China

through the end
of his presidency.

So Smokey
was eminently qualified

to handle difficult problems,

and he kept the scum balls
and the sleazebags

away from John.

Between Judy, myself,
and Smokey,

we were able, really,
to keep John straight,

and, of course, you know,

it didn't seem that John
wanted to help himself,

really, until that point.

Rock music

Is there life after
Saturday Night,

after Animal House,
after The Blues Brothers?

John Belushi,
you have a new movie called

- Continental Divide.
- Right.

It is, to me, a
turning point in your career.

Hey, man.
I seen this one before.

- You're what's-his-name.
- That's right.

The character's different
than the other characters

I've played in the past.

This character can read
and write.

I play a reporter.

They send me out to do
an interview with this woman.

Now, this film
is a risk for you,

because your fans are gonna go
expecting to see Animal House.

Yeah,
they'd love to have me do

Animal House Goes To Camp,
Animal House Joins the Army,

Animal House Rides
the Space Shuttle, you know?

But that's not the way I work.

He had it in him
to be a terrific actor

rather than just a comedian,

and he really worked hard
at it.

He lost 40 pounds.

You know, he was working out
all the time.

He was very focused
about his life and his work.

This was, I think,
a good time for him.

People say you work
under such a frenetic pace.

Do you see the world
different now?

Are you a little bored?
Do you take time off?

Do you lounge around now?

I'm enjoying life
a little more.

I'm finding out what to do
with my spare time.

Find out who you are yet?

Yeah, yeah, I think so.

Who are you?
Are you Bluto?

Are you Mike Royko?
Who are you?

I don't know.
I'm just an actor.

Yeah, honey, something
special just for you

Yeah.

Times were good.

We were staying
at Martha's Vineyard

because we bought a new house.

He'd begun to, you know,

kind of calm down,
settle down,

not be as interested
in the whole social scene.

John, where are you?

Over here.

You up there?

Yes.
What are you doing?

Well, I'm preparing
the barbecue tonight.

That's good.

We're having steak
and sausage.

And you see,
I cleaned the grill.

Big Bill Broonzy's
"Trouble in Mind"

Get out of my kitchen.
Get out.

- Mmm.
- Mmm.

No, no, no, no!

Judy, we're going out
to the beach now.

And if the blues
overtake me

Gonna rock right away
from here

It was a summer
of just sun-filled days,

soaking in the sea.

Every day, we swam.

The whole summer
was basically clean.

There was no coke at all
for the entire summer.

I'm going out for croquet.

- Yes, sir.
- Yes, sir.

I don't care if I die

You're a big movie star.

Your pictures make money.

Are you as happy as you seem
to me to be right now?

Yeah.
This year, yeah.

John was, you know,

feeling pretty good
about himself.

We had Smokey with us,

and he saw John doing well

and decided
that it was time to go.

And I remember Smokey went
to him, "No, you're good.

You don't need me.
You'll be fine."

And when he left,
John was concerned.

We were up
in Martha's Vineyard.

And I just remember him
stripped to the waist

with this belly out,

and he was sort of howling
at the moon

and saying,
"You and I are alike.

We're addicts!"

He was mostly clean
for over a year.

Well, that must've
been a screaming hell for him.

Drugs aren't the problem.
Sobriety is the problem.

Because he had
no support group

to sort of tell him how
to deal with what comes up

when you stop doing drugs.

You're not doings drugs
for no reason.

And so once your management
medication is removed,

all those feelings that
it's been sitting on come up,

and you have
no coping skills.

So you can't trust yourself.

You know,

John gave me all his blues
albums at one point,

and it was really a drag
because he just said,

"Yeah, I don't listen
to this shit anymore.

Fuck this.

I'm just gonna listen to Fear
and the Dead Kennedys."

- Yeah.
- Punk and stuff.

Yeah.
I mean, I hated that shit.

But when you look at it,
in retrospect, it coincided

with a particularly chaotic
and dark thing in him.

I don't need anyone

Don't need no mom and dad

Don't need no pretty face

You know, for John, you know,

it's a classic
addictive pattern, you know?

It's what makes
an addict an addict,

is the expectation that if you
just get more of your drug

that you will, you know,

finally cross over
some threshold

or find
some permanent satisfaction,

but you can't get high enough,
you can't get famous enough,

you can't get rich enough

to kind of fill
those great holes, you know,

he had created himself.

John didn't have
a limit on anything.

Usually people have in them

a thing where you go,
"Ooh-ooh.

That's too much."

But John didn't have
whatever that is.

John took heroin.

John Belushi.
John Belushi on drums.

Dark music

Enid?

Someone's moving
into the Warren place.

What do you say, neighbor?

Welcome to the end of the road,
I guess.

As big a star as he was,

I think John was groping
for a film image.

He called me at one point
and he said,

"Yeah, I'd love for you
to read a screenplay.

I'm thinking
about directing it."

And I said, you know,
"Send it over,

and I'll get to it
when I can."

"Well, no, you kind of have
to read it now."

I said, "Well, what is it?"
He said, "It's Neighbors."

"But aren't you already
shooting that movie?

You know,
you have a director."

Menacing bass chords

Dan and John
were very excited

and started to work
with Avildsen, the director.

And immediately John was
really worried that the film,

rather than being the black
comedy that the book was,

it was taking on
a much more cartoony

and silly perspective.

And true to form,
he was fighting that.

John Avildsen
did not present himself

as a strong presence,

and John perceived weakness
right there.

It was like
the Battle of the Bulge.

The Allied lines were weak,

and the panzers rolled
right into the weak spot.

John felt isolated
and frustrated,

and that's when everything
fell apart.

Now, on the Neighbors set,

- Smokey was not there.
- Yeah.

And when we got to nights,

the drugs
became available again.

I never sensed that
there was anything going on

until we actually started
that week of night shooting.

Slowly building
punk rock

It was pretty horrifying,
quite frankly.

And I liked John,
but it wasn't John.

He wouldn't come
out of his trailer.

We'd go in, and the music
would be blasting away.

I won't believe that
this is all

He'd be in his undershorts
and was totally out of it.

No more, no more, no more

No more, no more,
no more, no

One time, we had two
guys standing behind him

holding him up off camera,
you know?

I mean, that's the kind
of shape he was in.

He couldn't control it,

and then no one
could control him.

Joy Division's
"I Remember Nothing"

dark rock music

We

Were strangers

We

John's choices had
always been America's choices.

What he wanted to do
was kind of resonating

with the country
that way, and...

the choices
weren't doing that anymore.

But John could've failed,
and Hollywood--

he could've done ten movies
in a row,

and they still would've wanted
him for the 11th.

You know,
there was nobody like him.

But the thing with cocaine
is that it puts you

in a vulnerable place.

His strength and confidence
and positive way

were being eroded
by all of it, and...

he just allowed it
to affect him.

And in the old days,
nothing could affect him.

What do you want to be
doing ten years from now,

John Belushi?

- Fiddler on the Roof.
- Okay.

And, Dan Aykroyd,
ten years from now?

Directing him in Fiddler.

I don't know, I don't know.
I'll work with this guy.

I'll be working with this guy
in ten years.

Solemn music

He always promised that
he would try to do better

and that I had to trust
that he loved me

and that, even when things
were difficult,

that I could count on him.

But every time John went
into that spin cycle,

it would immediately put me
back into a feeling of panic,

of, like, "Oh, no."

"I thought this was over."

I had begun to see
a psychiatrist.

And what my doctor immediately
said is, you know,

"You have to focus on yourself
and work on yourself."

It just sort of brought home
how things move so quickly,

and there was so much to do
all the time.

Helping him get
the things done he needed,

I didn't think
about myself, really.

John was supposed to go to LA

to start working on a script
with Don Novello, Noble Rot.

And normally
I would've gone with him,

but my psychiatrist
asked me to commit

to staying in the city
for three months at least

to work with him.

And I told him that it was
really hard for me not to go,

that John needed me,
and he said,

"Well,
what are you afraid of?"

John and I got together

when I had moved out
to Los Angeles,

and he would just kind of sit
down and have dinner with us,

and he wanted to get the band
together and play again.

That was his really big thing.

Light rock music

And he said,
"Who can you get?"

And I said,
"Well, Tony's out here.

We'll get Tony to play guitar.
I'll play bass.

You'll be on drums."

And we actually did a job,
believe it or not.

We played the wrap party
for Taxi.

"Louie Louie" playing

Whoa-oh

He was reaching out
for everybody

and trying to reconnect.

It was something
that we never spoke of

other than the fact
that we all kind of enjoyed

that we were all back in each
other's lives a little bit.

Dark music

He got Dick Blasucci

and a couple of other guys
from Wheaton together

and played this wrap party.

- Yeah.
- And it was really

this grasp for nostalgia,

you know,
for the innocent days.

So I hardly ever saw him,

but I saw him at a party.

He looked exhausted.

And he laid his head
on my shoulder,

and all he said was,
"Oh, Harold.

Oh, Harold."

Just couldn't even articulate
anything about his situation.

I just sensed
this total despair.

Judy had basically
given him an ultimatum.

That's why she wasn't with him
in California.

Judy was drawing a line
in the sand to save him

so they could be together,
but, you know, he was,

at that point, afraid
that he had lost Judy.

You know, and for all
their codependence,

you know,
Judy was an anchor for him.

After we turned in the script,

I didn't hear from him
for a while.

You know, a couple days
I was wondering.

And then he just said,
"They don't like the script."

They said, though,
we can do it,

but I have to do this other
movie first, Joy of Sex,

and they want me
to wear a diaper.

How's that, man?

The Joy of Sex

was basically
sort of a garbage script

that they were dusting
off the heap that,

if they put John's name on it,

they could guarantee
a big opening weekend.

They just wanted John Belushi,

and they want him
to wear a diaper.

They don't give a shit
about him.

This is the thing where John
had no one on his side.

I'm the guy, you know,
that wrote this with him.

I'm up in Toronto.
His wife's on the East Coast.

He's got nobody there.

So that's his state of mind.
He's got no one.

You know, he's alone.

Man.

Did you sense
that things were that bad

in terms of the drug use
during that last week?

No, he was keeping it from me.

He definitely kept it from me.

You know, everybody knew
about cocaine.

I mean, a lot of people were
doing cocaine in those days.

But the heroin?
Never.

Never thought of it,
never for a minute.

Last time I heard his voice,

it was
on the answering machine,

and it was very slurred, and,
you know, he was fucked up,

and he was hurting.

And I called
and talked him down,

and, you know,
he was sad and defeated.

He was sad and defeated,
and when I said,

"John, come on, man,
you gotta get home.

You gotta get home.

You gotta leave Hollywood
alone for a while.

Let's approach it
from another angle.

I'm writing
something great here for us

that's gonna solve
everything."

I was writing Ghostbusters.

So he said, "Okay."

It's just that
his sensitive side caved in

and he was numbing the pain
and fighting it off.

It seemed like, you know,
could never get out of that.

And I thought, you know,
"I better finish this page,

this paragraph,
and get the fuck out there."

But I didn't get
to him in time.

Of course, you know,
I carry that with me forever.

My brother, Jake,

would like to become....

increasingly intimate
with you.

And he feels that
he can unwind a little bit,

sing a song
about his personal life.

Here's my brother, Jake.

Thank you.

The Blues Brothers'
"Guilty"

Yeah, baby

Yeah, I been drinking

And I

I shouldn't come by, no

But I found myself
in trouble, darling

And I had nowhere else
to go

Got some whiskey

From the barman

I got some cocaine

From my friends

I gotta
keep on moving, baby

Till I'm back
in your arms again

Guilty

Yes, I'm guilty

And I'll be guilty

For the rest of my life

How come, baby

How come I never do

What I'm supposed to do?

How come everything I try

Never turns out right?

You know
how it is with me, baby

You know
I just can't stand myself

It takes a whole lot
of medicine, darling

For me to pretend

That I'm somebody else

Got the call,
and so I immediately got up

and began to really motor.

It was a beautiful March day.

It was a blue sky and sun
and everything,

and I remember
on the way down there

and as I just got
close to the village,

it was already
on the newsstand right there--

you know,
"Belushi dead at 33."

Somber music

I heard someone,
you know, opening the door,

and Danny yelled out
for me, and I--

his voice, you know, was off.

And I knew
something was wrong.

And I said, you know,
"Is he okay?

Was there an accident?"

And he said,
in the most gentle voice...

"No, honey, he's dead."

You know,
the pain didn't come out

for me, really,
until after the funeral,

at my house
in Martha's Vineyard.

And everybody was gone,

and the snow started to fall--

beautiful white snow,
you know,

and I got down on my knees,
and I wept.

I always believed that...

his true self
would shine through

and that he wouldn't
ultimately be destroyed

by drugs.

But I've spent a lot of time
thinking about it all,

and I have worked
through those things.

I don't, you know...

I don't blame myself...

anymore.

And the whole experience,
my whole life with John,

to meet so young
and have so many adventures

and the love that we shared...

I wouldn't trade.

- A final question.
- Yeah.

I would like to know
how you do what you do.

What are you asking me?

Let's take the cartwheel.

That catches everybody
by surprise.

Oh, I've been doing that
since sixth grade.

Everything you do
in your life,

everything that I've ever done
in my life,

I've used on camera
somewhere.

You can't ask him this.

This is why he's a star.

This is why he's John Belushi,

is because
he does these things,

- and it's his special energy.
- Yeah.

You know,
he'll expire on this planet

and have left his mark
because nobody can learn

how to do what Belushi does,
and no one ever will, man.

"With a Little
Help from My Friends"

What would you do

If I sang out of tune?

Would you stand up
and walk out on me?

Lend me your ear

And I'll,
I'll sing you a song

Oh, I will try not to sing
out of key

Oh, baby, I get high
with a little help

From my friends

Well, don't you know,
I'm gonna get high

With a little help
from my friends

Oh, don't you know
I'm gonna get my friends

High with a little help
from my friends

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, yeah

Whoo, ooh, ooh

What do I do

When my love is away?

Does it worry you
to be alone?

Oh, no

How do I feel
at the end of the day?

Are you sad because you're
on your own?

Oh, man, I

High with a little help
from my friends

Whoo, ooh, ooh

The Ventures'
"The 2000 Pound Bee, Part 2"

up-tempo rock music

mellow acoustic music

Well,
I'm a fast-talking

Fast-walking Midwest kid

Never thought I'd grow up

But I'm glad I finally did

I done good in school

I learned to be cool,
and it served me well

I married a rebel,
I fought with the devil

And I lived to tell

These are the best days

These are the best days
of my life

These are the best days

These are the best days
of my life

There was a time I thought
I'd be a virgin all my life

I never thought
I would make a wife

When it came round
to adultery

Never thought
that I was sultry

But you know
the best one, kiddo

Never thought
I'd be a young widow

You cut the debt,
you get what you get

You play your best game,
and you never forget that

These are the best days

These are the best days
of my life

These are the best days

These are the best days
of my life

Hello, blue eyes

You are my best surprise

Now you and your sisters

Stand by my side

Times may get rough,
we get tougher

We're not the kind to sit
and suffer

I got your backs,
and that's the facts

Because I am
your motherfucking mother

These are the best days

These are the best days
of my life

These are the best days

These are the best days
of my life

I lost
my good friend today

We had so much more
to say now

All we shared

Is in the past

These are the best days

These are the best days
of my life

These are the best days

These are the best days
of my life

These are, these are

These are the best days

Oh, these, these are,
these are

These, these are
the best days

Of my life

Ha ha, that's it.