Live From New York - James H. Miller [55]
JUDITH BELUSHI, Writer:
John apologized a lot. He knew when he was wrong. And I think that he always came back and made sure to do that. He had a childlike way of seeing things, which is what I think artists and comedians need. He’d see things fresh. He’d see the thing that everyone is looking at a little differently.
DAN AYKROYD, Cast Member:
John would watch tape on whoever he was impersonating. He was meticulous in the preparation in terms of wardrobe, hair, makeup. He was always concerned with doing an accurate impression. He was very well read in English and history and theater. He counted among his friends Lauren Bacall and Judge Jim Garrison, and he was a student of American politics. John just astounded me with his references to English literature, American literature, history, politics — he was so well versed in things that you would never expect. He was a football star when he was a kid. An all-American guy — Albanian blood, and his father had an accent, his mother had an accent — but to me he was totally all-American.
He was extremely bright — really, really smart — a great administrator and executive. When we were doing our Blues Brothers thing, he was clearly in charge. He was the front man, he was the boss, he was the guy that was calling the shots, everything was brought to him for decisions, and ultimately his decisions were correct ones. He was very together as a businessman, understood the creative world and the business world and the marriage between the two. He was just one of the smartest people I have ever met.
MARILYN SUZANNE MILLER, Writer:
If you look at the Samurai, if you look at the Beethoven piece he did, there’s no plethora of words. A lot of times he’s doing a lot of acting, he’s just acting all over the place, but he’s not using words to do it. I wrote a piece where he crossed over into using words — and he was brilliant! The piece is really a great piece — about this young couple who are having trouble with their sex life and the guy can’t get it up because he secretly believes she’s thinking about somebody else. And John was so bound and determined to get every fucking word. That’s what was so great about it, he was really acting and he was really using words. That was proof that John Belushi was meant to live to be a great actor.
I cried at the end of it, because it was so thrilling.
AL FRANKEN, Writer:
On one of the shows where Belushi played Fred Silverman, he was like totally out of it, almost unable to perform. I remember it very, very well because I was one of the writers of the sketch. Between dress and air, I went with another writer, Jim Downey, to John’s dressing room. I had the script in my hand and I knocked on the door, and when I went in, I saw that John was kind of out of it, sitting in a chair. And I said, “John, I want to read the script to you so that when you say the lines on the air, it sounds familiar.” And then he threatened to hit me. At which point Downey started to back out the door.
But I knew John would never hit me; he just wouldn’t do it. So he held his fist up, and I just read him the sketch. And then I left. And it was marginally better on-air.
JUDITH BELUSHI:
I don’t remember John ever hitting anybody. I tried to punch him once, though. It was very aggravating. Because he was like a fellow that you really cared about and you could see him hurting himself. You’d see him sinking. And it made you want to say, “Stop it now! Or I’ll stop you!”
LORNE MICHAELS, Executive Producer:
One of the things you realize after a while is you can be having a talk about whatever you’re thinking is important or matters with a comedian, and more likely than not he’s just getting an impression of you down. You think it’s about the content of what you’re saying, but they’re just sort of seeing your lips move and going, “Oh, he holds his head like that.” It’s like people caricaturing you but you don’t see the drawing. So John Belushi used to have heart-to-heart talks with people,