Gone 25 Years, Belushi Still Counts

Townhall ^ | 03/02/2007

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Chevy was funny briefly. John will be funny forever.

[Candor7]

Yes, we today could use John to help the revolutionaries of Beluchistan, in Iran, to overthrough the current humorless mullahs who have Iran by the short and hairy ones.

John Beluchi would have been a perfect counterintelligence operative for the CIA in Beluchistan, way better than say, Valerie Plame and her husband!

[antiRepublicrat]

It's always dangerous to be the fat guy on SNL.

That said, long-live Belushi!

[isthisnickcool]

I'm a zit, get it?

[Taylor42]

go to www.findadeath.com select directory and then John's name.

[1rudeboy]

On a related note, I saw Jim Belushi perform as the lead pirate in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance at Chicago's Auditorium Theater in the last performance before he flew out to attend his brother's funeral. It was as if he reached into his body, removed his heart, placed it in the center of the stage, and said "it's big enough, take it, I have more." It's been years, and tears still come to my eyes when I think about it. Best perfomance by an actor that I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I feel like Landis does, angry that he's gone. In doing what he did, he not only deprived himself of a long life but also deprived us fans of years of entertainment he had left to give.

I was just short of 8 years old when he died and I still remember when they announced on tv that he was dead of a drug overdose. I'm about to turn the same age now that Belushi and Farley were when they left us, seems so weird.

Rest in peace, Johnny, but you damn well should still be with us.

[Candor7]

This is the way I remember him. THe Samurai character he did was by far the favorite of my whole family, and many Japanese friends of ours as well.

[BenLurkin]

" he was set to make "Ghostbusters," which filmed after his death with Bill Murray replacing him."

It would certainly have been a very different movie.

[USMCWife6869]

Doesn't it seem, however, that the only reason Chevy Chase isn't funny anymore is because he lived long enough to "jump the shark". We will never know if, given the time, Belushi would have ended up the very same way.

Does his brother ever talk about him to the press? He wasn't quoted in the article.

[ecurbh]

Blues Brothers and Animal House... two of the greatest comedies of all time.

[I still care]

Cathy Evelyn Smith, a drug dealer and user who was convicted of injecting Belushi with a fatal dose of heroin and cocaine, served 18 months in prison.

"If you have a lot of money in your pocket, you will attract a lot of women, you will attract a lot of followers and you will attract a lot of drugs," Brillstein said. "The hangers-on job is to keep the king happy. They will never tell them they're in danger of losing what they have."

Interesting during this week of Anna Nicole and Howard, the hanger on. He was present when both she and her son died.

[discostu]

I think Chase stopped being funny because somewhere along the way (probably during the various rehabs he had to go through) he got mean and nasty. His humor always had an abusive edge to it but the edge has taken over. The comedy central roast of him was the most viscious affair I've ever seen, he's alienated all his friends and doesn't care. Belushi's humor source was kinder I doubt he'd have gone the Chase route, he still might have lost his ability to be funny (funnier guys than him have lost their touch), but we'd at least be hoping his next project returned to form, as opposed to Chase where we mostly hope there is no next project.

[dmz]

I took the sight of the broken led zep records as the sign that I had found it.

[dmz]

which appears to be about a half mile outside of Menemsha, which is an old fishing village, very quaint. I remember Menemsha more as my sister and I had lobsters there for lunch - fresh out of the water, well OK, we waited until they were cooked.

[Revel]

I miss John Candy a lot more.

[Kirkwood]

Chase had the persona of an intelligent guy who was just acting like he was the class clown. Except he never really pulled off the intelligent part. Most people just saw him as a doofus the way we see Al Franken for example. And the clown part never had much depth... it was always superficial and trite. And you are right in saying that there was a meanness to his comedy. Political comedians are often just plain mean as opposed to teasing and playful.

Belushi on the other hand was simply brilliant. If there was ever a mean thought in his head, it never was obvious. He was born to be funny, He understood the little nuances that made people love his characters, but he also knew how to go over the top. He covered the entire comedy spectrum. He lived and loved the role of a funny man and his comedy was honest and sincere and never lame, but just deep-down, core of the earth funny.

[Kirkwood]

"I miss John Candy a lot more."

My niece knew him and said he was one of the sweetest guys you could ever meet. Always going out of his way to do something nice for people he met.

[stylecouncilor]

ping

[kevinm13]

I saw John Candy a few times at Second City in Toronto before he made it big. He was hilarious with improv.