John Belushi Almost Refused To Sign His Contract For Saturday Night Live
John Belushi remains the poster child for the entertainer who burned bright but had their light extinguished far too soon. The comedian came up through the ranks of Chicago's fabled Second City comedy group and was a member of the inaugural season of "Saturday Night Live." Belushi honed his disruptive, physical style of comedy in the early seasons of "SNL" with characters such as Samurai Futaba and one of the Killer Bees alongside Dan Aykroyd.
In 1977, Belushi would add movie star to his resume with the role of Bluto Blutarsky in the film "National Lampoon's Animal House." Plus, ffter three appearances on "Saturday Night Live," the characters Joliet Jake (Belushi) and Elwood Blues (Aykroyd) were developed into their own 1980 hit movie "The Blues Brothers."
Belushi was integral to "Saturday Night Live's" early success and stayed with the show through 1980 before transitioning completely to movies. But it's also fair to say the actor owed much of his early success to "Saturday Night Live." However, it almost didn't happen. With just minutes to spare before the show's very first episode, the unpredictable Belushi was refusing to sign his "SNL" contract.
Belushi almost missed the opening sketch
When viewers first tuned in to "Saturday Night Live" on October 11, 1975 (technically "NBC's Saturday Night" at the time), they saw a cold open sketch with Michael O'Donoghue and John Belushi. In it, Belushi played an immigrant taking English lessons, repeating non-sensical phrases such as "I would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines." It's an "SNL" classic, as you can see for yourself above.
It was a raucous, auspicious start for the innovative new show, opening by featuring the comedian that Rolling Stone would later call "the first rock and roll star of comedy" and eventually anoint as the "SNL's" greatest cast member of all time. Audiences had no idea that Belushi had been seconds away from not appearing in the show at all.
In the book "Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests," Belushi's longtime manager, Bernie Brillstein, explains the harried backstage situation. He said:
"Five minutes before the first show, I came through the back door where the food and coffee was and there was Belushi, sitting on a bench with Craig Kellem, who was the associate producer, and Craig was saying, 'John, you've just got to sign your contract. NBC won't allow you on the air until you do.'"
Brillstein admits he lied to Belushi to get him to sign, telling him he wrote the contract, but the actor still wouldn't sign it until Brillstein agreed to be his manager.
Considering who Brillstein was at the time, it might have been a stroke of genius on the part of Belushi.
Brillstein was managing the SNL boss
To open the first ever "SNL" episode was quite an honor. The show was hosted by George Carlin and featured appearances from soon-to-be comedy giants Andy Kaufman, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and Chevy Chase. So it's kind of mind-blowing that just minutes before the debut episode, Belushi belligerently refused to sign his contract and almost missed out on the opportunity.
At the time, Bernie Brillstein was the manager for "Saturday Night Live" creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels. Belushi had balked at the stingy, long-term contract being offered by NBC, which only paid $750 per show. The actor managed to parlay his frustration into a better situation — getting signed by the boss's manager. Brillstein explained:
"Belushi knew I managed Lorne [Michaels]. So why shouldn't he be managed by the same guy who is managing the boss, right? At that time, I didn't know how great Belushi was, so I just said yes to get him to sign the goddamned contract. It worked out great, and he turned out, obviously, to be one of my best friends."
"Saturday Night Live" would put Belushi on the map, and " National Lampoon's Animal House" and "The Blues Brothers" would make him a star. It all happened under Brillstein's tutelage, who managed Belushi up until his untimely death in 1982. And there was going to be so much more to come. Friend and co-star Dan Aykroyd wrote "Ghostbusters" with Belushi slated for a starring role.
Belushi's career will always have an asterisk of "what could have been" next to it, but had he not signed his "SNL" contract, we might have missed out on the short but legendary career that we were fortunate enough to witness.