Live from New York, it’s…not Dan Aykroyd. There were several key players missing from this year’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of SNL, including Dana Carvey, Bill Hader and the aforementioned Dan Aykroyd. And while it was previously reported that Aykroyd wouldn’t be taking the stage at Studio 8H due to a scheduling conflict, he is debunking this and providing a totally relatable reason for his absence.
As Dan Aykroyd told Entertainment Weekly about why he snubbed the SNL event, “I wanted to be at home and I wanted to watch the show beginning to end…I knew if i was there, I’d be in a dressing room, I’d be working. I wanted to see it live. I’m a fan of the show today, and I watch it all the time. I love these new players; I think they’re just great. I just wanted to see and live nostalgically with my family in my own home, eating my own popcorn.” So there ya have it – the man just wanted to enjoy it from the peace of his own home, free from potentially running into Rob Schneider.
As part of the first-ever cast of SNL, Dan Aykroyd helped usher in a new era of comedy television. He, like fellow Blues Brother John Belushi, would leave after season four, while Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner would stay on for one more. Of these, Aykroyd was the surviving member of the original cast not to be in attendance; Belushi and Radner died in 1982 and 1989, respectively, with Aykroyd specifically calling out the quick tribute to Radner as the one that made him the most emotional and nostalgic.
Dan Aykroyd is currently at San Diego Comic-Con to celebrate another past endeavor of his, as Jake and Elwood Blues will soon be in graphic novel form via The Blues Brothers: The Escape of Joliet Jake. That work comes out on October 7th. Steven Spielberg’s 1941 and 1980’s The Blues Brothers would be both Aykroyd and Belushi’s first movies after departing SNL. Aykroyd would try to carry their iconic characters into a post-Belushi world with Blues Brothers 2000 but this widely failed.
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