Dan Aykroyd on SNL, begging his way into Indiana Jones, and hosting The UnBelievable

Welcome to Random Roles, wherein we talk to actors about the characters who defined their careers. The catch: They don’t know beforehand what roles we’ll ask them to talk about.  

The actor: As one of the so-called Not Ready For Prime Time Players, a.k.a. the original cast members of Saturday Night Live, Dan Aykroyd has been a significant figure on the pop culture landscape since the iconic sketch comedy series made its debut in 1975. And he made the jump to the big screen in a big way when he teamed up with his SNL castmate John Belushi in The Blues Brothers. Aykroyd has basically worked nonstop ever since, managing to survive the occasional box-office misstep by virtue of quickly finding himself in the cast of another hit film.   

Mind you, some of those classics have been well-covered by Aykroyd in past interviews over the years, so The A.V. Club decided that this would be a perfect time to lean into the “Random” portion of this feature’s title and ask him about a mixture of films and TV series that are slightly off the beaten path. That said, we obviously discuss his current project—hosting the History Channel series The UnBelievable With Dan Aykroyd, which returns with its second batch on November 15—and SNL, as the sketch-comedy mainstay is in the midst of its landmark 50th season.   

The UnBelievable With Dan Aykroyd (2023-)—Host

The A.V. Club: You have a history of being fascinated by the unexplained, but how did this particular series come about? Did you pitch it to the History Channel? Did they come to you?

Dan Aykroyd: They came to me, and I immediately signed on because of the quality of their researchers. The History Channel has great researchers, great experts that come on each show that they do, and I thought, “I know that these people can make me sound and look good, and I can deliver the material [lowers voice] as no one else can.” 

AVC: You do have the perfect delivery for this stuff.

DA: I am the perfect presenter for this. And I knew I could pull it off. So, what mainly attracted me was, of course, the subject matter and the variety of stories, but [also] the quality of the research. Because they’re making these unbelievable stories credible, and they are. They all really happened. It’s really true. All of them are really true. And that’s what’s fun about telling the stories. There’s no disputing them. 

AVC: Do you have the opportunity to throw in your suggestions for things you’ve read about?

DA: Yeah, I’ve got a couple coming up this year that I suggested and that they’re producing. I don’t know which ones they chose, but I think I suggested three or four of them. And I’m going to keep doing that as I find interesting stories.

AVC: Has there been a story that struck you as particularly surprising?

DA: Well, all of them are mind-blowing, really. But I think [it’s] the lady who sailed three times in ocean-going vessels and each one of those vessels encountered a marine disaster and she survived all three times. It’s just…she goes to sea and there’s a disaster. And then she goes back to sea…and there’s a disaster! And then the third time she goes back out to sea…there’s a disaster! It’s like, talk about perseverance and the odds and god being on your side! And then there’s the guy in the ball turret of the B-17 who fell out at 33,000 feet without a parachute…and lived! How? I mean, one looks to the divine here, and divine intervention, to figure out what happened there. 

AVC: With this season premiere, there are a couple of remarkable stories, including the woman who had the meteor hit her house. She survived and then she turned it into a bit of a side hustle, appearing on I’ve Got A Secret.

DA: Oh, yeah! Well, anybody who had that happen to them, I think, would want to talk about it. [Laughs] You know, just because it speaks to survival and to the fact that sometimes we can skate out of situations that might kill us. I mean, if that thing had gone a few more feet… 

AVC: What’s the most unbelievable thing that’s happened to you?

DA: [Pauses] Um, well, a lot of unbelievable things have happened. But I fell through a warehouse roof, through the skylight. I stepped through the skylight and fell 50 feet to the floor…and I walked into the ambulance.

AVC: Good lord. When was that? How old were you?

DA: I was 22, I think, at the time. 

AVC: So, still in Canada, then?

DA: Uh-huh. We were filming a TV show. And Gilda [Radner] was running around this roof, running around the skylight, and I had to catch her, so I thought, “Instead of running around, I’ll just go across the skylight, and I’ll grab her on the other side.” Well, I stepped right through and fell right down 50 feet and bounced off a rack that was there holding lights for one of the stages. Moe Koffman, the famous flautist, said, “Dan, what’s going on?” I said, “I fell through the roof. I hit the floor. I’m going to the hospital.” And I walked into the ambulance and sat down. Pretty unbelievable. That’s one cat life gone, for sure. 

The Canadian Humour Test (1969)—Cast member

Change For A Quarter (1970)—Cast member

Coming Up Rosie (1975)—“Purvis Bickle”

AVC: Speaking of your early acting work in Canada, you made a couple of appearances on a series called Coming Up Rosie, but that wasn’t actually the first thing, was it?

DA: No, I was in Lorne Michaels’ special The Canadian Humour Test, on The Hart And Lorne Terrific Hour. I played multiple characters in that. And that was in the summer of ’69. It was a summer special. 

AVC: Was that where you met Lorne?

DA: Yes.

AVC: Had you always had an eye toward doing sketch comedy, or was that just something you fell into?

DA: You know, in high school, we did revues of sketch comedy like that, and then my partner at the time, Valri Bromfield, and I had a sketch comedy TV show that we called Change For A Quarter. It was 15 minutes long and ran on cable TV. So we knew the format pretty well. And then Second City trained us beautifully for that. 

AVC: So much talent came out of Canada during that particular moment in time. 

DA: Well, yeah, there was [John] Candy. Loved Candy. Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Richard Moranis, Gilda Radner, and Paul Shaffer. 

AVC: Victor Garber.

DA: Oh, yeah, and Victor Garber! All came out of there. And Dave Thomas! That was quite the era.

Loose Cannons (1990)—“Ellis Fielding”

DA: The director, he had a different view of the character, and so we had a little bit of friction there. I remember that it was a joy to work with Gene Hackman and Dom DeLuise, and that we laughed the whole time. 

AVC: Hackman has a reputation for preferring to be all about the work when he’s on set. Did you find that to be the case?

DA: Oh, yeah. But Dom DeLuise was so hilarious. We were laughing with him the whole time. And Hackman, yeah, he liked directors to tell him “faster,” “slower,” “softer,” “louder.” That’s all he needed from them. And he told me so. He said, “Dan, that’s all I need from them. ‘Faster, ‘slower,’ ‘softer,’ or ‘louder.’ Leave the rest out.” And that yielded great performances. 

The House Of Mirth (2000)—“Augustus ‘Gus’ Trenor”

AVC: Oh, I greatly enjoyed that. I worked with Gillian Anderson in that, Laura Linney, Anthony LaPaglia, Eric Stoltz… I worked with a great director, Terry Davies, on an adaptation of, of course, the Edith Wharton novel. And that was a wonderful experience, working in England. To trade with all those actors, that was just outstanding. We shot it on the Scottish borders, some of the scenes, and I rented a house just below the Scottish borders. And I had a little Mercedes convertible, and I’d get up at, like, six in the morning, the mist over the sheep in the fields, and I would drive through that backcountry, over bridges, and get to work about an hour later and go in and work in this spectacular mansion. And I got to dress in full black tie and speak in that standard American way that people did at that time. And then at the end of the day, I’d get back into that Mercedes and drive back to the manor house that I rented. Yeah, it was a superb time. Just great. As an actor, not only do you get the joy of doing the work, but you get to go to these wonderful places and meet people who are real everywhere.

Soul Man (1997-1998)—“Rev. Mike Weber”

DA: You know, I enjoyed that. The kids were great. But it just wasn’t for me. I got to the point where I thought, “I don’t want to know what I’m doing on Monday morning.” I thought, “I can’t do this. I can’t know that I’m going to be working on Monday morning, and then all week and then for months. No, I need my freedom!” So I asked to be let go, and they did. It was a hit, that show. But I was doing other things and wanted to explore other things, and I couldn’t be tied down to a sitcom. So graciously, they let me out.

Sneakers (1992)—“Darren ‘Mother’ Roskow”

AVC: Are you surprised that Sneakers continues to have such a strong following all these years later?

DA: Oh, well, that was a successful movie at the time. But you have a great cast, great subject matter, and a great director, Phil Robinson. Yeah, that was a triple-A release, no doubt. 

AVC: Do you enjoy the opportunity to do ensemble films like that?

DA: Oh, yeah, I love working with a company of actors. Loved. I loved acting. Not so much anymore. The acting I like doing is delivering the narration for The UnBelievable and presenting it. That’s enough acting for me. 

AVC: With hopefully the occasional Ghostbusters return when required.

DA: Mmm, I don’t see that. I see them moving the thing on, advancing it and moving the story on past the originals. Which they have to do to keep it alive. They have to do that.

Nothing But Trouble (1991)—“Judge Alvin ‘J.P.’ Valkenheiser”/“Bobo”

DA: I watched that the other day with my younger kids, and…god, there really is a lot of funny stuff in that movie. Really funny stuff. And the cast was great, and it looked great. I had the Rolls-Royce of crews! I had Spielberg and Zemeckis’ cinematographer, Dean Cundey, and their special effects guy, Mike Lantieri. I had the best crew. The movie was testing well and screening well and had a lot of laughs, and then Warner Brothers opened it against Jodie Foster and The Silence Of The Lambs—and, the same weekend, Julia Roberts in Sleeping With The Enemy. Every woman in America told their boyfriends or husbands, “We’re going to see those two movies; we’re not going to Aykroyd’s movie.” [Laughs] There’s no way I had a chance against those two magnificent stars in female-driven stories. If we’d waited a week or two weeks, I think it would’ve been successful at the time. But now it lives on, and I’m proud of that movie. There’s some really good comedy in it.

AVC: There has been talk about releasing a director’s cut of the film. Is that something that you think will ever happen?

DA: I don’t know whether there is an expanded version or not. I don’t think so. Probably not. It is what it is now. I was hoping we would do better with it, but Nothing But Trouble…that one deserves revisiting. 

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)—“Ambulance Driver”

Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984)—“Weber”

AVC: Speaking of Spielberg, how did you end up doing that cameo in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom?

DA: I called him up. I said, “I’d love to work in this movie. Anything I can do.” Just because I love those guys and I love the franchise. And they brought me on, good sports that they were. I just said, “Can I please have a part in this movie?” [Laughs] I begged for it!

AVC: You also had a nice, brief turn in Twilight Zone: The Movie.

DA: Oh, sure. Well, [John] Landis, I’d worked with him before. 

AVC: You and Albert Brooks make a great duo.

DA: True enough! Yeah, I love Albert. Did you see the documentary? It’s great. He’s truly one of the greats of all time. Wonderful. I can’t wait to see what he does again. 

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)—“Boolie Werthan”

AVC: At the time, that was a unique turn for you, career-wise, a more dramatic role.

DA: Yeah, well, again, that was a case where I called my agent and said, “They’re casting this part; can you get me a reading?” I walked in, and I saw [Bruce] Beresford and [Richard] Zanuck, and we sat there, and I read through some of the material, and basically, in front of me, right there, as if I wasn’t in the room, they turned to each other and said, “He looks like he could be a nice Jewish boy. He’s got the accent.” And then they said, “Oh, thanks, Dan!” And then I got a call: I had the part! [Laughs] Yeah, that was beautiful. A financial hit and a critical hit. That’s what you want [in] the business. 

AVC: How was Jessica Tandy to work with?

DA: Beautiful. Just a lovely, cultured, intelligent, spectacular actress with a great laugh and a great smile and a great sport. She was just outstanding.

The Arrow (1997)—“Crawford Gordon, Jr.”

Pearl Harbor (2001)—“Capt. Harold Thurman”

AVC: Several readers—Canadians, predictably—wanted to hear about the experience of doing The Arrow.

DA: Oh, I’m very proud of that one! I was able to tell a story about one of Canada’s tragic events, which was the loss of our fighter interceptor to a lot of international and political interests. The American government didn’t want us building that because they wanted to give the contracts to American companies rather than Canadians, so… [hesitates] there were many reasons it went under. But, yeah, that was fun. I enjoyed doing that. I had a great time. 

AVC: You’ve done other historical works as well. It’s not a massive role, but you also turn up in Pearl Harbor.

DA: Yes, I was the guy who knew that they were going to invade. Had they listened to me, there would’ve been no invasion! [Laughs] Yeah, that was fun. That’s again me lobbying, to Jerry Bruckheimer. “I’d love to be in Pearl Harbor!” And they gave me a part! 

Doctor Detroit (1983)—“Clifford Skridlow”

DA: Well, I met my wife on that, and we have three lovely children. We don’t live together anymore, Donna [Dixon] and myself, but we’re great friends, and we love each other dearly. It’s just…cohabitation is not in the cards right now. Or in the future, I don’t think. But that was an important part of my life, meeting Donna and having such great years with her. And also working with James Brown again! So that experience was wonderful, and that movie kind of holds up. Very popular with Black people at the time, it was. 

AVC: Do you have a Devo story?

DA: Well, I remember being on the set of their video. Other than that, I don’t think they were in the picture. They just did the soundtrack. 

AVC: Looking at your filmography, I think you’ve done at least one episode of all of Fran Drescher’s sitcoms. 

DA: Yeah, sure, she was a good friend from Doctor Detroit, and we’ve remained friends ever since until now. I love Franny. She’s so intelligent and so funny and so wise. Just one of my favorite people. 

“We Are The World” (1985)—Himself

DA: I remember I got to watch like a fly on the wall, watching these great stars kind of hack out arrangements and go, “Who’s gonna do this part here? And, wait, who should come in here? No, no, no.” And Quincy Jones kind of organizing it all and then laying back—as he said, “I just laid back and let god walk in through the room.” So, I got to be a fly on the wall and witness all of that. It was a beautiful window into the raw creative process, creating something original from basically nothing, just an idea that Michael Jackson had. And it all came together on that evening.

Dragnet (1987)—“Joe Friday”

DA: Oh, yeah, there was good stuff in that, too! That one was a hit at the time. And [Tom] Hanks…I don’t know if Hanks will ever forgive me for that. [Laughs] He didn’t like it, really, I don’t think. He didn’t like the way it turned out. But we had fun making it. And he was terrific in the part. But there were some elements there with the director’s choices and cutting and all that. But the next time I see Hanks, I guess I’ll apologize to him [laughs]. 

AVC: I still have my 45 of “City Of Crime.”

DA: Oh, yeah, my brother wrote that song, and we produced it! And you know what? That helped us open the movie. That was when MTV and video could help you open a movie, so that video came out, and it helped the movie’s awareness.  

Neighbors (1981)—“Vic”

AVC: Could you talk about Neighbors, which you worked on with John Belushi?

DA: Yeah, well, we switched parts. He was supposed to play the maniac next door, and I was supposed to play the mild-mannered neighbor, but I think the choice of switching was good. I had fun with that part. John Avildsen directed that. We shot it in New Jersey. Cathy Moriarty was in the picture. It was more of a dramatic, almost a Philip Roth-toned piece. But the guy’s name was [Thomas] Berger who wrote [the book the film was based on], and he liked the characterizations. I’m not sure what happened with the release on that one, but there’s some good, funny stuff. It’s a bit eccentric, y’know? It’s dark, but enjoyable I think.

The Beach Boys: It’s OK (1976)—“Cop”

The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978)—“Brian Thigh”

Spies Like Us (1985)—“Austin Millbarge”

DA: Oh, yeah, Spies Like Us, that was a triple-A project. It was like making a Bond movie. We shot in Morocco and Norway and England. And we had a rocket on the side of the mountain there, an SS-20 rocket, and we get a call. Somebody from the U.S. Defense Department called the unit, to verify that it was our rocket and that the Russians didn’t have a Soviet rocket in Norway. [Laughs] They had a satellite picture of it, and they said, “What is a Soviet rocket doing in Norway?!” We built it to full scale! That was fun. That was a beautiful shoot. 

AVC: And it gave you an opportunity to do a video with Paul McCartney. 

DA: Indeed, yeah. That was an honor, of course. Being a friend of a Beatle, that’s as special as you can get on this planet.

AVC: And you’re a friend of a Rutle as well.

DA: That’s right! Oh, I love Eric [Idle]. I love those guys. And of the Stones! Keith, Mick, and Ronnie. 

AVC: Plus, you’re in a Beach Boys special. 

DA: That was fun. Yeah, we got to know them really well. I loved Carl [Wilson]. He was so sweet and smart. I got closest to him. He was the dearest one. We related to each other. He was a wonderful guy. 

Crossroads (2002)—”Pete Wagner”

DA: Oh, it was a pleasure to work with Britney [Spears]! She asked me to be her dad. They said, “We want a sympathetic dad,” so she asked me to be her dad, and I said, “Of course.” And to see her at the height of her fame and trying to change things a bit and do a movie, it was really neat. And I threw a birthday party for her mom at the House Of Blues. That was a nice night. 

My Fellow Americans (1996)—”President Bill Haney”

Getting Away With Murder (1996)—”Jack Lambert”

AVC: You worked with Jack Lemmon on back-to-back projects. 

DA: Well, when you work with a veteran like that, you just lay back and watch and enjoy. I just remember him being quiet and professional on the set, but telling some good old Hollywood stories. He was a wonderful physical comedian. One of the best things that he was in was Good Neighbor Sam. I don’t know if you know that picture, but his physical work in that was outstanding. Absolutely outstanding. Yeah, I enjoyed working on both of those movies. They were good. Harvey Miller directed Getting Away With Murder. He was a comedy writer and showrunner and a lovely, funny guy. And it was a great premise. The twists in that movie are neat. 

Saturday Night Live (1975-1979)—Cast member 

AVC: Does it feel like it’s been 50 years?

DA: Well, to Lorne [Michaels] I guess it does. [Laughs] I don’t know, I haven’t been there in so long. But to him, I’m sure it does. He’s there every week!

AVC: When you look back at that period, do you remember the exhaustion or just the adrenaline?

DA: Both. It was a very stressful job. But I remember the triumphs. And the joy of working with Davis and Zweibel and Schiller and the cast and the writers. And going to work in October at Rockefeller Center in New York. There’s no better experience.

AVC: Do you have a favorite sketch from your era, one that you have a particular soft spot for?

DA: Well, I always loved the Coneheads. That was my favorite character to do, and I would reprise that anytime. I loved the Coneheads, so that’s the one that I think about right away. 

AVC: That film is underrated.

DA: Yeah, it’s a good movie. A good family picture.

AVC: As far as those first few years of SNL go, it must’ve been a thrill to get hosts from the golden age of television and Hollywood stars who didn’t generally do television.

DA: Yeah, well, when that can be pulled off, it’s something that a young performer should really relish and appreciate, and we did. We respected them. Walter Matthau was nervous, though. He was nervous! He was a little intimidated by the talent pulling off this live show. I remember he was a bit nervous and went up on his lines a few times, and it was interesting to see a veteran like that kind of clutch a little bit. But that’s what he said afterwards: that the talent was so intimidating. “You guys did what you did…” He was in awe of it, and it stopped him cold in a couple of sketches. So, when you hear that from a veteran like that, you go, “Well, sorry it happened, but thanks for the compliment!” 

AVC: Getting to work with Desi Arnaz and Broderick Crawford must’ve been pretty amazing as well. 

DA: Oh, yeah. [Does a spot-on Broderick Crawford impression] “Broderick Crawford! Siddown! Pick it up! Pick it up!” I remember we did a Highway Patrol scene, and I come on and I open the door, and a fire extinguisher falls to the floor, and it wasn’t supposed to. It was an accident. Without [missing] a beat, he goes, [continues impression] “Pick it up! Pick it up! I’m Broderick Crawford! Whaddaya expect? Of course I’m gonna get drunk on St. Patrick’s Day!” And Lorne said, “Broderick, you better watch the drinking…” “Lorne, it’s St. Patrick’s Day! Of course I’m gonna get drunk! I’ll do the monologue from a chair!” [Laughs] And he did. He did it from a chair. And he was great! He was solid. “Nixon! Wake up! Wake up, Nixon!” Remember, he comes in as J. Edgar Hoover. “Get out of bed, Nixon! You have to wake up, ya putz!” Boy, he was… [Shakes head and smiles] Oh, I loved it. Broderick Crawford. “10-4! 10-4!”

AVC: Was the Milton Berle episode really as rough as everyone has said?

DA: I don’t remember what I did on that show. But I would’ve been concentrating on what I had to do that night. Not so much the drama with Lorne and the host and politics. We just kept our noses down. Stay in the dressing room, learn the lines, follow the cards, just do the show. I stayed out of the politics and the tension of it. You can’t do that. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to do our jobs. 

AVC: Will you be returning for the 50th anniversary gala special in February?

DA: Well, it depends. On how and when I’m invited, I guess. 

AVC: But you’d be up for it, theoretically?

DA: It depends on how I can serve. Let me put it that way. How I can serve them best. How I can serve Lorne and the whole enterprise best. That’ll determine whether I go or not.