In August 1979, Shearer was hired as a writer and cast member on Saturday Night Live, one of the first additions to the cast, and an unofficial replacement for John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, who were both leaving the show.

The halftime show was titled " Blues Brothers Bash " and featured actors Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman, and James Belushi as the Blues Brothers.

Aykroyd was born with syndactyly, or webbed toes, which was revealed in the movie Mr. Mike's Mondo Video and in a short film on Saturday Night Live titled " Don't Look Back In Anger.

This would greatly interest Aykroyd, who stated: " All that stuff was hanging around the old farmhouse I grew up in, so I was kind of steeped in it.

Aykroyd was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, and had intended to become a priest until the age of seventeen.

Had I lived in a different town I don't think that this would have happened, because it was just the confluence of educated government workers, and then also all the colleges in the area, Ottawa University, Carleton, and all the schools — these people were interested in blues culture .< ref > Still on a mission from God ; interview with Dan Aykroyd by Roger Gatchet, May 18, 2007, www. austinsound. net.

Some assert that it was Ottawa artist Arthur II who joined the band to play drums and that, at best, Aykroyd was a member of the audience.

Aykroyd gained fame on the American late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live, where he was a writer and the youngest cast member for its first four seasons, from 1975 to 1979.

While Aykroyd was a close friend and partner with fellow cast member John Belushi and shared some of the same sensibilities, Aykroyd was more reserved and less self-destructive.

During his monologue, he did a musical bit with James Belushi that was similar to the Blues Brothers, but neither Aykroyd nor Belushi donned the famous black suit and sunglasses.

Aykroyd was good friends with John Belushi.

According to Aykroyd, it was his first meeting with Belushi that helped spark their popular Blues Brothers act.

When they met in a club Aykroyd frequented, Aykroyd put on a blues record to play in the background, and it stimulated a fascination with blues in Belushi, who was primarily a fan of heavy rock bands at the time.

Though devastated by his friend's death, Aykroyd presented the award alone, remarking from the stage " My partner would have loved to have been here to present this, given that he was something of a visual effect himself.

" In the biography " Belushi ", Aykroyd claims that Belushi was the only man he could ever dance with.

Aykroyd used to joke that the green ghost ( who would later come to be known as " Slimer ") was " the ghost of John Belushi ," based on the similar party animal personality.

Aykroyd was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for 1989's Driving Miss Daisy.

Daniel Edward " Dan " Aykroyd, ( born July 1, 1952 ) is a Canadian comedian, singer, actor and screenwriter.

Aykroyd wrote the liner notes for fellow Ottawa born blues musician JW-Jones ' album Bluelisted in 2008.

Parodies of Popeil's infomercials were done on the comedy show Saturday Night Live by Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy and the " Veg-O-Matic " may have provided comedian Gallagher inspiration for the " Sledge-O-Matic " routine since the 1980s.

In later decades, Aykroyd made occasional guest appearances and unannounced cameos on Saturday Night Live, often impersonating the American politician Bob Dole.

Aykroyd educated Belushi on the finer points of blues music and, with a little encouragement from then-SNL music director Paul Shaffer, it led to the creation of their Blues Brothers characters.

Aykroyd still performs as Elwood back with Belushi's younger brother James Belushi, who plays " Brother Zee " on stage.

Aykroyd ( right ) on the set of The Great Outdoors ( film ) | The Great Outdoors, 1987

In 1997, Aykroyd starred in a short-lived sitcom on ABC called Soul Man.

In February 2007, Aykroyd revealed that he would be providing voice-acting for a Ghostbusters III CGI project, though these rumours were clarified later on, that the CGI project was a next-gen video game that was currently in production.

In 2009, Aykroyd contributed a series of reminiscences on his upbringing in Canada for a charity album titled Dan Aykroyd's Canada.

On March 20, 2012, Aykroyd said he is about to work on a script for a comedy that would also star Chevy Chase.

In 2005, Aykroyd produced a DVD titled, Dan Aykroyd: Unplugged on UFOs.

Aykroyd wrote the introduction and accompanied his father on a series of promotional activities, including launches in New York City and Toronto, an appearance on Larry King Live and various other public relations initiatives.

Shaffer occasionally teamed up with the Not Ready for Prime-Time Players off the show as well, including work on Gilda Radner's highly successful Broadway show and as the musical director for John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd whenever they recorded or performed as The Blues Brothers.

Over five hundred people attended his funeral, many of the actors and comedians who had worked with him on Saturday Night Live and on film including Phil Hartman ( who would die five months later ), Adam Sandler, Brendan Fraser, Joe Mantegna, Lorne Michaels, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Buscemi, Mike Myers, Christopher Walken, John Goodman, Eugene Levy, George Wendt, Norm Macdonald, Holly Wortell, Rob Schneider, Chris Rock, Tim Meadows, and Tom Arnold.

Playing on a stereotype of his famous TV role, he wore the trademark fedora and black suit when he made an appearance as guest host of a 1977 episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live that included a spoof of Highway Patrol, featuring Dan Aykroyd, a longtime fan of the original show, and one in which he portrayed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, in a humorous send-up of Hoover's suspect sexuality.

* July 1 – Dan Aykroyd, comedian, actor, screenwriter and musician

The first act to perform ( on July 19 & 20 ) was The Blues Brothers ( with Dan Aykroyd, James Belushi and John Goodman )' along with featured performers such as James Cotton, Luther " Guitar Jr ." Johnson, Booker T. & the M. G.

* Dan Aykroyd ( b. 1 July 1952 ) Canadian-American actor and comedian.

This was not unprecedented – Chevy Chase had become the breakout star of Season 1, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi became the dominant forces upon Chase's departure, and Bill Murray would play nearly every male lead during Season 5.

* 1952 – Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor and screenwriter

Belushi and Aykroyd became fixtures at the recording studio, while fellow Blues Brother Steve Cropper called Cherokee his producing home.

Concurrent with his work in Saturday Night Live, Aykroyd played the role of Purvis Bickle, lift operator at the fictitious office block 99 Sumach Street in the CBC Television series Coming Up Rosie.

On June 14, 2009, GameStop used an outgoing phone message pre-recorded by Aykroyd to invite pre-order customers to the launch event at 10 p. m.

Aykroyd announced in February 2012 that Bill Murray was not going to appear in Ghostbusters III and said that at this point the film had been indefinitely suspended.

Aykroyd would carry his badge with him at all times.

Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, and Dan Aykroyd have cameos at the airport.

A tribute to Candy was hosted by Dan Aykroyd at the 2007 Grey Cup festivities in Toronto in November 2007.

Aykroyd saw Sam & Dave as a teenager at the Montreal Expo in 1967, and said they were one of his biggest influences.

Following their first encounter with a ghost, misfit parapsychologists Peter Venkman ( Bill Murray ), Raymond Stantz ( Dan Aykroyd ), and Egon Spengler ( Harold Ramis ) lose their jobs at Columbia University.

After several attempts to seek a new spouse, Patrick came to terms with widowhood at the age of 47, and spent his time visiting the sick and the poor, giving sermons, communion, and extreme unction, leaving the three sisters Emily, Charlotte, Anne, and their brother Branwell alone with their aunt and a maid, Tabitha Aykroyd ( Tabby ), who tirelessly recounted local legends in her Yorkshire dialect while preparing the meals.

* Comedian Dan Aykroyd moonlighted as Citytv's announcer from 1972 until 1975 while working at Toronto's Second City before he moved to New York City to join Saturday Night Live.

They witness an encounter between their managing director — the well-mannered and educated Louis Winthorpe III ( Dan Aykroyd ), engaged to the Dukes ' grand-niece Penelope ( Kristin Holby )— and a poor street hustler named Billy Ray Valentine ( Eddie Murphy ); Valentine is arrested at Winthorpe's insistence because of a suspected robbery attempt.

Thomas left America's Funniest People after thirteen weeks to play a role in Coneheads at the request of buddy Dan Aykroyd.

He appeared much less at ease as the center of a " Failure to Surf " comedy sketch in which " surf cops " Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi pull Brian out of bed and force him to ride the waves outside.

During the lengthy shooting in Page, Arizona, Dan Aykroyd entertained locals by checking ID cards for guests at a bar, greeting people at Wal-Mart, and visiting locals for a cup of coffee in their homes.

Among the invited celebrity guests were George Lucas, Michael Eisner ( Disney CEO at the time ), Dan Aykroyd, and Carrie Fisher.

The film starts with a driver ( Brooks ) and his passenger ( Aykroyd ) driving very late at night, singing along to Creedence Clearwater Revival's cover of " Midnight Special " on a cassette, and the song ends when the tape breaks.

Dan Aykroyd and James Belushi remain closely associated with the brand and are present for most openings, most recently attending and performing at the Grand Opening Celebrations of both the Houston and the Boston Houses of Blues.

As MTV became the center of the entertainment universe, Hunter ’ s celebrity interviews included the first MTV interviews with Madonna, Duran Duran and U2, and also included Ozzy Osbourne, Frank and Moon Unit Zappa, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Loverboy, Kasim Sultan, Crosby Stills & Nash, Kevin Bacon, Robin Williams, Dan Aykroyd, Eurythmics, Kenny Loggins, the Psychedelic Furs, Bob & Doug McKenzie, Lou Reed, Andy Warhol, the Cars, the GoGos, the Bangles, Colin Hay and Men at Work, Boy George, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, John Mellencamp, Hugh Hefner, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Rod Stewart, Cheap Trick, Billy Idol, Thomas Dolby, Joe Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Crowded House, Aretha Franklin, Michael McDonald, Rick Springfield, Peter Wolf, Toto, Level 42, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Martin Short, Chevy Chase and Pee-Wee Herman among others.

A shy, gentle man named Clifford Skridlow ( Dan Aykroyd ) is a professor of comparative literature at the financially strapped ( fictional ) Monroe College in Chicago.