The Confusing Reason Why Dan Aykroyd Was Missing From ‘SNL50’
As one would expect, SNL50: The Anniversary Special featured a number of shout-outs to the original 1975 cast, including a filmed sketch in which Laraine Newman takes a nostalgic trip to Studio 8H, only to encounter Pete Davidson’s dim-witted Chad.
Later, Garrett Morris introduced Tom Schiller’s 1978 short “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” in which John Belushi plays an older version of himself visiting the graves of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players.
Then, during the end credit goodnights, Chevy Chase and Jane Curtin joined everybody on stage. In one of the evening’s more emotional moments, Curtin and Newman held up a framed photo of the late great Gilda Radner.
The fact that every surviving Season One cast member (plus Season Two’s Bill Murray) appeared on the show in some capacity made it all the more glaring that Dan Aykroyd was nowhere to be found. Maybe he was hanging out with Bill Hader and Dana Carvey somewhere?
Considering Aykroyd’s role in the show’s history, which was ostensibly what was being honored by the special, you’d think that he would have participated to some degree. After all, he was happy to pop by the 40th anniversary show to, once again, hawk the Bass-O-Matic.
Quite a number of fans seemed confused as to why Aykroyd was M.I.A.
Last week, Aykroyd’s agent told a journalist, simply, that his client “won’t be there.” There are countless reasons, both personal and professional, why Aykroyd wouldn’t have been able to make it to the show, but no further explanation was given.
It would appear that he couldn’t attend for reasons that he’d like to keep private, but the situation became more confusing when Aykroyd fired off a series of social media posts about the show. In one post, Aykroyd claimed that SNL was “an essential reflection of the times we live in,” and predicted that SNL50 would be the “biggest variety extravaganza since Olsen and Johnson’s Hellzapoppin,” a reference that presumably went over great with the “ghosts that died in 1947” demographic.
In another post, he hailed Lorne Michaels as “America’s greatest living impresario” and proclaimed that SNL50 would be a “holy” experience, and “as historical as the next moon landing.” Oh, and he worked in a plug for his vodka company as well.
Weirdly, at no point in these posts did he ever disclose that he wasn’t planning on attending the allegedly history-making show. And his effusive praise for the event makes it all the stranger, and possibly even concerning, that he wouldn’t be able to make the trek to 30 Rock.
Hey, but least he didn’t have to endure Jimmy Fallon’s Blues Brothers routine in person.
