I laugh just thinking about Dan!  As far as I am concerned - this fella could make RAIN funny!!  Drama, action, mystic, or most DEFINATLY comedy... Dan is your ma-an!  He can shake it, bake it, & SELL it to perfection!!  Which brings me to a rather amusing ditty! (YEAH I SAID IT!) ditty!  When I was in high school... The SNL crew took to election season RIGHT!!  'Twas quaintly called - SNL - Presidential Bash!  They pulled out ALL the stops!  Featured your normal... Chevy Chase as Pres. Ford... Dana Carvey as Busssshh - and a formidable Dan Aykroyd as that of Bob Dole!  PURE GENIUS!  Aand hilarious!  I didn't stop laughing!! Tears were in the eyes!  Then? I lol'd some more!  Upon seeing if anyone else saw it the next day... The question was posed to my math teacher.  Seeing if maybe, perhaps, possibly, it would make her crack a smile - thus - breaking her winning straight-laced-face streak!  You know what?? 'Twas all for NOT...  For her face was NOT-a-budging.  She stopped in her tracks - turned, then raised her coke-bottle glasses & said... YOUNG MAN!!  The President should NOT be bashed... in ANY way shape or form!!  This SWIFTLY ended ANY attempts of mine at cracking any kinda anything with her.  The seriousness of her expression nearly made me do a salute!  She was a pistol with a hair trigger.  Anyhoo - with everyone else I spoke with about that SNL Presidential Bash - they too - thought Dan stole the show!!  From a Ghostbuster to Fire Chief in 'Chuck & Larry,' Dan makes any film hilarious, giving comedy class in the process!

Dan 'tha man' was born Daniel Edward Aykroyd, on July 1, 1952, here in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  From the get-go - Born with heterochromia (meaning he has a green right eye, & brown left eye.)  A very spiritual kid... Until age 17... Also 'as a kid', he was diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome and Asperger syndrome. The symptoms had mostly subsided by the time he was 14, however.  Dan (the man) had planned on entering the priesthood.  He came from a 'strict' Catholic family.  As school goes... he went here - but transferred here before graduating...

 

Upon graduating - he entered college here.  College was somewhat an obstacle course for Dan.  Partly due to the fact that he found work as a comedian in several nightclubs.    College life mixed with nightclub life is NOT a good combo... EVERYTHING collides and NOTHING coincides.  Thus - when the 2 issued an ultimatum - Dan dropped school for comedy.  While the nightclubs gave Dan an opportunity to hone his INCREDIBLE talent in comedy... It also gave him a chance to explore his curiosity in music.  He found solace in a club called Le Hibou that featured mannnnny blues artists... Thus inspiring his lifelong love for the blues!  (Nowadays- thanks to Google Maps.. we can see what the Le Hibou building has become!!  It has long been closed..)  You'll remember... Twas Dan who was one half of the Blues Brother duo - and co-founder 'House of Blues.'  In and of his own admission...

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...there was a little club there called Le Hibou, which in French means 'the owl.' And it was run by a gentleman named Harvey Glatt, and he brought every, and I mean every, blues star that you or I would ever have wanted to have seen through Ottawa in the late '50s, well I guess more late '60s sort of, in around the Newport jazz rediscovery. I was going to Le Hibou and hearing James Cotton, Otis Spann, Pinetop Perkins, and Muddy Waters. I actually jammed behind Muddy Waters. S.P. Leary left the drum kit one night, and Muddy said 'anybody out there play drums? I don't have a drummer.' And I walked on stage and we started, I don't know, Little Red Rooster, something. He said 'keep that beat going, you make Muddy feel good.' And I heard Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett). Many, many times I saw Howlin' Wolf. As well as The Doors. And of course Buddy Guy, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. So I was exposed to all of these players, playing there as part of this scene to service the academic community in Ottawa, a very well-educated community. 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...

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In 1972, Dan became part of the famed GOLD MINE Second City comedy troupe... mmhmm - with the likes of John Candy, Eugene Levy, & Harold Ramis.  It was while at Second City - Dan made a great friendship with a fella by the name of Lorne Michaels.  He was in the process of selling a new television show to NBC.  When it 'sold'... Lorne brought Dan onboard as a writer making $278 smackers a week.  Upon discovering his acting abilities - he was moved by Lorne - into acting out what he wrote.  It was BRILLO-iance!!  Dan became a quintessential necessity to SNL!!  SNL beckoned Hollywood uh-knocking... Thus?  History being MADE!!!

His resume has been lengthly, & golden!  Thanks to our pals at Virtual Globetrotting - we get a birds eye view of Aykroyd's home... Dan (the man) has his own star on the 'Canadian version' of Hollywood's starwalk.. See it here..

Dan (the man)- has proven his talent to be a 'force to be reckoned & beckoned' with!!​​  Whether it's a drama, mystic, action, or DEFINATLY comedy.. Dan is your MAN!! Whatever Dan is in.. One thing is 'fosho' - HE CAN SELL IT!! FoSho'Nuff!!

COOL TRIVIA:

Gander of the cabin fellow legend John Candy, & Dan (the man), used in the film 'The Great Outdoors.'​​​​

On his passport, he lists his occupation as "Writer".

Aykroyd and John Belushi were scheduled to present the first annual Best Visual Effects Oscar at the 1982 Academy Awards, but Belushi died weeks before the ceremony. Aykroyd presented the award alone, and stated from the podium: "My partner would have loved to have been here tonight to present this award, since he was a bit of a Visual Effect himself."​​​​  Cool STUFF!!  FoSho!