“If I have that, that’d be great”: Why John Belushi was Jack Black’s model man
Though he has given some great dramatic performances in the likes of Bernie and Peter Jackson’s King Kong, Jack Black is primarily known as a comic actor, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The metal-loving star has given some absolute tour de force performances across his career, ranging from family-friendly ventures such as School of Rock and Kung Fu Panda to more, shall we say, ‘blue’ efforts along the lines of Tropic Thunder.
As with all performers in the public eye, Black was compared to many of his forerunners when he first broke onto the scene in the mid-to-late 1990s. In conversation with Phase 9 whilst promoting the aforementioned School of Rock, he picked up on one such comparison to an all-time comedy legend, who one had sadly passed many years earlier.
“I am always flattered if people compare me to John Belushi,” he said. “The comparisons are aside from the fact that we’re both chubby, and I have a powerful eyebrow technique. I guess we both have a similar raunchy energy but I think the thing that was great about Belushi was just that you loved him. I wasn’t even thinking about how great a performer he was as much as ‘wow! I’d like to hang out with that guy!’ He had a great high hangability quotient, and if I have that, that’d be great. I’d want to.”
The great John Belushi really needs no introduction. Though they started their careers in very different ways – Belushi got his big break as an original cast member on Saturday Night Live, while Black found work as a child actor in commercials – there are plenty of reasons why the two are regularly put side-by-side. Along with the characteristics Black outlined, he and Belushi are both known for being big, loud personalities when in character. There’s also the musical element; Black is the lead singer of Tenacious D, while Belushi formed The Blues Brothers with Dan Ackroyd.
However, despite all the evidence, the two are far from carbon copies. Belushi was a deeply troubled individual, his regularly violent and erratic behaviour not helped by his well-publicised drug use. He might have gotten big laughs, but behind the scenes, he cut a deeply unhappy figure. As for his more modern counterpart, he comes across as nothing but chipper in real life. This could all be an elaborate act of course, but one only needs to spend five minutes of Black’s Instagram to see just how un-Belushi he can be.
They might never have gotten the chance to work together – Belushi died in 1982 aged just 33 – but Black was linked to a biopic of the tragic genius for the longest time. However, in 2010, he publicly announced that he had no plans to ever play the former National Lampoon member. “I think it falls into that trap of when a comedian is playing a comedian, it’s just less funny,” he told The Irish Examiner. “His life is not as funny as his work, and watching me do an imitation of him doing his Saturday Night Live bits won’t be as funny as watching him do his SNL bits.”
We may never see Black as Belushi, but the fact that he was even considered a suitable vessel for him is a testament to his ability as a comedic powerhouse.
