Dan Aykroyd has lived quite a life, going from an original cast member on Saturday Night Live to starring in iconic movie comedies like Trading Places, Ghostbusters, and The Blues Brothers. Now, as SNL approaches its 50th anniversary special, Aykroyd is reminiscing about some formative moments from his early sketch show days, and even further back, such as the time he almost fell to his death while making a TV show with Gilda Radner.
The Driving Miss Daisy actor opened up about some of the craziest moments from his early acting days while speaking with A.V. Club, including his tenure at SNL. Apparently there was one moment that could’ve ended tragically before his NBC debut. Having met while honing their skills as comedic performers, the future NBC co-stars were shooting a running scene on top of a warehouse when Aykroyd made one wrong step, and one 50-foot fall later, he ended up in an ambulance. As the actor put it:
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.
Running across an actual roof isn’t the kind of thing that happens often within the set-based world of SNL. Thankfully, things didn’t go as badly as they could have, as Aykroyd’s fall was slowed down by him bouncing off of a light rack on the way down. He detailed the incident, saying:
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.
Thankfully, he was ultimately okay and didn’t sustain any major injuries that impeded his path towards helping creating Ray Stanz and Elwood Blues. He was only 22 when this happened, and he had yet to move to New York City and star on SNL, which forever changed the course of his career. These early collaborations with Radner are still formative, however, as they both were discovered by a young Lorne Michaels who eventually created SNL, and the rest is history. While the outcome here was positive, if this fall resulted in more permanent injuries, things may have gone a lot differently.
This is only one of many stories from Aykroyd’s early acting days that seem unbelievable. He shared an office with John Belushi that was allegedly riddled with holes and strange fan items. The two also played a crazy prank on the founder of Rolling Stone that was very over-the-top. However, I’m sure the most insane stories are the ones never told, and kept a closely guarded secret by Aykroyd and others who broke into the business with him in the 70s. SNL and the comedy world in general feels much tamer nowadays, but comedians tell these stories as if they were just yesterday, making the legend live on.
You can see the early acting days of both Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner by checking out some of the first seasons of SNL now with a Peacock subscription. Fans of the Dragnet comedian should also check out our feature on Aykroyd’s best on-screen lines to revisit some of the highlights from the actor’s career.