In 1971, John teamed up with the famed Second City comedy troupe in Chicago. He also appeared on National Lampoon’s half-hour syndicated show, Radio Hour. In 1974, after the show’s original director Michael O'Donoghue quit, John filled his shoes as director. John’s co-stars on Radio Hour included future Saturday Night Live regulars Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, and Chevy Chase. A number of the sketches featured on Radio Hour would later morph into early Saturday Night Live sketches. Throughout the 70s, John also appeared on National Lampoon comedy albums, such as Lemmings in 1973, Stereo Test in 1974, and Gold Turkey in 1975.

John was thrust into the mainstream in 1975 when he joined Saturday Night Live as one of the show’s original cast members, along with Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, and Bill Murray. During the show’s off-season, John filmed Animal House in 1978. He also starred in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers and Steven Spielberg's 1979 war comedy 1941. In 1979, John left Saturday Night Live to pursue his film career further. At that time, John was at the top of his game – he had the #1 film in the U.S., Animal House; the #1 album in the U.S., The Blues Brothers’ Briefcase Full Of Blues; and Saturday Night Live was the highest-rated late night television program.

The professional success John achieved gradually manifested into problems in his personal life, as he battled an addiction to cocaine. John died on March 5, 1982, at the age of thirty-three. He had spent that evening in the company of friends and fellow actors Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, and later retired to his hotel room at the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard. It was there that he died from a lethal injection of cocaine and heroin. A former groupie of The Band, Cathy Smith, revealed to The Enquirer that she had given John the fateful "speedball" shot. She was charged with involuntary manslaughter for which she served an eighteen month prison sentence. John is buried in Chilmark, Massachusetts, with an epitaph on his tombstone reading "I may be gone, but Rock ‘n’ Roll lives on." Ironically, he had been featured on one early Saturday Night Live sketch as the last surviving cast member of the series.

John’s death was regarded as an untimely tragedy, and a testament to the prevalence of drugs in Hollywood during the late 70s and early 80s. The Grateful Dead wrote a song about their friend’s death, titled "West L.A. Fadeaway." John’s life and death is also chronicled in the 1985 biography by Bob Woodward, Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi. The biography was later made into a movie that was boycotted by Dan Akroyd and his wife. The 2005 book Belushi, written by his widow, Judy Belushi Pisano, was also written about John. John’s brother, Jim Belushi is also a fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus, and currently stars in the comedy sitcom According to Jim.

YUDDY