by Sam Wasson
242 bodyguard named Tiny: Robin Duke to author.
242 “Del could find the truth”: Andrew Alexander to author.
242 “Del wanted to kill Andrew”: Sheldon Patinkin to author.
243 Universal president Ned Tanen: The Yearbook: An ‘Animal House’ Reunion, directed by J. M. Kenny (Los Angeles: Universal Studios Home Video, 1998), DVD.
243 “That was part of the trick”: Manohla Dargis, “‘Don’t Go into Retail’: Ten Years of Days in the Life of Harold Ramis,” Los Angeles Weekly, August 9, 1996.
243 “that’s what got the movie green-lit”: John Landis, in The Yearbook: An ‘Animal House’ Reunion.
243 “Okay, I’ll do it”: Woodward, Wired, 118.
244 “Stop! That’s terrible! Do it again!!”: The Yearbook: An ‘Animal House’ Reunion.
244 “John,” Tim Matheson said: Belushi and Colby, Belushi, 140.
244 “for my own confidence”: Ivan Reitman to author.
244 “Summer camp is so much fun”: Reitman, in “Commentary,” Meatballs, directed by Ivan Reitman (1979; Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2007), special edition DVD.
244 “It’s got to be Bill Murray”: Ivan Reitman to author.
244 “Has anyone heard from him?”: Ibid.
245 Grays Harbor Loggers: Grossberger, “Bill Murray: Making It Up.”
245 “It’s all artificial rhythms”: Ibid.
245 “I’m only 30”: Chris Chase, “At the Movies,” New York Times, July 3, 1981.
245 “We’re going to start shooting”: Reitman, in “Commentary,” Meatballs, special edition DVD.
245 “Mr. Murray was considering doing the movie”: Ibid.
245 “What are we going to shoot today?”: Ibid.
246 “The thing about scripts is”: Joshua Rothkopf, “What’s So Funny?,” Time Out New York, April 8, 2004.
246 “It’s hard to call it a technique”: Blount, “Have You Heard the One About Bill Murray.”
246 “I want you to enter”: Ivan Reitman to author.
246 “I knew I had a decision”: Ibid.
246 “Actors can clash in improvisation”: Ibid.
246 “You see it in the wrestling scene”: Ibid.
246 “and whatever else happened”: Ibid.
247 “more delightful”: Ibid.
247 “On Saturday Night Live”: Chase, “Bill Murray: More Than Just a Funnyman.”
247 “And I don’t think a director”: Dan Fierman, “Bill Murray Is Ready to See You Now,” GQ, August 2010.
247 “We’d see a scene shot”: Clarke Taylor, “The Serious Side of Bill Murray,” Los Angeles magazine,July 3, 1981.
247 “I saw Meatballs when it opened”: Frank Price to author.
248 “Eleven years ago, in The Graduate”: Tony Schwartz, “College Humor Comes Back,” Newsweek, October 23, 1978.
248 “No one,” Ramis said, “had represented”: Harold Ramis, Pinewood Dialogues, Museum of the Moving Image, June 12, 2009.
248 “The 1980s,” wrote Stephen Prince: Stephen Prince, A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow, 1980–1989 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), xiv.
249 John might not survive this: Belushi and Colby, Belushi, 201.
249 Bittersweetly, Bernie Sahlins understood: Jane Sahlins to author.
249 “Once you start worrying”: Lawrence Christon, “Why the Longevity of Second City Troupe?,” Los Angeles Times, March 26, 1983.
249 “We were getting people”: John Kapelos, interview, ADD Comedy with Dave Razowsky, audio recording, http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/add-comedy-tour/add-comedy-with-dave-razowsky-and-ian-foley/e/john-kapelos-36388319.
249 “Lorne Michaels is coming in”: Thomas, The Second City Unscripted, 166.
249 “Neither the audiences nor the casts”: Linda Winer, “Second City Is Still First in Comedy,” New York Times, August 19, 1979.
249 “pernicious” misappropriation: Bruce Weber, “Industrial-Strength Comedy,” New York Times, December 21, 1999.
249 “In TV comedy”: Christon, “Why the Longevity of Second City Troupe?”
250 “the comedy of insult and the zany”: Winer, “Second City Is Still First in Comedy.”
250 “I was likely to break down”: Kleinfeld, “Del Close.”
250 “Nice work in the psychiatrist scene”: Wendt, quoted in Johnson, The Funniest One in the Room, 198.
250 “Now we can do better”: Steven Kampmann to author.
250 “Devil mode”: Coven, quoted in Johnson, The Funniest One in the Room, 203.
250 “There’s your genius”: Thomas, The Second City Unscripted, 142.
250 “Look,” he said to the cast: Andrew Alexander to author.
251 “I must say, I was really upset”: Joe Flaherty to author.
251 “That was one funny show”: Ibid.
251 “At the end of the night”: Bob Dolman to author.
252 “Edmonton was flat and lonely”: Dave Thomas to author.
252 “There was never enough material”: Thomas, The Second City Unscripted, 142.
252 “We sort of guard each other”: Gerald Levitch, “Second City Fever,” TV Guide, May 23, 1981.
253 “It didn’t allow any star trips”: 1999 Aspen Comedy Festival SCTV Tribute, SCTV.
253 “What do you want us to do?”: Dave Thomas to author.
253 “We all thought it was hilarious”: Pat Whitley to author.
254 “I didn’t resent them, my friends on the show”: Joe Flaherty to author.
254 “I’m going to call Brandon Tartikoff”: Ibid.
255 “In L.A. or New York”: Lewis Grossberger, “Belushi: Has Changed, Never Changes—Check One," Rolling Stone, January 21, 1982, p. 21.
255 “[Belushi] was desperately searching”: Belushi and Colby, Belushi, 186.
255 “That’s one of the greatest summers”: Thomas , The Second City Unscripted, 128.
255 “I thought it was real”: Grossberger, “Belushi: Has Changed, Never Changes,” 21.
255 He craved a spot: Dick Blasucci to author.
255 Texas rehab facility: Johnson, The Funniest One in the Room, 269.
255 “We had a budget in the movie for cocaine”: Ned Zeman, “Soul Men: The Making of The Blues Brothers,” Vanity Fair, December 10, 2012, http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/12/drugs-john-belushi-making-blues-brothers.
256 “Junkies give the best shots”: Woodward, Wired, 172.
256 “Where do you want to put the camera?”: Ramis, Jack Oakie Lecture on Comedy in Film.
256 “Action”: Trevor Albert to author.
256 “If you have something urban”: Ramis, Jack Oakie Lecture on Comedy in Film.
256 “And I want to direct it”: Ibid.
256 “I want everyone to feel good”: Harold Ramis, interviewed by Resolutions Productions Group, 2009, https://vimeo.com/87816359.
256 “I don’t have a fucking clue”: David Rensin, “Dr. Jokes,” Playboy, September 2000.
257 “We knew we were funny”: “Caddyshack: The 19th Hole,” Caddyshack (Blu-ray, Warner Home Video, 2010).
257 “They were a tight group”: William Carruth to author.
257 “I never saw reason not to improvise”: Tom Legro, “Conversation: Harold Ramis and Bernard Sahlins on Second City’s 50th Anniversary,” Art Beat, PBS Newshour, December 17, 2009, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/conversation-harold-ramis-and-bernard-sahlins-on-second-citys-50th-anniversary/.
257 “Carl, the greenskeeper”: “Caddyshack: The 19th Hole,” Caddyshack Blu-ray.
257 “Bill,” he said, “when you’re playing”: Ibid.
257 if they laughed: William Carruth to author.
258 “We were afraid of communicating anything real”: David Eimer, “Multiple Choice,” Time Out London, September 18, 1996.
258 “I see where the movie’s going”: Dargis, “‘Don’t Go into Retail.’”
258 “The atmosphere was chaotic”: Trevor Albert, Ramis Memorial, Mon
talban Theater, Los Angeles, June 17, 2014.
258 “If you say you remember Caddyshack”: Michael O’Keefe, in Caddyshack: The Inside Story, directed by Amelia Hanibelsz (New York: Pangolin Pictures, 2009), DVD.
258 “I developed a mantra on Caddyshack”: Ibid.
258 “You know there’s a hurricane”: William Carruth to author.
258 “Editing,” Ramis said, “was a disaster”: Ramis, in Caddyshack: The Inside Story.
258 add more gopher: Ibid.
259 “Chrissie, wake up”: Story submitted by Christine, “A Trip to Long Beach with Bill Murray, A Long Time Ago,” June 12, 2013, http://www.billmurraystory.com/2013/trip-to-long-beach-with-bill-murray/.
259 “We weren’t trying to make a funny movie”: Dale Pollock, “Murray Walks the Razor’s Edge in Hollywood,” Los Angeles Times, October 21, 1984.
259 “Bill was always difficult to find”: Lynn Hirschberg, “Bill Murray, in All Seriousness,” New York Times, January 31, 1999.
259 “I live a little bit on the seat of my pants”: Bill Murray on Charlie Rose, 2014, http://www.hulu.com/watch/595859.
259 Arriving at the beaches of Long Island: Story submitted by Christine, “A Trip to Long Beach with Bill Murray.”
260 “We needed to get”: Dave Thomas to author.
260 “where Melonville is?”: SCTV, Vol. 2, “The SCTV Writers” (Los Angeles: Shout Factory), DVD.
260 “Actors would ‘Yes, and’ us writers”: Douglas Steckler to author.
260 “ SCTV wasn’t a show that was heavily improvised”: Thomas, SCTV: Behind the Scenes, 93.
261 “the first draft”: Bob Dolman to author.
261 “You welcomed the input”: Douglas Steckler to author.
261 “It was like taking a test”: SCTV, Vol. 2, “The SCTV Writers” (Los Angeles: Shout Factory), DVD.
261 “when we did those shows we needed”: Joe Flaherty to author.
261 “we never felt ostracized”: Bob Dolman to author.
261 “Canadians observing Americans”: Douglas Steckler to author.
261 “the anchor”: Bob Dolman to author.
261 “As a writer”: Joe Flaherty to author.
262 “The cast wants to do it their way”: Dave Thomas to author.
262 “because NBC had to have some guy in there”: Bob Dolman to author.
262 “They weren’t used to the fact”: Pat Whitley to author.
262 “NBC,” Doug Steckler recognized: Douglas Steckler to author.
262 John Blanchard, “knew that the cast”: Pat Whitley to author.
262 “we would sit at the monitor”: Joe Flaherty to author.
263 “In terms of television sketch comedy”: Del Close, quoted in Thomas, SCTV, 214.
263 “Who’s gonna make the speech?”: YouTube Video, SCTV Wins 1982 Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4HXCyfcD6M.
264 “You haven’t tried a woman”: Dustin Hoffman to author.
264 “You have the complete works”: Ibid.
264 “It’s a tilt”: Mike Nichols in Conversation at MoMA, April 18, 2009.
264 “Some of these changes may be useful”: Sydney Pollack Papers, Folder 576, AMPAS Margaret Herrick Library.
264 “so she’ll get nominated”: Mike Nichols in Conversation at MoMA, April 18, 2009.
264 “Elaine is the one”: Dustin Hoffman to author.
264 “I didn’t know what would come of it”: Frank Price to author.
264 “At the party”: Ibid.
264 “Playing number two”: Sara Nelson, “Bill Murray,” LA Herald Examiner, October 14, 1984.
264 “Gee,” he said: Dustin Hoffman to author.
264 “Whoever we get has to feel”: Ibid.
264 stayed up that night until two in the morning: Ibid.
264 “We fit, Billy and I”: Ibid.
264 “He was in Meatballs!”: Ibid.
265 “It wasn’t until I screened”: Timothy White, “The Rumpled Anarchy of Bill Murray,” New York Times, November 20, 1988.
265 “where you can make the other person look good”: Fred Schruers, “Isn’t He Romantic?,” Premiere, October 2003.
265 Tab and vodka: Jeffrey Jolson-Colburn, “Belushi’s Last Party,” US, May 11, 1982.
265 “You couldn’t help it”: Ibid.
265 “to come in and try”: Johnson, The Funniest One in the Room, 222.
265 “house metaphysician”: Thomas, SCTV: Behind the Scenes, 207.
267 “We all loved that guy”: Mitchell Glazer and Timothy White, eds., “John Belushi: Made in America,” Rolling Stone, April 29, 1982.
267 Dan Aykroyd was in New York: Woodward, Wired, 404.
267 “His whole giant body”: Bob Dolman to author.
267 “It’s starting!”: Douglas Steckler to author.
268 “beyond human consolation”: Ibid.
268 “I found it an incredible high”: Aljean Harmetz, “Robin Williams: Comedy for a Narcissistic Time,” New York Times, December 28, 1978.
268 “the harvesting of keen talents”: Douglas Steckler to author.
268 threw his hypodermic needle: Kleinfeld, “Del Close.”
268 “the images of the universe”: Ibid.
268 “Is this the way it’s supposed to work?”: Ibid.
269 Around midnight, some days after John died: Judy Jacklin Belushi, Samurai Widow, 93.
14. 1982–1984
270 typed out by Farley’s penis: I Am Chris Farley, directed by Brent Hodge and Derik Murray (Network Entertainment, 2015), DVD.
270 “When he got in trouble”: Tom Farley Jr. and Tanner Colby, The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts (New York: Viking, 2008), 29.
271 “Chris,” asked Farley’s college dean: Ibid., 41.
271 last three weeks of production: A Better Man: The Making of Tootsie, directed by Charles Kiselyak (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2007), DVD.
271 “He knew we would be trouble”: Dustin Hoffman to author.
272 “an enormous amount of improvising”: Sydney Pollack Commentary, Tootsie (Blu-ray, Criterion Collection, 2014).
272 “In that sense,” he concurred: Stephen Farber, Moviegoer, June 1984.
272 “Every take he does is amazing”: Ibid.
272 improvise the film’s birthday-party sequence: Sydney Pollack Commentary, Tootsie.
272 “Bill,” Pollack said: Ibid.
272 Fred Willard’s agent called: Fred Willard to author.
272 “What I was looking at was extraordinary”: Ibid.
273 “They’re improvising?”: Fred Willard, Archive of American Television Interview, conducted by Amy Harrington, Encino, CA, September 28, 2012.
273 “I want to be in this movie”: Ibid.
273 “It seemed like there was a tremendous”: Michael Goldberg, “‘This Is Spinal Tap’: The Comics Behind the Funniest Rock Movie Ever,” Rolling Stone, May 24, 1984.
273 “We were shooting a takeoff on Midnight Special”: Peter Occhiogrosso, “Shearer on Tap,” Village Voice, March 6, 1984.
273 “Michael and Chris pretended to be”: Spinal Tap Production Notes, AMPAS Margaret Herrick Library.
274 “At that stage”: Ibid.
274 “we wanted to improvise as much as possible”: Terry Ilott, “Reiner’s ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ Set for Cult Status in US, Now Opening in UK,” Screen International, September 9, 1984.
274 “lent itself to the exposure of the self-important”: Goldberg, “‘This Is Spinal Tap’: The Comics.”
274 Yoko Ono, story: Rob Reiner, Kevin Pollack’s Chat Show, no. 108, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODVfTltkoRc.
274 “We were literally walking from one lot”: Goldberg, “‘This Is Spinal Tap’: The Comics.”
274 “Going into each scene, improvising”: Mark Leviton, “Spinal Tap’s Metal Memories,” BAM, March 23, 1984.
274 “The first time,” he said, “I’d just turn”: Aljean Harmetz, “Reiner Has Last La
ugh with His Rock Spoof,” New York Times, April 25, 1984.
275 a comic “wild card”: Spinal Tap Production Notes, AMPAS Margaret Herrick Library.
275 “It’s the discipline”: Leslie Wolf, “The Splendors of Stupidity: This Is Spinal Tap,” LA Weekly, May 3, 1994.
275 physically hide behind McKean: Christopher Guest, Kevin Pollack’s Chat Show, no. 113, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CncBFKdL70Q.
275 “That day shooting Spinal Tap”: Fred Willard to author.
275 “Is Bill finished?”: Crouse, “The Rolling Stone Interview: Bill Murray.”
275 “I mean,” he said, “you’d look”: Ibid.
275 “always checking situations”: Christopher Connelly, “The Man You Are Looking for Is Not Here,” Premiere, August 1990.
276 “He’s off on another kind of journey”: Tyrangiel, “The Many Faces of Bill.”
276 “I think after John died”: Siskel, “Bill Murray Earns His Stripes.”
276 “Tell whoever wants Ghostbusters”: Stephen Farber, Moviegoer, June 1984.
276 “The word in Hollywood”: Frank Price to author.
276 “I wasn’t asking for the impossible”: Ibid.
276 “I’ve got Bill Murray”: Ibid.
277 “If I see someone who’s out cold”: Edwards, “Being Bill Murray,” http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/features/being-bill-murray-20141028.
277 “Having your writers as actors”: Michael London, “A Movie Maker Who Tamed High-Tech in ‘Ghostbusters,’” Los Angeles Times, July 13, 1984.
277 “We just made stuff up”: Crouse, “The Rolling Stone Interview: Bill Murray.”
277 “We trusted each other so implicitly”: Ghostbusters Blu-ray, “Cast and Crew Featurette” (Sony Pictures, 2009).
277 “Because we’ve worked together”: Ivan Reitman to author.
277 “four writers, three directors”: Austin Film Festival Ghostbusters Q&A with Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson.
277 “Shooting was precious”: Ivan Reitman to author.
277 “the energy source”: Ibid.
277 “in some unsaid musical way”: Ibid.
277 “You know where you said this”: Ibid.
278 “put a stack of books”: Ibid.
278 “There’s this Second City theory”: Pat H. Broeske, “A Group of ‘Ghostbusters,’” Drama-Logue, June 21–27, 1984.
278 “Being on the set”: Lesley M. M. Blume, “The Making of Ghostbusters: How Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and ‘the Murricane’ Built ‘the Perfect Comedy,’” Vanity Fair, June 4, 2014.
