See HearPodcast 115 - Conversation with Daniel De Vise' about The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic

Back in 1980, I recall going to the cinema to see a new film, The
Blues Brothers. Music and car chases…..what wasn’t there to love?
The critics hated it because….ya know….that’s what they’re paid to
do. A few years after initial release, it became THAT cult film
that everyone watched – on TV, on video or at late night cinema
screenings (in Melbourne, it became an audience participation
phenomenon similar to Rocky Horror). The question is how did the
film get made? Welcome to episode 115 of See Hear Podcast. Kerry,
Tim and I welcomed to the show journalist and author Daniel De
Vise. He’s written a great new book called “The Blues Brothers: An
Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American
Film Classic”. As the title implies, it’s not just about the making
of the film (although a large part of it is devoted to that
subject). Daniel did extensive research to talk about the early
lives and characters of Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. They were a
part of the new North American comedy movement Second City,
National Lampoon and Saturday Night (later Saturday Night Live), so
he writes much about those institutions. There’s talk in the book
about Aykroyd’s love of blues and how he (and Robert Cray’s
harmonica player) made Belushi a blues fanatic. There’s stories of
70s cinema, addiction, egos, friendship, men in bee costumes, and
origin of The Blues Brothers. We were rapt that Daniel came on the
show to talk about his book and about the blues, the accusations of
racism thrown against the comedians who wanted to bring brilliant
blues and soul musicians back to the spotlight, the comedy movement
as the new rockstar, how rock musicians started taking themselves
too seriously…..and a TON of other things. Yeah, we even talk about
The Blues Brothers movie. The environment that led to the film is
hugely important and it would be impossible to talk about it
without telling the wider story as to how the film got made. Daniel
has done a terrific job in doing this. I hope you enjoy listening
to our conversation even half as much as we did having it. You can
follow his goings on at danieldevise.com, and you can pick up the
book in both physical and e-book formats wherever you usually get
your reading material. If you’ve been enjoying the show, please
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