Comedy legend Dan Aykroyd is a true icon with a career that spans decades. Aykroyd's breakthrough came in 1975 when he was cast as one of the original members of Saturday Night Live. From there, his star only grew with unforgettable roles in The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters (among many others). Today, Aykroyd’s voice and overall sensibility can be heard via Blues Brothers: The Arc of Gratitude. The project is an Audible original that traces his legendary collaboration with John Belushi, the birth of the Blues Brothers band, and the band's journey after Belushi's tragic death in 1982.
More: Dan Ackroyd is ready to unpack the legacy of The Blues Brothers (The Treatment, 2024)
For his Treat, Ackroyd helps us understand the influence of European and Jewish culture on American humor — tracing its evolution from the distinctive rhythms of Polish and Russian immigrants, to the vibrant Yiddish theater of New York’s Lower East Side and the Catskills. Comedians like Phil Silvers, Shecky Greene, and Henny Youngman captured Aykroyd’s attention and had a lasting impact on how comedy is relayed.
This segment has been edited and condensed for clarity.
I've got Mittel Europe, really, to thank for a large part of my career. Because all of American humor is founded on the Polish and Russian rhythms of Mittel Europe. In the Jewish culture, translated then to the Lower East Side, Yiddish culture, the theater of the Lower East Side — [that’s] where you get the spit take, you get the shutter take, you get the "nyang” … That's all from that beautiful, rich, theatrical culture. And then you take that [and] translate it into the Catskills, where you have guys like Phil Silvers, Shecky Greene, Henny Youngman, and The Tumblers. That's where all American humor really has its roots.
I grew up watching Phil Silvers, Danny Thomas, and all these great sitcoms that used these rhythms. One of the oldest jokes is: Two gravediggers are walking by Jacob Rothschild's tomb, and one looks at the other and looks at the tomb, which is four stories high, and says, "Man, that's what I call living.”
I have the Mittel Europe, Jewish sensibility, the Yiddish theater of the Lower East Side, and the Catskills to thank for what I learned in comedy and was able to go on and do and emulate. One of the greatest tips I have for anybody in comedy is to go to the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York. In two hours, you will get a university course level agenda, and you'll get a university course level type of knowledge. In terms of substance and breadth, [it’s] in no other institution I know.