Peter Aykroyd:1955-2021

I was saddened to hear about the recent death of Peter Aykroyd, who wrote for Saturday Night Live and appeared on the show as a featured player during its 1979-80 season.  

He joined SNL during the final season that featured what was left of the original cast and writers.  Aykroyd went on to have a respectable career as a writer and actor, which included co-writing the movie Nothing but Trouble with his brother Dan.  

Aykroyd (far left) first appeared on SNL as one of the Pope's Swiss Guards in the season premier of the fifth season.

Since my SNL reviews have only reached the middle of Season 2, I haven't written here about any of Aykroyd's episodes.  But he had some roles on the show that have always stuck with me.  Some examples include:

Aykroyd played the title role in the "Biggest Leprachaun" sketch, which aired on the 100th episode of Saturday Night.  

He appeared alongside host Rodney Dangerfield, Garrett Morris and Bill Murray in a sketch called "America On The Job," which paid tribute to America's clothing inspectors.

Aykroyd's best remembered moment was the short film "Java Junkie."  Tom Schiller wrote and directed the parody of hardboiled Film Noir, Aykroyd stared in the film and served as its narrator. 

Dan Aykroyd paid tribute to his brother on Twitter:

Laraine Newman also remembered him:

SNL writer Alan Zweibel posted this:

I don't normally post videos here, but since "Java Junkie" has been mentioned in multiple tributes to Aykroyd, here's the film:

I send my deepest condolences to friends and family of Peter Aykroyd and everyone who knew him.