Summary
The behind-the-scenes story of the iconic funnymen who ruled '80s Hollywood--Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and Eddie Murphy--and the beloved films that made them stars, including Animal House, Caddyshack, and Ghostbusters
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NEW YORK
"An enjoyable romp that vividly captures the manic ups and downs of the remarkable group of funny folk who gave us a golden age of small and big screen comedy, from SNL to Groundhog Day ." -- Peter Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
Wild and Crazy Guys opens in 1978 with Chevy Chase and Bill Murray taking bad-tempered swings at each other backstage at Saturday Night Live, and closes 21 years later with the two doing a skit in the same venue, poking fun at each other, their illustrious careers, triumphs and prat falls. In between, Nick de Semlyen takes us on a trip through the tumultuous '80s, delving behind the scenes of movies such as National Lampoon's Vacation, Beverly Hills Cop, The Blues Brothers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and dozens more. Chronicling the off-screen, larger-than-life antics of Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, John Belushi, John Candy, and Rick Moranis, it's got drugs, sex, punch-ups, webbed toes, and Bill Murray being pushed into a swimming pool by Hunter S. Thompson while tied to a lawn chair. What's not to like?
Based on candid interviews from many of the stars themselves, as well as those in their immediate orbit, including directors John Landis, Carl Reiner, and Amy Heckerling, Wild and Crazy Guys is a fantastic insider account of the friendships, feuds, triumphs, and disasters experienced by these beloved comedians. Hilarious and revealing, it is both a hidden history of the most fertile period ever for screen comedy and a celebration of some of the most popular films of all time.
Praise for Wild and Crazy Guys
"Eminently readable . . . Children of the 1980s, take note: this is a fond, engrossing look back at the making of movies that became cultural touchstones." -- Booklist (starred review)
"Nick de Semlyen smartly charts the pinballing career paths of the stars of this new comic wave. . . . His punchy, nonstop narrative . . . tells a [story] where art and commerce smash hard against each other, sometimes causing destruction, but sometimes making sparks fly." -- The Sunday Times (UK)
Author Notes
Nick de Semlyen is a film journalist who has written for publications including Rolling Stone, Stuff, and Time Out. He is the features editor for Empire, the world's biggest movie magazine.
Kirkus Review
Film journalist de Semlyen recounts the migration from TV to film of a once-iconic generation of comedians.The year 1975 saw the debut of Saturday Night Live, with a cast of gifted, sardonic comedians headed by Chevy Chase and John Belushi, who broke all kinds of rules and regulations every time it turned around. Then came the second season, and Chase departed the show for, as he admitted, "money. Lots of money." The money flowed, and though Chase would star in far more dogs than winners, the comics who followed his path to HollywoodBelushi, Bill Murray, John Candy, Steve Martin, and many othersoverturned the comic image of the Woody Allen-dominated 1970s ("a wimp in specs") in favor of the smartass who couldn't be bothered to follow anyone else's norms. Perhaps the most canonical of all the characters was Belushi, who perfectly filled the role of John "Bluto" Blutarsky in the 1978 film Animal House. Others established their own characters for better or worse and in between: Eddie Murphy was undeniably brilliant, Chase could barely act, Candy and Martin had hidden depths, but all swallowed up whatever was thrown to them as readily as some swallowed up whatever drug was on the table. The book doesn't have much of a thesis as such, but it's full of entertaining revelations: Murray was in the running to play Boon in Animal House; Dan Aykroyd was cerebral, anomic, and straitlaced all at once, so much so that a writer described him as "a cross between a state trooper and an android"; everyone loved The Blues Brothers except for Jerry Garcia; and so on. The book is often overwritten ("Steve Martin, a keen student of Picasso, was experiencing his own Blue Period"), but film buffs are likely to forgive the excesses in exchange for its many anecdotal rewards.It's not deep, but fans of Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd, and their wild-and-crazy ilk will find pleasure here. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Journalist de Semlyen pays homage to male comedic superstars of the 1980s in this eminently readable appreciation of the biggest hits, and misses, of the decade. Starting where else? with Saturday Night Live, which made icons out of Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, Steve Martin, and Eddie Murphy, de Semlyen begins with a fistfight in 1978 between Chase and Murray, during which the latter hurled the insult, ""MEDIUM TALENT!"" at the former. It's a great introduction to the larger-than-life personalities that populated the comedy scene of the era, ranging from Belushi, whose excessive drug use led to a tragic overdose, to Murphy, whose focus and drive ensured he stayed far, far away from narcotics of any kind. Drawing from interviews and firsthand accounts, de Semlyen delves into the making of iconic films such as Caddyshack, The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, and Beverly Hills Cop. The actors' professional struggles are detailed here, too; both Chase and Martin, in particular, had a string of demoralizing flops before eventually finding box-office success. Children of the 1980s, take note: this is a fond, engrossing look back at the making of movies that became cultural touchstones, with plenty of behind-the-scenes details about the key male performers who brought them to life. For their female counterparts, see The Girl in the Show (2017) and We Killed (2012).--Kristine Huntley Copyright 2019 Booklist
Excerpts
Prologue Nobody saw the punch coming. Least of all Chevy Chase. It was February 18, 1978, another ice-cold evening in New York, which had just endured its most ferocious blizzard in thirty years. The three-day nor'easter, dubbed "Storm Larry," had closed schools the previous week, and Central Park remained blanketed by snow. Many chose to stay home that night. Outside 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan, however, a long line of people waited patiently, stamping their feet and rubbing their hands. After all, freezing weather was well worth braving in order to catch an episode of Saturday Night Live , on a Saturday night, live. Eight floors up in the Art Deco skyscraper, throughout the corridors behind Studio 8H, there was a chill in the air that had nothing to do with snow. The incredibly popular comedy troupe known as the Not Ready for Prime-Time Players were busy prepping for their next big night, the eleventh show of season three. Dan Aykroyd was getting into the zone for his first sketch, a typically demented number about a salesman pitching a device for crushing moths. John Belushi was stomping through the halls like a buffalo, as always seemingly free of nerves. New boy Bill Murray, who'd had a shaky start, even receiving hate mail from viewers, was practicing his New England accent. Later that night he'd be playing Bobby Kennedy in a silly "chow-dah"- packed bit about JFK and RFK trying to bug the home of Martin Luther King. And then there was Chevy. Suave, handsome, and pumped up with braggadocio, Cornelius "Chevy" Chase had been the first SNL star to really hit it big. In 1975, the cover of New York Magazine had proclaimed him "The Funniest Man in America." The general consensus was that he agreed. He had come to dominate the first year of the show, introducing every episode but one, smirking his self-created catchphrase--"Good evening. I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not"--pratfalling up a storm, and playing the Landshark, a Jaws -riffing oceanic predator who targets sexy women. Then, he had disappeared. Officially, his reason for quitting midway through season 2 was a new relationship. His girlfriend Jacqueline Carlin, Chase explained, didn't want to move to New York. But his fellow comedians felt he'd deserted them, heading for L.A. and a slew of movie offers. Especially after staff writer Tom Davis reported back to them what Chase had provided as his reason for leaving: "Money. Lots of money." So Chase's return to SNL , this time as guest host, was leaving a bad taste in the collective's mouth. As the cast spent Monday to Friday honing the Chevy-heavy series of skits--as well as spouting nonsense as "The Reverend Archbishop Maharishi O'Mulliganstein DDS of the Church of Confusion," he'd be reprising his signature character, President Gerald Ford--there was much whispering behind his back, especially by Belushi. The week almost passed without incident. But on Saturday night, shortly after eleven p.m., it all came to a head. Chase was en route to the stage for the cold open, clad in his classic Ford costume: suit, tie, brown leather shoes. Not long earlier, Murray had needled him as the two men had makeup applied; now, when Chase stuck his head into the dressing room where Murray and Belushi were sitting on a sofa, the exchange was even spikier. "There was no love lost between those guys," says comedian Dave Thomas, who was there visiting Aykroyd. "Especially at that time, when it was fueled by extreme competitiveness, alcohol, drugs, and fame. Who's the most famous? Who's the funniest? Who's the best? I still think what happened that night could have been avoided, but Chevy is a provocateur. Chevy says things that make people angry." To the shock of everyone in the vicinity, the conversation between the three men suddenly escalated into hand-to-hand combat. Murray lunged forward at Chase, a mad glint in his eye, his fist connecting with his opponent's famous face. "It was a huge altercation," says director John Landis, another eyewitness to the melee. "They were big guys and really going at it. They were slapping at each other, screaming at each other, calling each other terrible names. The best insult, which made a huge impression on me, was by Bill. In the heat of anger, he pointed at Chevy and yelled, 'MEDIUM TALENT!'" Murray remembers it differently. "It was really a Hollywood fight; a don't-touch-my-face kinda thing," he shrugs. "Chevy is a big man, I'm not a small guy, and we were separated by my brother Brian, who comes up to my chest. So it was kind of a non-event. It was just the significance of it. It was an Oedipal thing, a rupture. Because we all felt mad he had left us, and somehow I was the anointed avenging angel, who had to speak for everyone." The intensity of the blows alters from account to account. But the quality of the verbal burns, as the two future titans of comedy went at each other like hissing street cats, remains consistent. "I'm gonna land Neil Armstrong on your face if you don't shut up," snarled Chase, targeting his enemy's acne-scarred skin. "Why don't you go fuck your wife ?" Murray hit back, implying that Chase's spouse wasn't getting much action at home. And then it was all over, the pair pulled apart and Chase dispatched to begin the show. It's a great story, the stuff of legend. But it's more than that. This moment marked the beginnings of a decade-long duel between two of the most bankable stars of the 1980s. Murray and Chase were about to be unleashed on the world in a major way, with towering triumphs and colossal defeats ahead of them both. And they weren't alone. Many of the alumni of SNL , as well as its Canadian equivalent SCTV ( Second City Television ), would soon burst onto the Hollywood scene, competing with one another, collaborating with one another and creating hilarious, box-office-smashing movies in the process. Most of them would prosper. Some would fade away. A few would destroy themselves. But as a combined force they would bring about a new golden age of comedy. And there was nothing "medium talent" about it. Excerpted from Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the '80s Changed Hollywood Forever by Nick de Semlyen All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
