It’s sometimes hard to know just what kind of entertainer Jim Belushi is. He began his career with improv group Second City and starred in Saturday Night Live before landing numerous movie roles and the sitcom According to Jim. In 2003, he and Dan Aykroyd released the album Have Love, Will Travel. Belushi comes full circle on his new improv tour with the Chicago Board of Comedy, stopping at The Venetian, Oct. 18-19. He recently spoke with Las Vegas Magazine’s Matt Kelemen.
Q: It seems like you are in a free-flowing, living-in-the-moment stage where you’re not really tied down to a production timetable.
A: Oh man, I’m having a ball! Just chasing the magic.
Q: Did you mean for it to be this way or did it come about organically?
A: Well, I’ve always done the bands, Sacred Hearts and the Blues Brothers, and about a year ago, I started improvising with these guys, and it was a lot of fun. I said, “We should get a couple of more people and go have some more fun.”
Q: Have you had (other) periods like this since your Second City days, or is this fresh for you?
A: No, no … well, look. I’m an improviser, I’m a musician … there isn’t a place that has a band that I won’t jump up onstage and play some blues songs on harmonica. There isn’t an improvisational theater that I don’t go to where I won’t jump up onstage and improvise a couple of scenes, so I’m a stage whore that way. What’s great about this show is that it reunites me and (According to Jim co-star) Larry Joe Campbell. He’s the best partner I’ve ever had in my career.
Q: Were you doing the L.A. improv stages when you came together?
A: Yeah, I went to see Jon Barinholtz and my son Robert improvise, and they invited me up, and then they said they had a gig at this college. I went with them and we just blew the room up. So I said, “You know, we should get a couple of guys to do this.” So I called Larry, Brad (Morris) and Megan (Grano), and we started playing the stand-up clubs.
Q: What should people expect?
A: It’s evolved into a very in-the-moment, funny audience participation show. We make up stuff on the spot, and we are as good as our audience is—and we’ve had great audiences. … When you’re making stuff up with the audience, there’s always a great possibility for magic. And like I said, I’m always chasing magic.
