I met Dan Aykroyd this weekend -- one of my childhood heroes! And he was super nice.

https://i.imgur.com/kDGgs9S.jpg

On Friday evening, Dan Aykroyd made an appearance to promote his vodka brand at a liquor store not far from my home, so I went there and had a chance to meet him and get this photo. Happy to say he was very nice! Didn't say much to me beyond smiling and nodding, but he frequently paused the line of "regular" fans to greet the families with small children and was far more engaged and talkative with the younger kids, which I thought was a nice gesture on his part.

One of the things that was eye-opening to me was just how passionate Ghostbusters fans are, and also just how linked he is to that franchise now. I grew up in the '90s when he was still known for other roles (including dramatic work), and I also grew up watching the early seasons of SNL... so to be honest, that show and Blues Brothers were always at the top of my list. I love Ghostbusters of course, but it was quite apparent to me that there's now an entire generation of fans who really only associate him with that franchise. As I stood in line watching people get personal items signed, I would say 95% were Ghostbusters-related. My only regret is that I didn't tell him that Dragnet is underrated and was way ahead of its time -- it did the meta, self-referential 21 Jump Street thing before it was in style. And while the film suffers from some '80s cheese, his performance really holds up.

Submitted November 18, 2019 at 02:12AM by paulrudder https://ift.tt/37aw645