![John Belushi makes his Second City debut](/wp-content/archive/images/2020/1220/C202012-50-Moments-That-Shaped-Chicago-16-John-Belushi-2.jpg)
February 1971
“The first time I saw him I thought he was some sort of auto mechanic who’d wandered into the theater,” Second City alum Joe Flaherty recalled. Belushi, the 21-year-old son of an Albanian immigrant from Wheaton, brought a febrile energy to the storied improv group. His experience helped turn Second City into an SNL pipeline and seeded the most enduring comedy legacy of the era.
From the Archives
![Belushi newspaper clipping](/wp-content/archive/images/2020/1220/C202012-50-Moments-That-Shaped-Chicago-16-John-Belushi-clipping.jpg)
How unknown was Belushi when he first started performing at the then-11-year-old improv house? Our events listing from November 1971 misspelled his name.