Former Saturday Night Live writer and cast member Peter Aykroyd has died at the age of 66.
The news of Aykroyd's death was announced on the November 20 episode of the show hosted by actor Simu Liu, per Variety. A cause of death has not been revealed.
The producers played a tribute clip for their former team member titled The Java Junkie. Born in Ottawa, Aykroyd was the younger brother of actor and comedian Dan Aykroyd.
He was a cast member and writer in the fifth season of SNL, which ran from 1979 to 1980.
The sketch plays out like a 1950s noir-style story in which a man enters a diner and can’t stop drinking cup after cup of coffee.
When he’s thrown out, he takes to the streets sucking down as much java in New York City as he can get his hands on. Eventually, he’s taken in by Maxwell House, where he’s taught to kick the habit. The sketch similarly ends with a title card honoring the late writer/actor.
Per Deadline, Aykroyd began his comedy career with small parts in The New Avengers and SCTV, where his brother was also an actor.
During his time on SNL, he received an Emmy nomination for outstanding writing in a variety or music program, along with several other writers at the time.
During his career, Aykroyd wrote the 1990s film Nothing but Trouble and co-created the Canadian sci-fi show Psi Factor with Christopher Chacon and Peter Ventrella.
The show was hosted by his big brother Dan and ran for 88 episodes.
In 1997, Aykroyd and Jim Belushi provided the voices of Elwood Blues and Jake Blues for the cartoon The Blues Brothers: Animated Series.
He also appeared in films such as Spies Like Us, Dragnet, and Coneheads.
After hearing news of his passing, fans and his former co-stars rushed to Twitter to pay tribute.
"Thank you for sharing this very difficult to find classic Schiller film as a tribute to Peter Aykroyd. This was fantastic then, is fantastic now, and always will be. And Peter is a large part of the reason why. He will be missed," wrote one fan.
Meanwhile, writer Mike McGranaghan wrote: "Very saddened to hear of Peter Akyroyd's death. Aside from briefly being an SNL cast member, he co-wrote NOTHING BUT TROUBLE with his brother Dan, and also composed a lot of songs for Dan's movies."
SNL writer Alan Zweibel wrote: "I worked w/#PeterAykroyd .He was a very funny, really nice guy who starred in Tom Schiller's short 'The Java Junkie' & contributed to the soundtrack of 'Dragnet'-a movie I co-wrote w/his brother @dan_aykroyd. My fondest thoughts & condolences go out to Danny & the Aykroyd family."
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