Wired (book)

Interviews

Many friends and relatives of Belushi, including his widow Judith Belushi Pisano, Dan Aykroyd, and James Belushi, agreed to be interviewed at length for the book, but later felt the final product was exploitative and not representative of the John Belushi they knew. Pisano wrote her own book, Samurai Widow (1990), to counter the image of Belushi portrayed in Wired.

Reception

In 2013, Tanner Colby, who co-authored the 2005 book Belushi: A Biography with Pisano, wrote about how Wired exposes Woodward's strengths and weaknesses as a journalist. While in the process of researching the anecdotes related in the book, he found that while many of them were true, Woodward missed, or didn't seek out, their meaning or context.

For example, in Woodward's telling, a "lazy and undisciplined" Belushi is guided through the scene on the cafeteria line in Animal House by director John Landis, yet other actors present for that scene recall how much of it was improvised by the actor in one single take. Blair Brown told author Tanner Colby that Woodward had "tricked" her into describing her and Belushi’s preparation for a love scene in Continental Divide, and Brown remained angry at Woodward years later while telling the story of Woodward’s deceitfulness. Colby notes that Woodward devotes a single paragraph to Belushi's grandmother's funeral, where he hit a low point and resolved to get clean for the filming of Continental Divide, while Woodward diligently documented every instance of drug abuse over a period of many years that he turned up. "It's like someone wrote a biography of Michael Jordan in which all the stats and scores are correct, but you come away with the impression that Michael Jordan wasn't very good at playing basketball," Colby concluded.

Dan Aykroyd denounced Wired publicly. Interviewed on television by Bobbie Wygant for NBC 5 in 1984, Aykroyd responded to the question of whether Woodward had interviewed him before writing the book:

Woodward publicly credited journalist John Ward Anderson, whom Aykroyd claimed wrote most of Wired, with assistance in the writing of the book, stating in its foreword, "John Ward Anderson, a 1981 Harvard graduate, assisted me in all aspects of producing this book – its conception, research, writing and organization. His role could not have been greater. He is a dedicated journalist and tireless worker. This book is as much his as it is mine."

Bill Murray, on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, criticized Woodward's reliance on sources "far outside [Belushi's] inner circle" and revealed he was approached to be interviewed but turned it down because it "smelled funny."

Murray called the book "criminal" and "cruel" and it "tore down my friend... Just the title alone. It was cold.” Murray also stated,

Murray and Woodward reportedly exchanged “tense” words over Wired when they came face-to-face at the Kennedy Center in 2025.

Film adaptation

The book was later adapted into a critically panned 1989 feature film also called Wired, in which Belushi was played by Michael Chiklis and Woodward was played by J.T. Walsh.

References

References

1. [https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/02/books/books-of-the-times-close-up-of-john-belushi.html BOOKS OF THE TIMES; CLOSE-UP OF JOHN BELUSHI - The New York Times]
2. [https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/09/07/i-read-every-bob-woodward-book-heres-how-they-stack-up-219735/ I Read Every Bob Woodward Book. Here's How They Stack Up. - POLITICO Magazine]
3. Hirschberg, Lynn. (27 September 1984). "The Controversy Over Bob Woodward's Belushi Bio 'Wired'".
4. [https://www.vulture.com/2013/03/the-other-belushi-biographer-breaks-down-wired.html The Other Belushi Biography Breaks Down 'Wired' - Vulture]
5. Colby, Tanner. (March 12, 2013). "Regrettable". [[Slate (website).
6. (March 1, 2025). "Joe Rogan Experience #2282 - Bill Murray". Joe Rogan.
7. Herzlich, Taylor. (March 4, 2025). "Bill Murray, Bob Woodward share 'tense' words over John Belushi book at Kennedy Center". [[New York Post]].
8. [https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1989-08-28-8908282471-story.html 'WIRED' REPEATS FACTS, ADDS NOTHING TO BELUSHI STORY - Orlando Sentinel]
9. Chicago Reader]