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"Women like the fat ones 'cause we're fun and funny and we're free with our bodies," says the 49-year-old actor during a phone interview from Los Angeles.
"I was watching, I think it was Curb Your Enthusiasm, and (Larry David) was flipping channels going, 'Fat guy, pretty wife,' 'Fat guy, pretty wife,' 'Fat guy, pretty wife.' I thought that was pretty funny."
Belushi bursts into an old Willie Dixon song. "All you girls think the days are gone/You don't have to worry, you can have your fun/Take me, baby, for your little boy/Three hundred pounds of heavenly joy."
In Belushi's case, the believability-stretching on-screen wife is former Melrose Place hottie Courtney Thorne-Smith. It's an unlikely on-screen duo, true, but one that audiences have embraced.
The blue-collar comedy, now in its third season, is one of ABC's few programming bright spots. It's also Belushi's most personal project to date.
"I've never done a movie called Belushi or Jim or Jim Belushi," he says. "This is According to Jim and, on principle, I have a lot more input on it than anything else I've done."
Belushi is no stranger to comedy. His credits include everything from K-9 to Curly Sue. But they don't include many small-screen appearances and they tend to be interspersed with dramatic roles in acclaimed films.
"Situation comedy is the most difficult challenge in the acting profession because comedy is subjective," he says. "What one man thinks is funny, another thinks is stupid or silly."
(Belushi counts Chris Rock and the late John Candy as among the performers who make him laugh. Shows that he thinks are funny? Arrested Development and Everybody Loves Raymond.)
"My first movie was Thief with Michael Mann. I made Salvador with Oliver Stone.
"I've slept with a lot of women; I've crashed cars without paying insurance policies; I've murdered people without going to jail; I've had dogs I didn't have to keep.
"I've worked with Academy-Award-winning actors and directors and (directors of photography) and production designers. And I love doing According To Jim. I love making this show better. I really strive at making this relationship a good role model, not only for couples, but also for children."
That's not surprising considering that after two divorces, Belushi says he's finally found happiness with third wife Jenny. They married in 1998 and have two small children, daughter Jamison and son Jared. (He also has an adult son from his first marriage.)
"When you have children, your heart is always pumping. And with a four and a half year old and a two year old, it pumps everyday."
And it's his experiences as a happily-married man that inspire the show on a daily basis. "The differences between men and women is what my show's all about. You'll never see a special According to Jim. This is a romance on a couch. You'll never see a separation episode or a divorce episode. It's not going to happen; they're too much in love."
Not surprisingly, he says much of the show's material has its origins in the writing staff's own marital travails.
"The wife says, 'Let's redo the bedroom' and he says 'You don't want to redo the bedroom together. You want a sidekick with a credit card.' There's a whole episode right there. It's happened to everyone."