Harold Ramis

This is a shock--Harold Ramis has died.  He was one of the biggest names in comedy over the past forty years.  Starting in the 70s and continuing, I suppose, up to today, the whole SNL-Second City-National Lampoon axis has been central in American comedy, and Ramis was one of the best of the group.

As a young man in Chicago he performed at Second City and also was the joke editor of Playboy.  He then got caught up in the National Lampoon orbit, writing and performing on their radio hour and working in their stage show.  Next he started writing and starring in the Second City TV show.

Around this time National Lampoon was planning to branch out into movies, so they chose Ramis to join writers Doug Kenney and Chris Miller to create a script.  They came up with National Lampoon's Animal House, a gigantic hit that changed the face of comedy.

Hollywood opened up to everyone associated with the film, and Ramis went on to write, direct and/or star in more than his share of hits:  Caddyshack, Stripes, National Lampoon's Vacation, Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day, to name a few.

I think he was a decent actor and a pretty good director, though his greatest talent (as far as I could tell) was as a writer.  In any case, he made his mark as few have.

I saw him a number of years ago at the Academy's building. He talked about his career.  He was quite self-deprecating, but that, I think, was the mark of a man who knew that his accomplishments spoke for themselves.  Which they will continue to do.