RIP Harold Ramis

Today Harold Ramis one of the great comedy writers, actors, and directors of the 1980s passed away at age sixty-nine.  Ramis is probably best known to audiences as Egon from "Ghostbusters", the ultra nerdy and dry brains behind the Ghostbuster operation.  Ramis' character was prone to announcing the inevitable destruction of the Earth with flat scientific calm, contrasting himself with the ironic disinterest of Bill Murray's Peter Venkman.  It actually somewhat fit their professional relationship, Bill Murray might have been the star, but Harold Ramis was the man behind the scenes, building all of these amazing movies.

Harold Ramis was involved in some way in virtually every great comedy of the 80s and early 90s.  He was one of the three writers of "Animal House", he wrote and co-starred in "Stripes", he directed "Caddyshack" and "National Lampoon's Vacation" and "Groundhog's Day" and "Analyze This".  There is no way on Earth that Harold Ramis was not somehow involved in one of your favorite comedies of all time.  And if somehow you've missed every one of his movies, then you have actually been dead for the last forty years.

Unfortunately Harold Ramis' last directing credit was the abysmally awful "Year One", which luckily can be forgotten.  Especially when you consider everything else this man brought to the world. 

Sorry if this post is not very funny, because without Harold Ramis, the world is a much less funny place.  I guess this means that the long-delayed "Ghostbusters 3" will forever be cancelled, unless of course somebody can build a real Ghost Trap and capture Ramis' spirit for us.