R.I.P Harold Ramis

It always sucks when someone who has entertained us dies. Art, in all of its forms, can bring out our deepest emotions, get our hearts racing, make us think, or simply just make us laugh. The creative types in this world accentuate our lives, to different degrees. When they die, it feels like a part of us has died along with them, or that we've lost a friend who truly "got" us.

Harold Ramis feels like a particularly sharp kick to the nuts for us, because we grew up on his films. In our formative years, when we laughed, he most likely had something to do with it. Had it not been for him, we would have never had Animal House, Caddyshack, Stripes, or Meatballs. He brought Clark W. Griswold to the screen. He gave us the Triple Lindy in Back to School. He made Bill Murray's day hilariously repeat itself in Groundhog Day. His The Ice Harvest was an underrated gem that deserved a bigger audience that it ever got.

Oh yeah, and as Horror fans in the 80's, Ghostbusters was our first foray into the world of Horror Comedy, and it was glorious.

Without Harold Ramis, we may not ever have known who Bill Murray was.

And how many careers did SCTV launch? John Candy, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Rick Moranis, Martin Short; SCTV introduced us to those actors, all of which went on to have pretty great careers in the comedy business.

We always hold the people who make us laugh closest to our hearts, because as shitty as life can be sometimes, having something to laugh at always helps.

Harold Ramis did it better than most, and for that, we'll always be thankful. Goodnight, sweet prince.

Now, we need to go watch us some Ghostbusters.