If after co-writing and directing Caddyshack, Harold Ramis had donned a hair shirt, moved to the desert, and never cracked wise again, he could still be considered a monumental contributor to comedic cinema.  Of course even without trying, Ramis would probably end up churning some chuckles out of an ascetic life.  The man was plain funny, his films quoted almost as much as Scripture, and certainly for much greater laughs.  Given how much Ramis’s lines are dropped seamlessly into everyday conversation, it’s impossible to imagine any film writer who has achieved greater immortality through his work.  As the world celebrates Ramis this week, here’s a standout piece I’ve seen circulated, a 2006 interview full of insight, rumination, and of course, humor. Three cheers, for the late, great Harold Ramis.

HAROLD RAMIS (1944-2014), here as Russell Ziskey in “Stripes”