The final film that he wrote, produced, directed, and acted in was Year One Ramis' films influenced subsequent generations of comedians, comedy writers and actors. Afterward, Ramis worked in a mental institution in St. Louis for seven months. He later said of his time working there that it:. People laugh when I say that, but it was actually very good training. And not just with actors; it was good training for just living in the world.
It's knowing how to deal with people who might be reacting in a way that's connected to anxiety or grief or fear or rage. As a director, you're dealing with that constantly with actors. But if I were a businessman, I'd probably be applying those same principles to that line of work. Ramis began writing parodic plays in college, saying years later, "In my heart, I felt I was a combination of Groucho and Harpo Marx , of Groucho using his wit as a weapon against the upper classes, and of Harpo's antic charm and the fact that he was oddly sexy—he grabs women, pulls their skirts off, and gets away with it.
Following his work in St. Louis, Ramis returned to Chicago, where by , he was a substitute teacher at schools serving the inner-city Robert Taylor Homes public housing development. Ramis' newspaper writing led to him becoming joke editor at Playboy magazine. And they happened to have their entry-level job, party jokes editor, open. He liked my stuff and he gave me a stack of jokes that readers had sent in and asked me to rewrite them.
I had been in Second City in the workshops already and Michael Shamberg and I had written comedy shows in college. After leaving Second City for a time and returning in , having been replaced in the main cast by John Belushi , Ramis worked his way back as Belushi's deadpan foil.
The producer was Paul Flaherty and the director was David Jove. Ramis got involved after the mysterious death of his friend Peter Ivers , who had hosted Jove's underground show New Wave Theatre. He called Jove and offered to help. Flattery and Jove pitched him the idea for The Top , and Ramis was instrumental in getting it on the air.
