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You can perceive life as tragic, or you can laugh at the tragedy of it and that turns it into comedy. It doesn't change the circumstances.

Harold Ramis

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Harold Ramis
Age: 69 †
Born: 1944
Born: November 21
Died: 2014
Died: February 24
Actor
Comedian
Director
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Screenwriter
Television Actor
Writer
Chicago
Illinois
Harold Allen Ramis
Laugh
Circumstances
Laughing
Comedy
Turns
Doesn
Tragic
Change
Perceive
Life
Tragedy

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I think satire is a luxury of literate middle-class people. People who are well fed and relatively secure in their beds can laugh at their troubles. They can enjoy sitcoms. For those who aren't quite so lucky, well, the irony might be lost on them.
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Just expressing contempt for your leaders doesn't really accomplish anything.
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Find the most talented person in the room and if it's not you, go stand next to him. Hang out with him. try to be helpful.
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I've been directing for 25 years almost, and I've only directed nine films in that time because I like to be careful.
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I'm a writer-director-actor, which I've always kind of enjoyed. I compared it to the Olympic biathlon. Not only can he cross-country ski, but he's a terrific marksman as well. I want people to say, You mean that writer performed a tracheotomy? That's right, I do everything.
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Films are big hits when they touch a lot of people. Things are not funny in a vacuum, they're funny because we respond to some personal dislocation, some embarrassment, some humiliation, some pain we've suffered, or some desire we have.
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The cutting room is where you discover the optimal length of the movie.
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I have no trouble selling out—I’m a benevolent hack, in a certain way—but I want to pander for something I believe in.
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I'm not a believer in the pratfall. I don't think it's funny just to have someone fall down.
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You can't not have feelings about country clubs, whichever side you're on.
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Most comedy is not very ambitious. You probably can't name more than a handful of comedies that would qualify for Best Picture.
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Nothing reinforces a professional relationship more than enjoying success with someone.
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I realized that my righteous indignation was a form of entertainment for me. I loved getting pissed off at injustice. I didn't do anything about it, I just liked the feeling of being pissed off.
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Billy Crystal knows how to make people laugh. He's got 30 years on stage... there's no telling him what's funny.
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I'm thinking of doing a marital comedy for one of the studios, but I want it to be so painful that it'll have a profound effect on married couples who see it together.
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You can't love somebody into a state of mental health.
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First and foremost, you have to make the movie for yourself. And that's not to say, to hell with everyone else, but what else have you got to go on but your own taste and judgment?
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I can't imagine a successful comedy movie without a successful comedy performance at the heart of it.
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I've always thought that comedy was just another dramatic expression.
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Groundhog Day was pretty clean. It may have to do with some puritanical feeling that comedy is a forbidden pleasure in a certain way. They make you laugh, and laughter is somehow an inferior emotion to tragedy.
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