Born in Chicago, Ramis received a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis and returned there in 1993 to receive an honorary Doctorate in Arts. He got his start in comedy in 1969 at Chicago's famed Second City improvisational theater troupe while still employed as associate editor at Playboy Magazine. In 1974, he moved to New York to write and perform in "The National Lampoon Show" with fellow Second City graduates John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray. In 1976, Ramis was the head writer and a regular performer on SCTV, the much celebrated TV comedy