Groundhog Day, Ned Ryerson, the TV ad Microsoft should air today, and stories from Stephen Tobolowsky

It's Feb. 2, which means it's Groundhog Day. Which means it's time to remember the instant classic comedy 1993 film, Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray.

This scene, in particular, now in 2011 becomes a perfect TV ad for Microsoft's search engine: Bing! Why hadn't they thought of this before? Roll the clip.

 

But let us not forget the man behind Ned Ryerson: Stephen Tobolowsky. Tobolowsky, 59, already had a decade of character actor work under his belt by the time he appeared in Groundhog Day, including Thelma & Louise, Basic Instinct, Single White Female and the pivotal role of Dr. Werner Brandes in Sneakers. More recently, he has held down TV parts in Heroes, Glee and the current season of Californication. You can hear Tobolowsky talk about his lengthy career with plenty of behind-the-scenes anecdotes in his podcast with /film called The Tobolowsky Files.

Of course, the most relevant podcast episode is Ep. 29, "The Classic," in which Tobolowsky talks about being Ned Ryerson and working with Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and others on Groundhog Day. Listen as he talks about scenes in the original script, as well as scenes that got filmed but then cut, that made the movie truly great.

Listen to Stephen Tobolowsky talk about Groundhog Day.

And if you'd like to see all of the "Ned Ryerson" scenes in one clip, roll it!

 

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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