Joe Flaherty Is Always Behind Us, Metaphorically Speaking

If there was ever one image to completely sum up the human condition…

I have a friend who insists the major fault of Ghostbusters is the film’s pronounced lack of Joe Flaherty. I still don’t know how to respond to (or how I’m supposed to feel about) that statement. It’s sort of like hearing someone say, “You know, all those Beatles albums woulda been better if Randy Rhoads had played the guitar solos.” Uh, maybe?

Where would you even put Joe Flaherty in Ghostbusters? Is he Slimer’s human form—that is to say, Slimer before he died and became a disgusting green blob? Is he the guy Ray buys the ambulance from? Hey, you tell me where I’m supposed to put Joe Flaherty in this thing. Maybe they can rerecord him doing Gozer’s lines for the next Blu-Ray release. “Hey JACKASS, choose the form of your destructor!”

Related factoid: Eugene Levy (that pile of sex in front of Joe in the picture above) was cut out of Ghostbusters II. He played Louis Tully’s brother, I think. Unfortunately for Gene, in the end the filmmakers decided they already had plenty of smirking Canadians in ill-fitting suits.

[“SCTV” screencap stolen from Comedy Time Warp, a great blog if you’re looking for black and whites of Albert Brooks.]