Bill Murray’s 1993 flick Groundhog Day is a comedy classic, and it should be mandatory that we watch it every Feb. 2. We will laugh, no matter how many times we see it, even if it’s more times than Phil Connors spent in this loop-de-loop of a day. If you don’t already own it, you should buy the 15th anniversary edition on Blu-ray.

Aside from Phil, the funniest character in the movie is insurance salesman Ned “Needle Nose” Ryerson. Bing! Played by actor Stephen Tobolowsky, he does virtually the same scene five times (and once more that is a bit different), but each one is unique and leaves us craving more. The Masters of None folks did a “Groundhog Day – The Lost Radio Tapes” podcast with Tobolowsky that you should check out.

Ned has a MySpace page and a Facebook page.

Best Ned Quotes

Ned: Phil? Hey, Phil? Phil! Phil Connors? Phil Connors, I thought that was you!
Phil: Hi, how you doing? Thanks for watching.
[Starts to walk away]
Ned: Hey, hey! Now, don’t you tell me you don’t remember me because I sure as heckfire remember you.
Phil: Not a chance.
Ned: Ned… Ryerson. “Needlenose Ned”? “Ned the Head”? C’mon, buddy. Case Western High. I did the whistling belly-button trick at the high school talent show? Bing! Got the shingles real bad senior year, almost didn’t graduate? Bing, again. I dated your sister Mary Pat a couple times until you told me not to anymore? Well?
Phil: Ned Ryerson?
Ned: Bing!
Phil: Bing.
……
Ned: Do you have life insurance, Phil? Because if you do, you could always use a little more, right? I mean, who couldn’t? But you wanna know something? I got the feeling…
[whistles]
Ned: … you ain’t got any. Am I right or am I right? Or am I right? Am I right?
……
Ned: So what are you doing for dinner?
Phil: Umm… something else.
……
Ned: Phil?
Phil: Ned?
[Punches Ned in the face]
……
Ned: Phil, this is the best day of my life.
Phil: Mine too.
Rita: Mine too.
Ned: Where are we going?
Rita: Oh, let’s not spoil it!
……

Ned Scenes

Ned appears in about four minutes total of the film in six different scenes. Here are the best two:

Here are all the Ned scenes compiled together, including the ones above, which are well worth watching again.

Stephen Tobolowsky tours Woodstock, Illinois where the movie was filmed, and describes the scene with Murray stepping into the water.