It was apropos that St. Louis area friends of comedian Rahn Ramey gathered with family members at the St. Louis Funny Bone in Westport on Sunday afternoon to celebrate his life. Often a featured headliner, the stage was his home away from home when the nationally renowned performer returned to where it all began.
St. Louis native Francis Ronald “Rahn” Ramey passed away on June 9, 2013 in New Orleans at age 56 from colon cancer.
He was a product of St. Louis Public Schools, a Roosevelt High graduate who earned his law degree from Washington University in St. Louis. He soon left the legal field to pursue what he loved; making other people laugh. Ramey delighted his fans laugh in comedy clubs, casinos and in concert venues all over the country. Ramey wrote comic routines for actors and made numerous television appearances, including HBO Comedy Relief, Evening at the Improv, the Comedy Club Network and BET Comic View.
His comedic preeminence reigned supreme before the kings of comedy. He loved St. Louis and St. Louis loved him.
Mistresses of ceremony were Sheila Reed and Robin Boyce, Rev. Arthur J. Rump, pastor of St. Paul AME Church opened the celebration with a thought-provoking prayer.
His oldest brother, Charles Ramey, Sr., family members, friends and several comedians who worked with Ramey over the years spoke to share thanks, thoughts and memories.
Words of comfort by Zackery Keys for Ramey’s daughter, Leslie Ramey, were quickly overtaken by the recital of “The Cat In The Hat on Aging,” a lighthearted poem about worn out body-parts and subsequent dysfunctions that Keys said he would have shown Rahn Ramey if he would have seen him in the hospital.
Say what?
It was “on.”
And it was just a precursor of the audacious zingers that were to follow.
“I was gonna open up with a prayer, but that reverend stole my $#!+,” said comedian Dan O’Sullivan. “You cannot trust religious people!”
As funny as it was tasteless, there was no immunity, even for a preacher. After all, the celebration took place at a comedy club. You can’t be in the presence of a number of comedians and not expect a few shenanigans. It was classic Funny Bone, classic St. Louis comedy and from the boisterous laughter of the audience, including those ever so shamefaced, even Mr. Ramey himself would have approved.
All that was missing was a smoke-filled room and Ramey imbibing his favorite beverage.
Charles Ramey, said his brother was called up to a bigger stage.
“Up there, introducing him – and if you’re from St. Louis, you will know, the MC is Dr. Jockenstein, ‘operating on your mind.’ We’re not going to do roll-call up in here,” Ramey said, as he proceeded to do just that. “And then the first act is Zack and Mack … and coming behind Zack and Mack is my friend, everybody knows him, Rodney Winfield. But headlining the stage – and God needed a headliner, and when he needed a headliner, he called the best; so he called Rahn.”
“We all miss him; I miss him a lot but he’s now okay because he’s now ‘up there’ and he’s got three shows on a Saturday night,” said comedian Joe Marlotti. “And he is opening up every one of them, saying, ‘It’s great to be in my favorite place – heaven.”
St. Louis radio personality Hank Thompson, recalled the days when Ramey and a staple of comedians [including Zack and Mack and Rodney Winfield]would hang out at a public service radio station he managed in the 1980s.
“There has to be some sort of significance to this; all of these guys are gone,” Thompson said. “What is it about being a comedian? Is it the stress? These guys are so serious –
they come off, they are real funny; is it the stress that takes them away so soon?
“I don’t know, but I loved them all, and it was a wonderful, wonderful experience.”
The memorial tribute included two beautiful solos, but most of all, there was laughter.
And homage.
And one last standing ovation in St. Louis for Rahn Ramey.
