﻿1
[man] You never heard the bathroom story?
I couldn't believe you never... You 've heard it before?
I have no idea what you're talking about, dude.
No idea what I'm talking about.
Why do I hang out With you two?
Ok, so this happened to a friend of mine's buddy.
Did you see that article that I posted earlier? Look, it's right here.
It's about that new coffee shop they're building downtown.
Alright, everyone. Gather around.
I've got a story for you. It's only fitting that I tell it tonight.
Because you see it happened on a night just like tonight.
[man] I forget where, but he was at a bar somewhere in the city.
- So he finishes his beer and told everyone... - I gotta take a leak.
[woman] It's crazy. All these construction worker guys
are just working on the coffee shop doing, you know, construction-worker-things.
And then they all start to hear this noise.
[man] There was a campus party, like any other.
The music is loud, keg is flowing. It's packed.
As the story goes, there is this freshman kid.
It's his first big party. He's in line waiting for a beer.
But, they're all out of red cups.
So he's gotta make his way into the kitchen to find an appropriate drinking glass.
So my man walks to the bathroom. He's at the urinal minding his own business,
when all of a sudden someone puts their hands over his eyes.
And he leans in and whisper in his ear: "No one will ever believe you."
As they all look up, they see him
standing there. He just walked right into the place,
everyone on the site froze.
The whole party is full of college kids like myself.
But then there is this one older man, as if he appeared out of nowhere.
So the kid steps closer, and his jaw drops.
- Who was it? - It was Bill Murray.
- Bill Murray. - Bill Murray.
- Come on, bullshit! - What was he even doing there?
[woman] He wanted to read everyone poetry.
For some reason Bill Murray was at some random college kids party,
doing everyone's dishes.
Wait! So, Bill Murray just shows up at this almost coffee shop to read people poetry?
[woman] On this particular day, he did, yeah.
How was this iconic movie star walking into this dirty, shitty bathroom,
covering random people's eyes and whispering in their ear:
"No one will ever believe you." Then he walked away.
- Seriously? - Dude, I'm telling you. It happened to my friend's buddy.
- He told me it happened. - And you believed him?
Stuff like this happens all the time.
Yeah, Bill Murray visiting you in the bathroom
happens all the time.
You can joke all you want, but I'm serious.
It's not always the bathroom. Sometimes he hops in your engagement photos.
Or sing a song at a base-ball game.
Hell, he'll even jump in a random kickball game if you let him.
But the point is, it happens.
[Man] Why would he do that?
That's just how the stories go.
[intro music]
[music fades out]
[Tommy] This picture is kind of important.
But we can get to that later.
See I'm the guy on the right.
This movie is about the guy on the left.
Hello, I'm Bill Murray, You can call me Billy.
But around here everybody just calls me The New Guy.
[Tommy] The world was introduces to Bill in 1976 on Saturday Night Live.
From his roots in improv and sketch comedy,
Bill was quickly launched into a blockbuster film career.
Starring in iconic films that help define generations of comedy to come.
After decades of notable comedic performances
Bill transitioned into acquire more dramatic roles.
Bill's onscreen presence shifted towards more mature parts as he got older.
No matter what the character, funny or serious, people love Bill Murray, the actor.
But more importantly, they love Bill Murray, the person.
Ladies and gentlemen please welcome the one, the only Bill Murray. Bill!
♪ And I... ♪
♪ Will always love you ♪
[Tommy] Bill is fun. When people see him in interviews just being himself
the people around Bill are having fun.
Who wants a T-shirt?
[Tommy] So what happens when Bill leaves the set and goes back to being a normal guy?
That's where things get specially interesting.
There is just something special about him. Something that drives people to
put his face on T-shirts, bumper stickers, pillow cases, even prayer candles.
But beyond all the novelty items, there is something much bigger.
There are a legion of seemingly unbelievable tall tales
about Bill that circulates online throughout the years.
These so called Bill Murray stories, are random interactions
with Bill and regular everyday people.
They range from him stealing a strangers French Fries at an airport
to randomly showing up at some college kids' house party to wash the dishes.
But where does this stories come from? Is there any truth to these encounters?
Why would such a big celebrity physically insert himself into this random situations?
♪ Lets get physical, physical ♪
[Tommy] Eventually all these questions came to a head for me.
And I wanted to understand what deeper meaning this Bill Murray stories might hold.
Regardless of whether they are true or not.
If I was going to get to the bottom of it all,
- I wanted to talk to the man himself. - Hello!
Most celebrities have managers or agents,
Bill has neither. All he has is a 1-800 number.
It's just an answering machine that he'll eventually check and hopefully he'll get back to you.
And getting that 1-800 number is extremely difficult.
But from a friend of a friend of a friend, I was able to get hold of it.
This will be my first call. Is it in focus?
[answering machine] Please select one of the following options
followed by the pound key. To send a numeric page, enter one.
To leave a voice message enter two.
To send a text message, enter three.
Please begin speaking your message at the tone.
Hello, Mr. Bill Murray. My name is Tommy Avallone.
I'm a documentary film director.
And I wanted to do a story with you. Oh, dear.
[answering machine] To cancel press the star key.
Message canceled. Please begin speaking your message at the tone.
I'm a documentary director.
I direct documentary's.
And I want to talk to you about this new documentary.
I figure I'd say documentary a few more times.
[answering machine] Message canceled. Please select one of the following options
followed by the pound key.
Hello, Mr. Bill Murray. My name is Tommy Avallone.
And I want to talk to you about this project I have that I think would be perfect.
Jesus Christ!
[Tommy] So, if getting a hold of Bill is gonna take some time,
my next best bet was to start tracking down someone from one of these stories.
[answering machine] Message canceled.
[phone tone]
- [Raheel] Hello. - [Tommy] Hello, is this Raheel?
Yeah, this is Raheel.
Cool, it's Tommy Avallone. I was talking to you on email.
[Tommy] You took the Bill Murray engagement photo, right?
[Raheel laughing] It still feels like it wasn't me.
Yeah, I mean anytime you look online for any of these Bill Murray lists,
I mean you're still always one of the top five.
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. It's just... yeah...
Hang out in Charleston then you might just see him walking on the street crossing the road
I guess, you know, you wanna be in Charleston, your odds are way better when it goes with Bill.
OK, cool. I'll see you Thursday.
South Carolina.
[energetic music]
[background song playing]
I figure if I just stand here with a camera crew, he'll find me, right?
He's across the street.
- Hello! I realize I didn't know what you looked like. - Raheel.
- [Tommy] How are you doing, man? Tommy. - [Rachel] Very nice to meet you.
[Tommy] This is Derrick, John and Max.
Awesome, how is your trip going in Charleston so far?
Great! It's the first time we have ever been here. It's really nice.
Really? It's awesome, it's like, living here
it's like being on vacation all the time.
So where did you take the photos?
- On those staircases there. - Oh, Wow!
[Raheel] I'm a wedding photographer. I take pictures all the time.
Usually we're just walking around taking pictures of couples.
I was doing this with Ashley and Eric.
We approached this beautiful staircase.
Beautiful historic house.
And I ask Eric and Ashley to have a seat.
And I get ready to photograph.
As I look through the lens, I'm seeing Eric
kind of making these weird gestures with his eyes. Kind of like...
I look at him, like: "Eric, look at the camera."
And he's kind of like this weird look going past my head.
So, times like this, what I usually think, there is these carriages going past and
sometimes people are really nice. They say: "Congratulations."
And sometimes people are like whistling and saying: "Hey, you're hot!"
And I look behind me, almost ready to say something nasty to someone that is distracting him.
And I see this guy.
And as I looked closer, it's actually Bill Murray
slapping his belly really loud and just rubbing it like there is no tomorrow.
I look back at the couple and they're mesmerized that it's actually Bill Murray.
And I'm like: "Bill come on let's do a photo with the couple."
Now usually when you ask someone to get in a picture with a couple,
you would expect them to come in and kind of be like this
Not Bill. He has a signature look on his face
I think this photo is mislabeled.
It wasn't a photobomb
where he just randomly popped up in a photo.
But at the end of the day, Bill showing up in the most unexpected of places
giving a piece of himself, giving a little memory to someone,
memory-bombing would be a more appropriate turn. But that's kind of what it is.
[Tommy] Raheel was on to something. He claimed Charleston was home
of a ton of Bill Murray stories. And it seemed to make sense
because Bill spends a lot of time down here.
Not only is he the owner of a local restaurant,
but he's also part owner of the Charleston RiverDogs,
a minor league baseball team.
So I didn't have to go far for my next story.
Our favorite party crasher Bill Murray is at it again.
The actor busted a move or two while at a birthday party in South Carolina.
He goes about how he ended up at the bachelor hazy, but it looks like he had a ton of fun.
[Brett] Bill Murray and I had been friends for a little while.
We have some relationships with his kids and my kids.
[phone ringing] Who is that?
Ah, that's a fucking reminder for me to be here.
I'm here. Let's do that again.
[party music]
My Bill Murray story, so we where at a friend of mine's house.
It was his 50th birthday. He had struck up a relationship with Bill.
And they had discussed that it was their mutual birthday. Now they know that I'm coming.
And a couple of people had known that they had made a phone call
to Bill and see if he would show up.
And we're just about to sit down for dinner.
Knock at the door, through the garage door comes Bill Murray.
He sits down at the head of the table. He's just a regular guest.
And everybody... I mean, you got 20 people from Jedburgh, South Carolina.
Just like: "Holy shit, what the hell is he doing here?"
And it wasn't until the people needed the energy.
And you know they were having some chilled music on.
And he just took over and played the DJ.
And then just got in there and just cutting up dancing.
And I'm like: "Hold on, I've got to check this out.
[party music]
[Brett] But it wasn't a five minute DJ.
It was a 30 to 45 minute,
and he's dancing with everybody in the house.
I don't know if he can understand it, or if I can even understand on that night.
Just the impact and the change he had on that group of people
for that night, forever in their mind.
[cheering]
And took pictures with everybody in there.
Took his time, made sure that everyone had special attention.
Before you knew it, Boom! Houdini, gone.
[Tommy] So why do you think these news outlets have picked up on the story?
[Brett] It's not that one episode, is why they picked up on it. A bit it's because
it's a series of this kind of urban legend.
I don't think people can figure out the purpose of why he would do that.
You know, why would he show up to some one's house? Who are these people? What are they?
There's got to be a larger purpose than him just
doing something cool and unique for some people that
he felt whatever was in his brain and his heart. "I need to do this."
I'm gonna give you all this advice.
Why does he show up at restaurants and give life advice
to people who are about to get married.
Why does he show up here there and everywhere?
I's like, you know, where is Waldo?
[Tommy] It was starting to look like some of these stories were true.
But they couldn't all be true, could they? As I left South Carolina,
Bill is off making a new Bill Murray story.
[sport commentator]
[woman reporter] What a game!
[sport commentator] Grand slam!
[women reporter] A Grand Slam by the Chicago Cubs.
It's history making stuff. And this lucky Cubs fan
got to witness every minute. Thanks to actor Bill Murray.
Murray actually gave this complete stranger
a priceless ticket to the big game.
She was wearing a Cubs' shirt. She is a Cubs fan.
Bill Murray sees her as he is walking into the stadium.
He says: "What are you doing?" She goes: "I'm trying to get a ticket."
He goes: "Come on!" And he brings her into the stadium.
[woman reporter] Roker also show this goofy Video
of Murray playing hairdresser with another fan.
[sports reporter] Grand Slam!
[Woman reporter] What a memorable night!
And thanks to Bill Murray
a night this fan will never forget.
[Tommy] As much as I wanted to meet Bill, this was more of a search for answers
than a hunt to find him. And as I kept seeing more and more of these stories pop up,
I started to feel like I might be getting somewhere.
[indistinct singing]
South By Southwest is a huge music festival that happens here in Austin.
Also now includes film, people come from all over the world.
It's generally a pretty crazy party here in town.
♪ Still look good, girl My mama warned ♪
So South By Southwest 2010.
The bar had only been open for about a year and a half.
This particular day was pretty slow. We were kind of hanging out. And...
I walk in the door, and Bill Murray is sitting at the bar
talking with one of my bartenders.
I kind of just stare at the TV
because I don't... He's standing right next to me.
And I don't know how to like, just go: "Hey."
Because I'm a little starstruck.
And so he's like: "Who are you rooting for in the game?"
And I know like zero about sports.
And I was just like: "I don't know."
I don't even know, I'm just staring at the TV.
So we do a shot of tequila and he puts out his hand
and he goes "I'm Bill by the way." And I go: "I know".
More people are coming in and they're starting to come up to Bill,
and they're saying: "Oh, my gosh, Bill my dog's name is Venkman."
She's like: "Can I have a hug? And he goes "Yeah, give Trevor a hug, he's a handsome guy."
Joking around and, it's like: "Can we take a picture of you?"
And he's like: "Yeah, but we're having a conversation."
And I felt pretty special that he was like:
"We are trying to talk here, me and Trevor."
He goes: "Hey, I'm going across the street
to see The GZA. Do you wanna come?"
I'd been at work all morning and I said "I actually have to go and let my dogs out."
And he was like: "Oh, okay."
So later in the day it gets busier. I'm bartending outside on the patio.
And I get a text message that says Bill Murray is back looking for Trevor.
I come back to the bar with the dogs,
and I go to the door and the door guy is like:
"Fuck you!" And I was like "What? What's up?"
And he goes "Bill Murray just walked in the door and asked: "Is Trevor here?"
And I like waved through the crowd with my dogs. And I tap him on the shoulder.
And he turns around and he goes: "Trevor!"
And then I get another text message.
Trevor is back talking with Bill Murray.
Tyler, the owner, calls me and he's like:
You think he wants to bartend?
And I was like: "No, I don't want to do that."
He was like: "Just ask him the question. Just do it, just do it."
And I was like: "Alright." So I go: "Hi, Bill,
- the owner wants to know like, if you want to bartend." -And he's like: "Really?"
And a couple of minutes goes by and I just get another text message
that just says: "Bill is bartending."
[bar music]
It's like three beeps at the bar, and everyone, just like, is going apeshit,
like holding up money and waving it.
And I run inside and Bill Murray is behind the bar, and it's chaos.
Bill just started, well, taking orders from all the people around.
[Jesse] You know people would order a whiskey coke, shot of... what-ever.
It didn't matter what they ordered. He would literary just grab the closest bottle to him
regardless of what... If it's what ordered or not.
And pour them straight Tequila in a glass straight Gin in...
whatever, he'd just... Whatever was close, that's what they were getting.
Nobody gave a damn. It was awesome.
How crazy would it be if you walked around town and everyone loved you. Everyone.
When you're pumping your gas, everyone loved you.
And when you were ordering a coffee, everyone loved you.
That would be exhausting. But he seems to have just kind of turned that on its head.
And just gone with it, and realized that he has the power
to make other people have an amazing experience.
You know eventually it gets really crazy and he and his friends take off.
So, I snuck out the back door with my dog to like bee-line to meet him to the entrance.
I go up and I say: "Hey, Bill are you leaving?" He goes "Yeah."
And he shakes my hand and he goes: "You're a really interesting guy, Trevor,
it was really nice to meet you." And I was just like: "Oh, my gosh."
This is like the perfect end of the story.
He just walked out in the middle of the street
and wanders down the road.
And I don't know what happened after that, but...
[Tommy] So, who is Bill Murray?
Oh, man.
To me he's just like this unicorn who I've always wanted to meet.
And it's always that one person who you want to meet.
And in your head, you're just like this is never gonna happen.
And this guy shows up at your fucking door.
[party music]
My Bill Murray story I share with a couple of my friends.
So, that night we were having a house party.
It's kind of a tradition that we do with our friends
at the end of South By we'll have a couple of bands.
Jordan ran into this band called The Like.
And he asked the girls if they wanted to play.
Sure enough they show up.
And as I'm walking out, I see Bill in the passenger seat.
I basically just have a heart attack
and stop walking and I was just [breaths in]
Oh, my God! Oh, my fucking God!
Jordan goes... Opens the door, and then comes running back in.
He goes: "You're not gonna believe it, Bill Murray is here."
Like I run inside, close the door
and I'm like: "Shhh..."
And I started jumping up and down "Bill fucking Murray is here.
Bill fucking Murray." My buddy Adam is like: "Jordan how drunk are you right now?
"I'm not drunk. Not that drunk."
- But he's here! - And sure enough Bill Murray is walking in the front door
carrying guitar amps.
[unidentified] Bill Murray, everybody!
And everyone in the party just stopped.
It was almost like the movie where like that record stops.
And he was just... Looked around and just, you know, did this.
He's like: "I don't know what you guys are looking at. Like I'm the roadie tonight."
[Adam] Bill himself did a lot to put people at ease by just being as normal as possible.
Like he wasn't making a big deal about himself.
He was more concerned with the lasagna in the oven.
[background chatting]
- [Bill] Did you do that? - Yeah.
Please send that to me because all my friends like, fuck that shit, it's not true.
They start playing.
We ran out of beer.
[Fieron] Bill comes up to Jordan and goes: "Hey, let me put in."
And I'm like: "Man you're good, you're good. Like I appreciate that."
He's said: "No, Jordan, I'm really serious.
And I said: "Bill, no, you're my guest, come on."
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a soft ball of wadded up cash.
Then Bill Murray leans over Jordan and whispers in his ear:
"Jordan, listen, I've been saving up for a little bit."
And I said: "Alright, fuck it." And I was like: "I'll let you buy me some beer."
And so I ran through the grocery store, freaking... I mean running.
They're about to close, and I end up bringing the cashier back to the house.
And it's a knock at the door. It's the cops.
- Jordan! - Jordan! Cops!
They... You know, we were too loud. They wanted us to turn it down.
And I walked out, said: "Hi, gentlemen how are you tonight?"
[band playing]
Oh, good. You know, we just got six calls.
We can hear you five blocks away. You guys are really loud.
Can you guys turn it down? And I was like:
"Man, officers with all due respect
I can't really do that right now because Bill Murray is inside my house
and he's playing in the band that you want me to stop
from playing. And I just can't do that.
So if you guys wanna come in to my house and tell Bill Murray
that he can't play the tambourine anymore. Go for it."
The two police officers, me and Jordan...
Bill Murray comes up with the tambourine and plays it in their face.
[Jordan] He is there at the door to greet them as soon as they walk in.
He got a tambourine in his hand shaking it vigorously in their face.
And all he said was: "You are Bill Murray." And he has his tambourine in his hand
and he's shaking it, and he said: "Yes, I am, I am Bill Murray."
And puts his arm around him and brings him into the party and...
We keep playing.
[Adam] For Bill it's probably just the spontaneity, is perhaps the fun.
If nobody expect that you're gonna be there then you're gonna get
an absolutely genuine reaction to it all.
When you're in a room full of people and everyone is smiling, like ear to ear,
that's an amazing vibe. And like that's... He created that.
He's like a candle, when you light it in a room, and all of a sudden the room smells great.
He has become a symbol of...
I think what everyone wants to be.
[Adam] When you're living spontaneously, you're gonna be able to have memories
of events happened that you can't create yourself.
You can try to force a special moment,
but the things that matter most are the things that just happened.
You know, to be able to open yourself, to allow any of those things to happen.
I think that's where the kind of magic comes through.
Because like our Bill Murray story, like it never would have happened
had the band not said yes to us.
Or Bill said yes to the band. All these things that people just kind of going with it,
led to this awesome story and a memory we'll have forever.
He walked out of there, you know, saying: "Thank you so much, that was so much fun like,
thanks for having me." I mean just kind of lets him get back to his roots
and just enjoy people for who they are and enjoy just life
on a simpler... On a simpler level.
[cheering]
[people chatting]
Awesome!
[inaudible]
[crowd cheering]
Good morning.
A few years back I was contacted by the studio releasing a film called Rock the Casbah
that Bill was starring in. And it was written by Mitch Glazer. He's a very close friend.
And they had contacted me a few weeks before Comic Con to ask me to moderate a panel.
I was approached with a caveat that: "We think he'll be there."
He's Josh Horowitz. He's OK. He's OK.
[crowd cheering]
[Joshua] All the way up to the night before
we did not know if Bill Murray was gonna show up.
They were getting reports on the phone,
like: "We think he's on his way to the airport.
Mitch says he's on the plane. Mitch thinks he's on the plane. We think he's on the way."
It's like 30 minutes before the panel,
finally Bill arrives.
[presenter] The very first appearance at Comic Con
for Mr. Bill Murray. Give it up!
[crowd cheering]
[Joshua] And we started to take questions from the audience.
And there are a lot of cool questions.
Questions about Ghost Busters
and all that kind of sort of thing.
And there is one great question that kind of like
gets to the heart of what we love about Bill Murray.
[crowd laughing]
Oh-oh.
Hey, Bill Murray. I...
[crowd laughing]
I don't know if you ever heard, that there's people that share around these stories
of you doing crazy things and acting weird, and then turning to the person
that's is telling the story saying: "No one will ever believe you."
[crowd laughing]
If... A: Curious if any of those stories have
any validity to them, and if not like, if you have heard of them,
is there one that really is like you heard you're like: "Well, that's pretty crazy."
[crowd laughing]
I don't know what he was talking about.
[crowd laughing and cheering]
It sounds like fun, though, doesn't it?
And he's kind of winking at the audience in a way saying: "Yeah, but you will never know."
And that's part of the beauty of Bill Murray.
Mitch his friend and collaborator, chimes in.
He says: "I've kind of got like a version of a Bill Murray story that I can share with you guys."
[Mitch] I can attest to one. My wife is here
who starred in Road House with Patrick Swayze.
Kelly Lynch is here, and I can attest to one of those stories which is
for about... It felt like 20 or 30 years, but for about five or six years
any time Road House was on, and I mean, it was on TNT every 15 minutes it seemed.
So before in the morning, he actually once called me from Russia at a wedding to say:
"Your wife is banging Patrick Swayze."
[crowd laughing]
And then there was a moment where all his brothers
were calling me at weird hours just to do the same voice.
So I can... I mean, I'm about the "You'll never believe it",
but Kelly and I were haunted by...
[crowd laughing]
...by the Ghost Buster.
[crowd applauding]
Like everybody else I think I'd sort of like just been enjoying the Bill Murray stories
as entertainment. They can pop up on your computer, in the news and like you know, sort of like
Bill crashed a party, Bill stole a golf-car, Bill wrestled somebody into a sand trap.
But after a while like he's not just being wacky.
The more I looked at it, the more I realized Bill is by action,
not by word, teaching us all how to live.
- Did you get anything? - I got a video of it.
- [woman] NO. - [man] Let me see.
And I think this message is particularly important now.
We're so stuck on our phones. We're do so much just out of habit, right, and routine.
We really are not fully engaged with our lives right now.
I think Bill Murray teaches us a few things.
And one is just, sort of, not live life on auto pilot.
[David] Bill Murray is reminding us to do that.
To get fully engaged, to wake up to what's going on.
It doesn't have to be that you have to do, like silly things or pranks or anything.
It's about being mindful and being aware of what's happening.
It's been said before but it's true, I think Bill embraces the moment.
These chronical Bill Murray stories work because
it's somebody that we revere, we put on a pedestal
who... Seemingly all he wants it's just like, kind of like:
"Have a good time, enjoy the moment."
There is always excitement for someone when they see a celebrity in real life,
but I think to see a celebrity like not being sort of self-aware
and not being stand-offish
really participating and like being a regular person,
I think all of these things contributes to that sort of singular awesomeness
that is a Bill Murray sighting.
[Joshua] He connects on a very human, personal level.
Just enjoy that party, karaoke, play kickball.
Just do what makes you happy and connect with a stranger.
And I think there is something really beautiful in that.
[Tommy] A lot of people have their theories on these Bill Murray stories.
And I was learning a lot from my own journey.
But some part of me still wanted to get answers from Bill himself.
I am making my second attempt...
to call Bill Murray.
[beep]
Hello, Bill.
[beep] Hey, Bill. Hey, Bill!
Hello, Bill. How are you?
I feel I can say that better.
Hey, Bill. That sounds better, right?
Hey! Hey, Bill.
How are you? I'm not good at this.
Hi, Bill, my name is Lynn. I'm Tommy Avallone's mother.
He's the best guy in the world.
[answering machine] For message press pound. For additional options
enter 8002, message sent. Thank you for calling.
- [Tommy] Hi, man. - [John] What's up?
How are you?
Just tell me when the audio is clear, man. I'll go...
[indistinct talking] [laughing]
I almost got you. I think it was right by my eye, dude.
My name is John Barnhardt and I did the walking in slow motion video with Bill Murray.
[music]
So, my buddy and I, David Smith were shooting a low budget horror movie
and one of my commercial clients called me and said: "Listen, Trident Academy
this school want's a commercial. They can't pay anything." I was like whatever, I don't know.
And they were like: "Bill Murray is gonna be in it." And I'm like: "Done deal."
We had a script. He's like: "I'm not doing this is... What do you think of me just
telling a story of these bears. These stuffed animals."
Like dude, that's brilliant.
Bill warms up to us and we're all kind of done with the commercial.
It was fun and then we're eating, and I'm like: "Yo, Bill we've got a favor to ask.
He goes: "You want an autograph?"
And I'm like: "No, no, I don't want an autograph.
But would it be cool if we all walk down the hallway
and my buddy photographed it in slow motion?"
We cut a bunch of Wes Anderson credits around, and put some music behind kind of
like Kinks Or David Bowie. And he was like: "Absolutely, let's do this."
[music]
Then he's like: "But only one thing,
the camera guy has to go around the corner and we have to come out and reveal,
and you can't look at me.
You gotta look straight ahead."
Right after we walked out in slow motion,
he shakes all of our hands
and then he goes: "Good session."
To everybody. "Good session, good session."
And then he just left. That was it.
You know he's such a big famous person,
but he still kind of finds the time to you know maybe think about people.
I think he recognizes that he's so big that
that one little moment makes your year, makes your day.
And it's like ten seconds to him.
[Tommy] While we were in South Carolina talking to John,
Bills off yet again making a new Bill Murray story,
all the way in Slovenia.
♪ Take me out to Slovenia ♪
♪ Take me up with Triglav ♪
♪ Buy me some strudel and potica ♪
♪ I don't care if I never go back ♪
I write this column for CNN about wisdom. In writing about the wisdom of pop culture
and the reason that I focused on Bill Murray is because, if you look at Bill Murray's career,
you see at a certain number of key films in which there is a similar narrative, this message.
It's in the hole!
A lot of people are very familiar with Caddyshack.
It's one of his most famous films, and he tells this great story, totally improv
a line about how he wants to caddy for the Dalai Lama.
Are you gonna stiff me? And I said "Hey, Lama!
Hey! How about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.
And he says "Oh, it won't be any money,
but when you die, on your death bed,
you will receive total consciousness."
He didn't necessarily put that into Caddyshack.
He just... He threw enlightenment
in the middle of a movie about golf.
- I'm a God. - You're God?
I am a God. I'm not the God.
You can look at that story and it clearly seems to be about this notion
of make mistakes and do things over and over again
until you get it right so that you can move on.
And moving on, being nirvana.
Today is tomorrow.
It happened.
Just this great lesson on how to live.
While also being super entertaining and very funny.
I believe in it now! I believe it's gonna happen to me now! I'm ready for it!
Scrooged, right, which you know even in the original Dickens story's
basically is about redemption, you know, in a similar way.
[voice over in film] Bill Murray in the story of one man in the search for himself.
[David] That is the story of a guy who goes off to World War I and becomes a voluntary
ambulance driver, sees death and destruction,
and then comes back, and he has this pre-assigned life.
Like he has got a job waiting for him. He's got a fiancé,
and he rejects all that and says: "That's not what I want to do.
I have more questions than I have answers."
And so he goes on this search for enlightenment.
Am I ever gonna see you again?
It doesn't matter.
There is just this theme that keeps reoccurring
in Bill Murray films that seems to be about something much deeper.
Sure they're terrific athletes. They've got the best equipment that money can buy.
Hell, every team they're sending over here has their own personal masseuse.
Not masseur, masseuse. But it doesn't matter!
So you see "It just doesn't matter". That's the big speech in Meatballs.
The end of the Razor's Edge Like it just doesn't matter.
[all] Even and even if we win!
Hah! Even if we win!
Even if we play so far over our heads that our noses bleed for a week to ten days.
Even if God in heaven above comes down and points his hand at our side of the field
it just wouldn't matter because all of the really good looking girls
would still go out with the guys from Mohawk because they've got all the money!
There is a really great all Daoist story that sort of speaks to this.
So, the story goes like this: There is an old man who has this priced horse
and one day the horse runs away.
And his neighbor comes over to give his condolences.
He says: "I'm so sorry. I heard about your horse."
And the old man says: "Who knows what's good or bad?"
And the neighbor is confused because this is his priced horse.
And so the neighbor leaves and then the next day the horse returns
and he brings with him 12 feral horses. Now the guy is rich in horses.
And the neighbor comes over and says: "Congratulations, you have all these horses."
And the old man says: "Who knows what's good or bad?"
And the neighbor is confused again. Because clearly he's, you know, this is great.
But then the next day the old man's son is taming one of the horses
and is thrown and he breaks his leg. The neighbor comes over: "I'm so sorry about your son."
The old man says again: "Who knows what's good or bad?" And then the next day
the army comes through and they're conscripting able-bodied young men
to go fight off in war. And his son is spared.
And that story can go on and on and on. But what the point of that story is the...
It just doesn't matter, right? Like most of us go through life up and down.
Things are great! Things are terrible, things are great, things are terrible.
But a deeper way of looking at it, is that things are always kind of up and down.
Good things can lead to bad things, bad things can lead to good things.
And if you have this "It just doesn't matter"...
If you just have this sort of more Zen, if you will, outlook on it.
You can sort of look at the big picture of it.
You're gonna... Your whole life is just gonna be
more even keel, you know.
It just doesn't matter if we win or we lose!
It just doesn't matter! It just doesn't matter!
It just doesn't matter! It just doesn't matter! It just doesn't matter!
I was out with a bunch of friends after work doing some karaoke,
something that we regularly did. We were out in a private room and just having a great time.
My friend comes back to the room and he goes: "Bill Murray just walked in."
And we were just like: "Whatever, dude. You're a liar."
And this was around the time where kind of like the legend had started
where you hear these stories where Bill Murray did my dishes
or Bill Murray crashed my party.
So my friend didn't even hesitate.
He went right up to him and said: "you know what? We've got a room in the back
if you want to come and hang out with us, just come and check it out.
And about 20 minutes later we got a knock on the door. And it's Bill.
We just kind of welcomed him in. And then we just like: "Come on in, take a seat,
chill out." Do you want a drink? What song do you want to sing, you know?
But I just put on one of my favorite Elvis songs and he got right in there.
He grabbed the mike and him and I just did a duet. And it was really just
like hanging out with one of your buddies. By the time we knew it, it was like 3 a.m.
and it was time to go and I'm like: "How do I leave this?"
Eventually I left and I went home and I put my pictures right on up on Facebook.
Because I didn't believe it myself, honestly.
And then the next day I went to work and people were like: "What the fuck, is that real?"
Like "That's not real, right? That didn't happen, right?"
And the people who didn't come, they were really upset.
Yeah, I got invited to karaoke that night.
Missed out on meeting Bill.
It sucks.
[Michael] I think meeting Bill has kind of opened me up in a strange way.
I could be kind of a quieter guy, a little more reserved.
But then I'll think what would Bill Murray be doing in this situation?
And he would just take it by the balls and just go for it.
Sometimes if I'm feeling a little socially awkward...
I just think just have fun and everything will go with it.
You know, and... He just showed up and had a good time. And it was great.
[Lee] Poet's House is a library, a meeting place
and it has become one of the great places on the globe for poetry.
The place is packed every day, but when we were building it, it was really hard.
We 're poets. We didn't really know what we were doing,
and every once in a while I get called up by a construction worker:
"Oh, like we're missing an Air Conditioner." Or you know it was just...
It was a big job for the poets to do this.
And I thought it would really make sense for the construction workers
to have a sense of what they were building. So we asked him.
[Bill sighs]
I dwell in Possibility - A fairer House than Prose -
[Scott] Nobody knew that he was coming. As soon as he walked in
everybody was like: "Holy shit, that's Bill Murray.
What's Bill Murray doing here? It made no sense to us at all
for Bill Murray to be on the construction site.
More numerous of Windows - Superior - for Doors -
Of Chambers as the Cedars - Impregnable of eye -
Yeah, for the most part a lot of it is you don't have a clue what they're talking about.
And I wish I did, but I never really got into it
that much where I could understand it fully.
And for an everlasting Roof The Gambrels of the Sky -
Of Visitors - the fairest - For Occupation -
It was probably the first time we had somebody,
probably since high school English class, read us poetry.
And it just happened to be Bill Murray.
This - The spreading wide
my narrow Hands To gather
Paradise -
He was showing up to read poetry, but it was fun.
There's a difference between fun and funny I think in some ways.
He creates a sense of fun. And that creates a community in the present moment.
Why don't you just come over here and introduce yourself?
And tell the camera what's your name is and what's... [Laughter]
Tell them what your name is and what your occupation is. [laughter]
You don't think it's... Michael, I think it's a good thing to do.
And he really helped them, I think, understand what they were building.
And that poetry is all around us. Then he made a lot of jokes too.
Now we have an opportunity for one of you
to step forward and do some of your own original poetry.
Come on, don't be shy. Come on, don't be shy.
He's just this big goofy guy that just attracts people to him. For whatever reason.
And it was a pretty cool experience.
[Robert] I think as time went on people understood that
he was there to relate to us and to be with us
and shed a little joy in our lives.
Poetry in a way is about the radiant particulars.
It's the little moments that are charged with meaning and radiance.
And he goes after those moments. So that makes him a poetic spirit, I think.
We've got about three more minutes before this break is over.
Smoke'em if you got'em. Alright, thank you.
[clapping]
[woman] I heard somebody yell: "Did your child just pick him up?"
[woman] It's Bill Murray. You are kidding me!
- [woman 2] I'm starstruck. - We were playing kickball. It was my turn to kick
and the ref goes: "Do you all mind if my friend plays?"
And I look over and I'm like: "It's my turn," like I don't want this
random, like homeless looking man to play when it's my turn.
And then I was like: "Hey, hey, hey. That's Bill Murray!" I was like: "Sure, you can play."
We all took photos and then my mom is like:
"Excuse me, do you mind if you take a photo with me?"
I think it was him, he scooped her up.
- She wasn't like: "Hold me." - No, no it was definitely him.
I honestly didn't get the grasp of it until the day after.
Because I didn't know, like... apparently this was a thing I didn't know about.
And then all of a sudden I see all these clips...
I had no idea he popped-up places.
He does it all the time apparently, and I didn't know.
Yeah, it was like very bizarre. Like he came in, we'd played for a little bit,
took a photo and then he left.
And then we kept on playing the game like regular
and then afterwards we're like: "What just happened?"
Anybody need more coffee?
Coffee and Cigarettes the movie by Jim Jarmusch came out in 2003.
At the time people loved Bill Murray. But they didn't have the sense that he was the guy
who sort of like went out in the world and covered peoples' eyes and stole their French Fries.
- Are you Bill Murray? - Yeah, I'm Bill Murray.
But let's keep that just between us, alright.
It's kind of like the first little peephole into like the idea that
"Oh, Bill Murray can just sort of like arrive in your life for a few minutes."
But here he is and he shows up as a waiter, like with two members of the WU-Tang Clan.
Bill Groundhog Day, Ghost busting ass Murray.
- Who do you gonna call? - I know that, just don't tell anybody.
And in the movie it's really kind of the fictional version
of what people later found out was like the real life Bill Murray.
What do you mean "not tell nobody, Bill Murray?"
I mean, people gonna come here and they gonna see you.
You're bill Murray, it's obvious.
Unless you're wearing a disguise or something.
Well, I am wearing a kind of disguise.
Yeah, and Zombieland is another wonderful like cameo Bill Murray as himself.
Bill Murray, you're a zombie?
You know like you've got a world that's like over-run by zombies.
That you know, sort of, like very few, you know, like uninfected humans beings.
And Bill like somehow survived.
And what he does is that he dresses up as a zombie
so he can like go and play golf and walk around.
And you know like even in the zombie apocalypse, like sort of, like Bill Murray is trying
to maintain his lifestyle and like get out of the house and engage.
Suits my life style, you know. I like to get out and do stuff.
Just play nine holes on the Riviera. Just walked on.
Goddamn it, Bill fucking Murray! I had to get that out.
I think Bill has always like had adventures, inserted himself into other people's lives.
I think the extent which he does it, is probably more based on what he needs personally.
But I think it resonates with everybody more now because of who we are.
- Bill motherfucking Murray. - It's crazy, ya'll.
- [Tommy] You've met Bill? - I've met Bill.
- Tell me how that went. - Bill...
[Gavin] Are there times, you know, like periods of your life where you feel like you
need to be woken up? Or is it just...
[Bill] Well, every day. Really, I mean
you know, I'm always sort of connected for
seconds and minutes a day sometimes.
Sometimes you go days without it, which is... I'm always thinking:
"Holy God, I've been asleep for two days. I've been doing things, but [indistinct]
So, one of the things Bill tries to do is to really
just like have a jolt that wakes people up.
[Bill] He don't know always that... aware that I'm thinking about what
I want them to take away from it. You know sometimes I think
what am I gonna take away from this?
So, I'm almost self-destructive. My hope is that it's gonna wake me up, you know.
And if I see someone that's out, cold and on their feet sort of
I go oh, OK. I'm gonna try and wake that person up.
Because it's like, you know, It's the same thing.
It's like this is what I want someone to do for me, you know.
Is wake me up. Just wake me the hell up.
[guitar music]
[Laura] I called him over, and when my son saw him
and his bright orange outfit and just immediately
after being silent for the entire day started bawling his eyes out.
And Bill Murray is like: "Hey, if you can't beat them,
join them." And just started crying himself.
[Samuel] This one Sunday I went up the mountain
and this guy was on the side of the road, and he'd broke down.
Are you OK? Really?
I'm walking up and it turns out to be Bill Murray.
- [Bill] I'm Bill, by the way. - I'm Sam. Sam.
[Noah] I'm going to pick up my grandmother. She'd never been to a basket-ball game.
And all of a sudden I hear a voice. And I'm like "I know that voice."
And I turned the corner and sure enough it's Bill Murray.
I stuck out my hand, I was like: "Hey, It's my grandmothers birthday. Do you think
we could just get a quick picture with you?"
He just, kind of, just looked at me and he goes:
"Well, don't you think we should sing her Happy Birthday?"
And I was just like: "What?"
♪ Happy Birthday to you ♪
In my head thinking like it's Bill Murray over there
about to sing Happy Birthday to my 94 year old grandmother.
♪ Happy Birthday to you ♪
[instrumental music]
I had just opened our business. We're about three months old.
And I'd heard that Bill is shooting a movie in our neighborhood.
Two - three hours later Bill comes out of his car,
sees the truck and he's like: "So, what have you got?"
And I showed him like... Yeah, this is my truck.
And he's like: "This is pretty cool, it's really nice."
And then the entire crew came over and then he helped me, he helped serve the crew ice cream.
Bill Murray was standing next to me on the truck.
I know he's just a person,
but to me he was more than that.
[Tommy] As more and more stories proved to be true,
it was hard to think that any of them could be made up.
But there was this one story that sounded so random, I couldn't seem to buy it.
And the only way to find out if it was true,
was to fly over 3000 miles to the United Kingdom.
[indistinct]
- Max. - Good to meet you.
[Tommy] Tell us your Bill Murray story.
So, I went to university at a place called St. Andrews. It's a small town in Scotland.
There was one street that was famous for its house parties. It's called Hope street.
We just left the pub. The pubs in England close quite early.
So we wandered along, just walked in this door. It was some people that we knew.
So I thought, oh, we'll go there and see if there's anything going on.
There was a house party, and so, you know, we just joined in.
And all of a sudden there is a bit of a noise in the next room.
And so, I wandered through to the kitchen and lo and behold
I stood there with my beer in my hand looking across the kitchen
and Bill Murray is in the other room talking to a few girls.
I'm observing from the, sort of across the room and all of a sudden Bill start admonishing
the girls and saying what a disgrace their kitchen was, how messy it was, and he says:
"Don't worry about it, girls. You go back to your party, I'll do the washing up."
He starts doing the glasses, the dishes. I just stood there on the other side of the kitchen
thinking: "That's a bit strange. Bill Murray's here doing the washing up."
Yeah, he hung around for a while, had a couple of drinks
and then made his way into the night.
I mean, I think we revere celebrity, and I think the stories
that involve Bill Murray are Bill interacting in an everyday manner.
And it removes that barrier, that Chinese Wall between the rest of us and celebrity.
And I think that's the effect he has on people. If that means you go away feeling good
about yourself, then that's a quite nice thing.
[Tommy] So it turns out the story was true. And the great thing about it,
is that it shows that Bill can take these small moments and transform them
into something memorable. He seems to just have this comedian type quality
when it comes to social situations. He comes into peoples' lives,
gets a feel for the room and he makes the moment something special.
But where does he get that from?
[guitar music]
God evening, hello to you that are not my relatives, I'm Bill Murray.
Welcome to the Second City Theatre.
Where have you been? You've been gone for six months!
After school there was a party.
[audience laughing]
Then everybody went to Denver.
[audience laughing]
Almighty, I think it's great the adults get together
and talk about sex. They should! A certain amount of oral sex is necessary in any community.
Improv is... It's about being in the moment. It's about a give and take.
It's about never denying. The whole theory behind improv, is "Yes, and..."
So, there's little rules like, you know, let's say yes to each other's ideas instead of no.
So, if I say you're my dad, let's just pretend you are, so I don't look like an idiot.
Somebody says: "You're a tree." You don't say: "No, I'm not a tree. How could I be a tree?"
You go with it. You are a tree. And it continues on from there.
[indistinct]
Let's keep that sense of: This is a real moment happening in real time.
[Joel] Del Close Was the teacher, the mentor and guru
to some of the greatest comedy minds of our generation.
And he was a man who taught you not to fear anything,
to enjoy that fear, and to follow that fear.
Talking about birth control devices and contraceptives,
next thing you know is gonna be passing out condominiums to the kids at school!
Handing it out in playgrounds! I've seen those hands!
Well, I think Del had that effect on Bill in the fact that Bill didn't fear much.
Sometimes he'd like to see where that fear is headed.
And it takes him a lot of interesting places.
It ends up being other peoples' stories, but... Yeah, no I'll go see what's behind that door.
Like I remember Harold Ramis told a story, you know,
if he'd go somewhere on location with Bill...
Bill was just fine getting lost. He could, like, go off on a bike or a moped.
He just reveled in not knowing where he was and getting to know the locals.
Flying by the seat of his pants and living by his wits.
And I think a lot of it came out of improv and he learned that at Second City.
[Charna] I think for Bill Murray in particular,
he went along with the philosophy of "Improv is play".
When Bill does those scenes, like, he'll sit down and take a French Fry
or play with somebody that he doesn't know.
And I have seen him do that personally.
It's because he really has just taken this and made it
the joy of life. And I think he realizes what is important.
And that is to have fun with people.
[Susan] So when you talk about something like Bill Murray,
you know, how does he enjoy the moment?
How does he assume prominence in life and bla, bla, bla?
Well, you can just... when you see any human being
simply reveling in where they are,
improv might be the only time in my life
that I truly get to slow down and enjoy exactly where I am.
From Queens, New York, it's the Bill Murray show!
Starring Mark Malkoff.
It is the show that doesn't end until Bill Murray agrees
to have dinner with me here in my apartment in Queens.
The Bill Murray show was a comedy idea I had which was at the time a weekly video series.
You at home can help me. Have you seen Bill Murray lately? Do you know Bill Murray?
Is your name Bill Murray?
My wife Christine would cook a meal
for Bill Murray that we placed on the table.
Christine, thank you so much. Tell us about Bill Murray's dinner this week.
[Christine] With black bean tacos.
And we would talk about Murray and I think I called a 800-number
and asked him if he would have dinner.
He never... I never heard from him
like most people that call that 800-number.
I never heard back.
Tell us how you know Bill Murray.
I don't really know him, but I used to park his car.
I've learned a lot and thinking back about the approach that I took,
and it was not the right approach to take to make it happen...
Calling that 800-number was not... It goes against everything that Murray stands for.
It goes against what Murray is. What Murrays life is essentially is an improv game
which he yes, adds things in the moment.
And for me calling him with a game and setting it up,
was just not in the moment. It was not organic.
Because it seems like so much of his life is... It's in the moment. "Yes, and..." and stuff.
It seems like whenever there's details and specifics and stuff...
When people call that 800-number, that's when it gets tricky.
And Sofia Coppola, didn't it take her months
on the 800-number? And that's Sofia Coppola!
I got... I left messages for probably a year and sent letters.
And I would... Anybody I would meet like: "Do you know Bill Murray?"
And then finally I... A friend of mine was, who is a writer,
I was old friends with him. He helped me and finally got in touch with him,
and then finally I got to meet him. And he said he might think about doing it.
But he was never very committal and... But I just went to Japan and started making it
in the hopes that he would show up. And luckily he showed up.
[crowd cheering]
So, I was at the Toronto Film Festival as a writer for Vanity Fair.
And I had this article that I was reporting on.
My editor had emailed me and she said:
"I just found out that the Toronto International Film Festival
is devoting one day to Bill Murray, called Bill Murray Day."
And we would love it if you would fly up to Toronto and just shadow him for the day.
What I didn't know of course is that he has no PR people, he has no people.
So there was really no way to, like, coordinate with him on this.
It was very much like I... Just boots on the ground, I had to search for him, thing.
- First of all, happy Bill Murray day. - Thank you very much.
I knew that there were certain things that I had to hit that day.
There was gonna be a screening of Ghostbusters.
And, you know, I'm kind of scribbling notes as it's happening.
He just, kind of, walked right off the stage, so I didn't really get a chance to grab him.
And then I had a screening of his movie that night with an after party.
Again a possibility for me to talk with him.
I'm still so emotional from the film.
[crowd laughing]
I had been assured many times from my editors
and everybody else that I was on this list.
And I apparently wasn't on this list,
and nobody would let me in.
I'd heard all day long these rumors of...
Like I'm at the coffee shop and someone is like:
"Bill Murray rode by in a bike earlier."
And I'm like:
"I missed him!"
It was these constant near misses.
You know, by the end of that day,
I'm sitting at this bar drinking whiskey, and I'm just like:
"I think I've been chasing a ghost, man!"
Like, I think I 've been focusing too much on the wrong thing.
I haven't been focusing on the fact that this day was just filled with people
celebrating the spirit of a person who, kind of, like, marches to his own beat.
And makes everybody around him happy, and just kind of, like, creates joy everywhere he goes.
I think I started realizing, like, I was trying to put together
this very, like, proper reported article.
But, like, reporting on Bill Murray is like jazz, right?
Like it's just, sort of improvisational.
I was just chasing something that was not
at all authentic. It's not Who Bill Murray is.
Once I realized that, I kind of let go a little,
and it made more sense to me.
[Tommy] Just as I started to give up on the idea of actually speaking with Bill,
an opportunity revealed itself.
It was the opening night of the Charleston RiverDogs.
That's the baseball team that Bill is part owner of.
And I got myself a ticket.
[country guitar music]
[Tommy] That's Bill on the right.
And this time I'm the guy on the left
about to talk to Bill.
These Bill Murray stories referred to in a way as:
"Did you hear about this crazy thing that Bill Murray did?"
And maybe for a lot of people that's really all it is.
It's like: "Bill Murray did another crazy thing and you can watch it."
The real gift is for the people that he is interacting with. And it becomes their story.
[Peter] Part of Bills charm when he shows up, is not to take over.
Like when he shows up to somebody's house and does his kind of thing, it's like
he wants to be in the house and be part of the gang. That's the joke.
He's not there doing a tap dance or juggling.
He's just sitting there watching TV with them. And yet it's Bill Murray.
And that's part of it. It's like, it's not showing up to entertain.
It's showing up to be present.
And I forget about it because, like, life happens.
And every once in a while someone brings up that Bill Murray story.
And you just, like, smile.
Nine years later or seven years later
I'm still wrapping my head around it.
I think that's the gift that he's giving these people that... in the Bill Murray story.
I think that's what he's giving them. He's giving them agency to have a way to wake up.
Yeah, it was a really great feeling, yeah.
Made me feel like a bigger person than I am.
I don't feel like I'm a part of that story.
I feel like he's a part of my story at this point.
It's like such a great moment. I'm really like...
It does. It makes me happy thinking about it.
But I like to think that he's giving them something that they will, you know,
use for the rest of their life.
That it's more than just, you know: "I met Bill Murray once."
My absolute favorite Bill Murray story is the saxophone and the taxi cab.
Bill is in San Francisco. He's got a long cab ride ahead of him.
And so he starts talking to the guy, because he's like an engaging guy.
You know, when you come into a funny situation like getting into a taxi with the guy
who is a saxophone player, I said: "When do you practice it?"
"I don't know I drive like 14 hours a day or something like that."
"Where is your sax?" He says it's in the trunk.
I was like, you know, that's two and two makes four. Pull over and get in the trunk and I...
I know how to drive a car. You know, not only did he play all the way to Sausalito,
which is a long ways. We stopped and got barbeque and he was playing like at some kind of,
you know, what people would call like a sketchy rib place
in Oakland like 2:15 in the morning.
And it's like: "Relax, man, you got the horn. We're cool here." You know.
And it was great. It was made for a beautiful night. And you know we...
We've done that. And I think we all do that. You know I think that anyone...
If you saw that moment, you'd say like there's... And you're, as they say, available.
You know. You'd see it. You'd make the connection. You'd do it right.
It's not just "Bill Murray was in a cab and, like sort of, did this quick thing for me."
Like he would remember the guy who had him play in the back seat so he could drive.
Which I think is like... The best Bill Murray stories are not about, you know sort of,
trading off like the value of the celebrity. But like he did
something that just, sort of like, he transforms the moment.
[spiritual music]
[Tommy] Here is the thing. I did walk up to Bill. He was rushing to get to the field.
And there wasn't any time to talk.
I met all these people who've had these great experiences with Bill.
But as I sat so close to the man, I felt something wasn't quite right. Why?
In 1977 Bill Murray snuck into Elvis Presley's funeral. He was a fan and wanted to be there.
Bill went to the funeral to be a part of the experience.
I was trying to control the experience.
[excited crowd]
[Tommy] At the end of the game. I just decided to jump in line and ask for a photo.
- Excuse me, may I take a picture with you? - Sure.
This is why my picture with Bill is so important.
Because this is when I realized' I didn't need to talk to Bill
to understand why he does what he does.
After meeting all these people, I learned that these Bill Murry stories
are not cherished because they meet a celebrity.
It's because they had a real interaction with a real person.
A man who lives freely and takes the time to make each moment count.
It's not forced, it's not planned. It's just living in the moment.
So maybe my interaction with Bill wasn't perfect. But in the end, it just doesn't matter.
It just doesn't matter.
[music]
It was the middle of May of 2011.
I was working on a movie called "Moonrise Kingdom" in Newport, Rhode Island
with some Hollywood movie stars:
Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, and Bill Murray.
Bill Murray was the one person
who could always get me to walk into a movie theater no matter what it was.
For 4 days I worked on this film and for 4 days I did my work and he did his.
And we came back to the same hotel every night and we never crossed paths.
I went home from work that last day and I'm just about ready to throw in the towel.
I guess it was a near miss
Disappointing, but there are greater tragedies in life
I walk into the bar in the hotel lobby and I ordered a drink.
There's a bartender, and there's a piano there.
So I asked her:"would you mind if I played around on the piano a little bit?"
and she said: "Sure, there's nobody here, why not?"
So I sit down at the piano and I just start to play
about 10 seconds later into the room walks Bill Murray.
I didn't stop playing.
It's the music that brought him in, the music was gonna keep him there.
He didn't even say anything.
He just walked over, stood right behind me, and said,
"Can you play this?" "Can you play that?"
Myself and Bill Murray were playing music, singing, drinking with 2 women, song after song.
I'm playin' 'em, the girls are dancing, the bartender joined in,
the concierge joined in,
and we're havin' a party in this tiny little Newport Rhode Island hotel bar.
And before we know it, 5 hours had gone by and he had to leave.
And he gets up,
and I had mentioned to him that
I worked at a summer camp as a head counselor just like he did in "Meatballs".
I still do to this day.
And he reaches into his pocket and he pulls out a sweaty wad of money
and he hands it to me and he says:
"Listen. if the counselors have a tough day, do me a favor.
Take 'em out for some pizza, tell 'em that Bill loves 'em."
And then he said one more thing before he left. He said:
"I don't remember names, but I'm very good with faces.
If you ever see me, anywhere, whatever I'm doing, no matter where it is,
please come say hello."
And he disappeared down the hall.
And that was it.
When I hear stories of party crashing,
stories of Bill going to a wedding,
showing up somewhere, doing something fun and making people's lives magical,
I always smile.
I'd like people to know that Bill Murray is who you want him to be in real life.
You can't say that about many of the people we admire.
But he is what makes people love him.
[music stops]
Subtitles by explosiveskull