Dinner With Bill Murray

April 29, 2010 9:46 PM

"As a public service to those of you who may someday find yourself in the exhilarating-slash-nerve-racking position of having a meal with Bill Murray, here is a guide so that you may avoid our mistakes."
posted by dhammond (69 comments total)

I can perfectly imagine this dinner and every one of Bill's words in my head.
posted by Saxon Kane at 9:51 PM on April 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

You can't just briefly invoke the Karen Duffy like that and not speak more of her.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:08 PM on April 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

Bill Murray looks frighteningly old. Is he old? Will we all look like that when we're old? Am I going to get old? I'm really scared now.
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:11 PM on April 29, 2010 [14 favorites]

This was awesome, thanks.
posted by anazgnos at 10:13 PM on April 29, 2010

Bill Murray looks frighteningly old. Is he old? Will we all look like that when we're old? Am I going to get old? I'm really scared now.

As far as aging goes, Bill Murray does it very, very, very gracefully.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:17 PM on April 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Bill Murray's a big tipper.
Billy Murray will occasionally show up at a student party in Scotland, hang out for a while, and do the dishes before he leaves.
A drunken Bill Murray will offer to drive Swedish people home in a golf cart.
The Bill Murray urban legend is that he used to sneak up behind strangers in Union Square, put his hands over their eyes, and then reveal it's him, saying "No one is ever going to believe you."
Bill Murray once had a fistfight with Chevy Chase, calling him "Medium talent."
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:19 PM on April 29, 2010 [23 favorites]

"Aren't you Bill Murray, man? You Bill Murray?"
posted by paisley henosis at 10:22 PM on April 29, 2010

Bill Murray looks frighteningly old. Is he old? Will we all look like that when we're old? Am I going to get old? I'm really scared now.

He's three years older than my dad but looks more like twenty.
posted by dunkadunc at 10:37 PM on April 29, 2010

This is useful, and I guess I should return the favour by giving him a few top tips in return!

Handy behavioural guide for Bill Murray when having dinner with me

1. First up, don't care about the rocks that I got - I'm still quidnunc from the block. But I'd appreciated it if you would pay, as you have money and I only have some rocks.
2. When you enter the restaurant and see me at the table, please yell out so that everyone can hear, "quidnunc kid! My soulmate and best friend!" as we high-five. If that doesn't get much of a reaction I'll get up and we will hug for a couple minutes.
3. If I "accidentally" spill some french onion soup on you, it would give me a real kick if you could turn to the couple at the next table and utter the immortal line, "he slimed me!" Ditto if I sneeze on you.
4. When we're talking, if you misunderstand anything I say or if I mispronounce anything, just say "excuse me - could you repeat that?" DON'T say, "sorry - we got Lost in Translation!" because that is not very funny, and anyway we will be talking the same language hence nothing will be being translated, strictly speaking.
5. I don't mind if we spend a little time bitching about Harold Ramis, but I don't want the WHOLE MEAL to be about Harold Ramis, if you get me.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 10:43 PM on April 29, 2010 [33 favorites]

Murray has acne scarring which has the effect of making him seem a more advanced age.


Also he invaded Czechoslovakia that one time, which I'm sure had to add a stress wrinkle or two, even if he was just up against Joe Flaherty and some extras.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 10:43 PM on April 29, 2010 [6 favorites]

After The Razor's Edge, he took a few years off, moving to Paris to study philosophy -- particularly Gurdjieff -- and history at the Sorbonne.
posted by vapidave at 10:49 PM on April 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's a well known fact that most comedians are frustrated sociopaths. Desperate for attention and yet hating that they need it, using comedy as a weapon against an unsuspecting public. Most die at a young age of drug overdoses or in the advanced stages of venereal disease.
posted by doctor_negative at 10:51 PM on April 29, 2010 [9 favorites]

Bill Murray looks frighteningly old. Is he old? Will we all look like that when we're old? Am I going to get old? I'm really scared now.

I think he looks a little older than his age (59), not a lot though (6 or 7 years maybe). Unfortunately due to genetics, we all can't look like Mitt Romney when we get old.
posted by bobo123 at 11:08 PM on April 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Bill Murray's a big tipper.

That may be, but he has lots of money, so it's not all that big for him. And he almost has to be a generous tipper: everyone is watching him and ready to add him to namedroppings like that "The 10 Best and 10 Worst Celebrity Tippers" list.
posted by pracowity at 11:11 PM on April 29, 2010

Huh. It used to be kind of a semi-secret that he was involved with Gurdjieff people, but now it's right there on IMDB.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:15 PM on April 29, 2010

• He will tell you what he whispered in Scarlett Johansson's ear in Lost in Translation, before politely instructing you, between haggard, troubled drags on a cigarette, not to share this secret with anyone else on pain of death
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:37 PM on April 29, 2010

I don't know, he sounds a right prick in that article. I wouldn't want to be the waiter, big tip or not. "Take a look Handsome, what's wrong with this?" The world's uncomfortable enough without that kind of crap.
posted by Omnomnom at 11:41 PM on April 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

Little Rock: Do you have any regrets?
Bill Murray: Garfield, maybe.
posted by Rangeboy at 11:55 PM on April 29, 2010 [7 favorites]

He will compliment the chefs by smacking his lips and crying out in mock ecstasy
posted by revmitcz at 12:03 AM on April 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Omnomnom: "I don't know, he sounds a right prick in that article. I wouldn't want to be the waiter, big tip or not. "Take a look Handsome, what's wrong with this?" The world's uncomfortable enough without that kind of crap."

But that's always been the genius of Bill Murray, hasn't it? He can say lines that, when written on the page, sound incredibly dickish, yet he makes them work and makes them funny. His on-screen persona is a loser, but not a sad sack loser, and he's conceited, but it's like he doesn't even believe his conceit himself. I don't know... for some reason you just want to like him. There are lines he pulls off that no other actor could pull off and I defy anyone to think of an actor who could've replaced him in Ghostbusters, Stripes, and Groundhog Day.
posted by sharkfu at 12:43 AM on April 30, 2010 [8 favorites]

The Life Aquatic is (as of now) probably my favorite movie of all time. It was so... reassuring.
posted by dunkadunc at 12:50 AM on April 30, 2010 [4 favorites]

The only thing I really got from the article is that I'd rather have dinner with Bill Murray than Jada Yuan.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:03 AM on April 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

1984, LaGuardia airport, I was ~16. "Who ya gonna call?" and that annoying synth-riff were everywhere, like pollen in the spring-time or those 'Thiller,' red-leather jackets at the mall. I was getting my luggage and looking for my ride when I happened to look at some guy with a base-ball cap pulled low on his face, sitting on a bench by his luggage also waiting for his ride. I had a fat moment of "Why does that guy look so familiar? Is that Dan's older brother? Mike's cousin?" and while I'm staring trying to think if I should go say hi or what, Bill Murray, his "Oh shit, someone's staring at me" sense going wild, shifts his gaze enough to look back at me, whereupon I realize I don't know him, he's just famous. And he looks like he'd give me a million dollars if I would not recognize him and just leave him alone. I imagined, at the time, that the sensation must have been similar to seeing a panther in the jungle leap forty feet from one branch to another, or a sperm whale breaching, a giant squid clutched in it's jaw, the thing the squid howling some deafening, primordial squid-death song.

I could not approach him. He was too majestic, slumped on the bank, almost literally mouthing the words, "I am not Bill Murray" at me and waiting for me to turn away. 'Til finally I did, my ride was there, thumping me rudely on the shoulder. I grabbed my duffle-bag and slouched, pimply, toward the exit. I started, at least twice, to tell my companion what I had just seen but each time stopped, halted by the insufficiency of language to limn the enormous portent of what had just happened, what I had just witnessed. I had been in the presence of greatness, I had surfed, briefly at the cusp of a cultural giant.

My life was never the same.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:25 AM on April 30, 2010 [15 favorites]

He will tell you what he whispered in Scarlett Johansson's ear in Lost in Translation

Murray:

A considerable percentage of the people we meet in the streets of a great town are people who are empty inside, that is, they are actually already dead. It is fortunate for us that we do not see and do not know it. If we knew what a number of people are actually dead and what a number of these dead people govern our lives, we should go mad with horror.

Johansson:

*sniff*

posted by pracowity at 1:43 AM on April 30, 2010 [4 favorites]

Am I going to get old?

The news gets worse.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:02 AM on April 30, 2010 [38 favorites]

...for some reason you just want to like him.

No, actually, I don't. When he surfaced on SNL with his too-accurate-to-be-funny and too-long-to-be-ignored lounge singer shtick, it marked the beginning of one of that show's epic declines in quality. Nothing I have seen of him in the interim has challenged that initial impression. Also, of course there were other actors who could have carried the Ghostbusters role. Some of them would have made the movie significantly better. In short, not everyone shares your appreciation for Murray.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:38 AM on April 30, 2010

When I die, I am going to have the following chiseled into my gravestone:

"And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness."


So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
posted by digsrus at 4:47 AM on April 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

Sharkfu, I've always rather liked his on screen persona. Maybe he could pull off the nasty prick thing without seeming prickish, I don't know. But dude! The prank played on Schuyler and her mother?I thought that was mean and scary.
posted by Omnomnom at 5:11 AM on April 30, 2010

Don't worry. Bill Murray!
posted by ZsigE at 5:25 AM on April 30, 2010

Bill Murray was curious about what DNA stands for so he sat in on a class at Chicago University. He ended up earning a PhD and to this day still drops by to teach a class or two.

Bill Murray once got out of the stands at a Cubs game, grabbed a bat, walked to the batter's box, and motioned for the pitcher to give him a fastball. He hit the first pitch out of the park onto Waveland Avenue. Both teams were so impressed they let the run count.

Bill Murray orchestrated the plot, action, and dialogue of Ghostbusters entirely from scratch as they went along. The special effects and prop teams had to be on standby to build whatever he called for in a matter of minutes.

For a year in his mid-30s, Bill Murray did not speak a word. When he finally broke his silence, at a party, it was the funniest thing anyone attending had ever heard. However, no one wrote the words down and accounts vary as to what he actually said.
posted by starman at 5:26 AM on April 30, 2010 [14 favorites]

Also, of course there were other actors who could have carried the Ghostbusters role. Some of them would have made the movie significantly better.

Yeah, see, no. About 90% of the charm of Ghostbusters was Murray improvising, and nobody else in comedy at the time had that level of skill; even John Belushi, if he'd lived (Murray's role was originally written for him) could have pulled it off as well. If you don't like Murray, fine, everyone has their tastes (I, for one, have only barely ever been able to tolerate Chevy Chase), but let's not kid ourselves.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:28 AM on April 30, 2010 [5 favorites]

And let's not forget "The Man Who Knew Too Little" which I consider to be among the very funniest movies ever made. Bill Murray is funny.
posted by grizzled at 6:03 AM on April 30, 2010 [3 favorites]

Murray owned part of the Northern League team the St. Paul Saints, and threw out the first pitch of at least one game I attended in the mid 1990s. In fact he also served beers in the main concourse concession stand and wandered among the fans. (When I got pushed up to him in the crowd I gushed something to him and he made eye contact with half a smile -- about all I expected.)
posted by wenestvedt at 6:12 AM on April 30, 2010

Speaking of the Saint Paul Saints, I remember meeting Murray, and his sons, when he came for a Saints event and stayed at the Saint Paul Hotel. This would be about 1997 or 98, I think. He and his sons bummed around in the lobby for a time either before or after they ate. I remember clearly thinking that those boys (about 9 and 11 at the time) were the two best-mannered, most well-adjusted intelligent-seeming youths I had ever met.

Say what you will about his public persona, but anyone who is capable of raising children to that standard stands head and shoulders above most of his peers.
posted by BigLankyBastard at 6:35 AM on April 30, 2010 [3 favorites]

Am I going to get old?

The news gets worse.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:02 AM on April 30

That is the best comment ever in the history of the internet. Retire sir, retire now with a perfect record.
posted by ExitPursuedByBear at 6:56 AM on April 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

You will spend the dinner wondering if he also remembers that he seemed to not like you.

And after reading that I understand why.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:58 AM on April 30, 2010

The Man Who Knew Too Little is, in fact, one of the funniest movies of all time.
I just watched Tootsie for the first time since I was 9 years old, and Bill Murray's relatively minor role completely makes that movie worthwhile.
posted by Erroneous at 7:05 AM on April 30, 2010

even John Belushi, if he'd lived...couldn't have pulled it off as well.

We're mutants. There's something wrong with us, something very, very wrong with us.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:14 AM on April 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

I love this man. He's just so perfectly......I don't know....Bill Murray.
posted by nevercalm at 7:46 AM on April 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

If you're feeling adventurous, you might try visiting a tiny, unobtrusive eatery near the corner of Ohio & Franklin on Chicago's north side, and ordering the "Bill Murray". Though the servers and manager may initially refuse or claim not to know of any such dish, if you're insistent, you'll be in for an experience you won't soon forget.
posted by anazgnos at 7:57 AM on April 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

You may hear the word “tequila” coming over and over from Murray's direction as he mimes the pouring of a bottle into his mouth, and the tale gets louder and, apparently, more hilarious. When you finally turn back, the story over, and when you ask your laughing dinner companions what you missed, they will say, “Oh, just Bill talking about his early 20s.”

I've had the honor of running into Bill once down in Atlanta - specifically, at the Clermont Lounge on a Friday night. He was rocking some Nick Nolte Mugshot hair at 1:30 in the morning, enjoying the performance of one of the younger dancers (probably in her mid-40s), and when I offered a drink, he was having Petron.

In short, not everyone shares your appreciation for Murray.

Tallahassee: ... "I've never hit a kid before..."
posted by FatherDagon at 8:09 AM on April 30, 2010

I should clarify that it was my hope he was in Atlanta for the same event I was - the massive metal-fest the next day. The entire bar was packed with longhair rockers and assorted wildlife, and he was just in repose in the middle of it all, in this filthiest and weirdest of all strip joints - a thing of wonder.
posted by FatherDagon at 8:11 AM on April 30, 2010

In short, not everyone shares your appreciation for Murray.

I also occasionally have bad taste, but I try not to have it cause me to chastise people with good taste.
posted by Astro Zombie at 8:32 AM on April 30, 2010 [4 favorites]

Retire sir, retire now with a perfect record.

psst. A Terrible Llama is a ma'am.
posted by peep at 8:37 AM on April 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Anthony Bourdain also had dinner with Bill.
posted by digitalprimate at 8:44 AM on April 30, 2010

The Man Who Knew Too Little is, in fact, one of the funniest movies of all time.

If we're championing Bill Murray's deep cuts, I've gotta go for Quick Change.
posted by Iridic at 8:48 AM on April 30, 2010 [5 favorites]

Am I going to get old?

The news gets worse.

True enough about the "worse" part...but pushing sixty is a great age. I was playing Capture the Flag with a bunch of kids two days ago and whatever muscles constitute "the lap" are still sore, but aside from that, I still feel like twenty-five, but not so stupid. (As I was. Not you.)

I'll see any movie with Bill Murray in it. The young Bill Murray or the old Bill Murray. It's the same guy, you know, only with and every-seven-years cell change operation.
posted by kozad at 8:49 AM on April 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Quick Change is way better than it meant to be. It is an especially touching portrait of New York and Brooklyn of the late 1980's.
posted by From Bklyn at 9:09 AM on April 30, 2010

Unfortunately due to genetics, we all can't look like Mitt Romney when we get old.

You say that like it's a bad thing.
posted by blucevalo at 9:10 AM on April 30, 2010

Quick Change is a masterpiece.
posted by vibrotronica at 9:10 AM on April 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

I grabbed my duffle-bag and slouched, pimply, toward the exit.

A perfect summation of my entire adolescence. At least you got to semi-meet Bill Murray.
posted by blucevalo at 9:13 AM on April 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is as good a place to ask as any: is The Razor's Edge worth watching?
posted by desjardins at 9:18 AM on April 30, 2010

Wow--Murray is only two years older than me? Either he's lying, or damn, I think he looks older. I'm a fellow ex-pat Chicagoan who loves him in some things, meh in others, but I saw him on Letterman recently and was surprised at how much he just killed. Made it look effortless.

I kinda believe the upthread comment about some comedians proceeding from a basis of deep pain or fear and using dinner companions, waitstaff, bystanders as props in their acting out of their personal dramedy. I have a friend in Chicago who has, in his 57 years (oh shit! i almost forgot--today is my friend's birthday) been at moments as funny or funnier than Murray. But he also has a panoply of phobias that render him either afraid to move or (until recently) self-medicating with alcohol. I can see how that thin line that Murray dances could easily cross over as it did one memorable night with my friend who at first displayed the over-the-top familiarity with the waiters, but by the end of the evening the manager, a waiter & I carried him out through the kitchen on his chair, completely black-out drunk. (Trust me, had we known he was in that shape, we wouldn't have left his house earlier). During the evening his "charm" included turning to the table behind us & shouting "Fuck sake! Make one joke about Nazis and everybody hates ya!"

So I completely get people who get nervous around Murray. That unpredictability can be quite unsettling.
posted by beelzbubba at 9:24 AM on April 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Unfortunately due to genetics Thanks to advances in plastic surgery, we all can't can get the same procedures and look like Mitt Romney when we get old.
posted by Pollomacho at 9:28 AM on April 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is as good a place to ask as any: is The Razor's Edge worth watching?

It's pretty maudlin and melodramatic, but it's also kind of cool in spots.
posted by anazgnos at 9:38 AM on April 30, 2010

This is as good a place to ask as any: is The Razor's Edge worth watching?

As an early demonstration that Murray had bigger ambitions than appearing in a bunch of SNL knock-off movies, yes. As a movie itself, well, in spots, a little. But it's not a great match for Murray, and, for money money, Where the Buffalo Roam is a much more interesting example of this, as, later, was Mad Dog and Glory.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:47 AM on April 30, 2010

I kinda liked it (The Razor's Edge) last time I saw it, a decade or so ago. It's interesting to see Murray being absolutely straight, and not mockingly straight. Weather or not I'd like it now I've no idea.

I kind of think Murray has a touch of Andy Kaufman in him.
posted by edgeways at 9:54 AM on April 30, 2010

I don't have the authorization to tell a buddy's Bill Murray story, so instead I'll repeat one of Harold Ramis's about his mercurial friend from a New Yorker profile some years ago:

After a moment, {Ramis} continued, “One of my favorite Bill Murray stories is one about when he went to Bali. I’d spent three weeks there, mostly in the south, where the tourists are. But Bill rode a motorcycle into the interior until the sun went down and got totally lost. He goes into a village store, where they are very surprised to see an American tourist, and starts talking to them in English, going ‘Wow! Nice hat! Hey, gimme that hat!’ ” Ramis’s eyes were lighting up. “And he took the guy’s hat and started imitating people, entertaining. Word gets around this hamlet that there’s some crazy guy at the grocery, and he ended up doing a dumb show with the whole village sitting around laughing as he grabbed the women and tickled the kids. No worry about getting back to a hotel, no need for language, just his presence, and his charisma, and his courage. When you meet the hero, you sure know it.”

He smiled. “Bill loves to get lost, to throw the map out the window and drive till you have no idea where you are, just to experience something new.” And you? “Oh, I’d be the one with the map. I’m the map guy. I’m the one saying to Bill, ‘You know, we should get back now. They’re going to be looking for us.’ ”

At the time of the interview, Murray had barely spoken to Ramis for eleven years, much less worked with him. "Bill would give you his kidney if you needed it, but he wouldn't necessarily return your phone calls," Ramis explained.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:21 AM on April 30, 2010 [6 favorites]

This article describes exactly how it was the night that I had dinner with Bill Murray, with the single exception being that I have never actually had dinner with Bill Murray.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 10:57 AM on April 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

I don't know. It's impossible for me to hate Bill Murray. So what if Bill Murray were a sociopathic narcissist? Even if he were, he's still my sociopathic narcissist.
posted by saulgoodman at 11:39 AM on April 30, 2010 [3 favorites]

I knew a fellow named Dan Mirvish. Dan cofounded the Slam Dance festival, and studied film at USC, if I remember right. He had Harold Ramis as an adviser, because they would partner film students with filmmakers. And Dan asked Ramis: "Is there one thing I can do that would guarantee my film would be dramatically better than if I didn't do it?"

Ramis thought about it for a second, and then said "Cast Bill Murray."
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:44 AM on April 30, 2010 [8 favorites]

...I try not to have it cause me to chastise people with good taste.

Even when those people are telling you what you want, and it's something you definitely do not want? And what they're telling you to want is their taste, which you do not find good.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 11:58 AM on April 30, 2010

Ah, Bill. My nemesis. My nightmare. The greatest challenge of my life.

I met Bill at a cocktail party in the 70s. He'd only recently achieved fame along with the rest of the SNL lineup, but he was easily the most arrogant of the crew. This was saying something when you consider that Laraine Newman was standing on a table top screaming "I am the motherfucking Omega, you worthless shitbags!" and whipping people with her necklace. She had been very into Taoism at this point, so there you go.

Anyway, I remember Murray introducing himself to me in a normal enough manner. I had been speaking with Chevy Chase, who kept trying to explain to me why he had become a Black Panther. At some point, Bill interceded by telling Chevy that Lorne Michaels didn't see himself as a tool of the oppressor, and Chevy went off to set him aright. Bill was charming in his arrogance. I recall him saying to me, with all the egotism you can imagine in a statement like this, "Hi, I'm Bill. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Soon enough, we began to talk about our interests, small talk really. Bill had had, at the time, kind of a complex about the difficulty he'd had achieving even the modicum of recognition he'd gotten by then. It was a thing with him, all the people who had slighted him, or hadn't believed in his abilities. I remember he leaned close to whisper, "it's ok, though. I'll show them. I'll show them all." I don't remember fixating on that at the time. I must, somewhere in the back of my head, though, have filed it away as something to remember.

Because later that night, when the party was over, I remember following Bill as he drove off, and tracking him back to his lair. I say "lair," but it was mostly just an abandoned sewage treatment plant he had converted for his nefarious purposes. The security wasn't anything special, likely because he wasn't on anyone's radar as a threat, but with his newfound fame and fortune, you could tell he was already beginning to make improvements. The dogs with laser eyes were a nice touch.

Inside, I found him putting the finishing touches on what he called his "God Eater." I'm still not sure what it did. It was all arcing energies and pulsing nebulous unknowable materials. A huge thing. Stories tall, looked like it was designed by Tesla after he'd done acid with Jack Kirby. I swear to God, Kirby dots swirling around inside its gargantuan chambers.

Anyway, it was pretty clear that this was not meant to end world hunger. I don't do this anymore, having learned my lesson, but at the time I was young and naive so I tried reasoning with him first.

"Bill, you know this won't work. You know I can't let you do this. Why don't we do this the easy way and we'll just walk out of here and call the authorities, and nobody gets hurt." A cliche, I know. What can I say in my defense? I plead youthful indulgence.

You can guess what happened next. A loud noise, like a dog trying to pronounce the word "Zork!" and the smell of rotten eggs mixed with ash. Thankfully, Bill was, is and always will be a lousy shot. I had hoped it wouldn't come to violence. Ah well. That's why God made Hadoukens.

Something most people don't know about Bill Murray: Limber. Very limber dude. Even these days, he's always been spry as hell and able to leap out of the way of things. The blue fire was on target. I am always on target with that shit, but god damn if he didn't just dance out of the way like it was his partner in a samba.

Of course, it still hit the God Eater.

Now, explosions are no joke. You see in the movies how people jump in the air at the last second and the force of the explosion is powerful enough to knock them away but they get up with only a singed jacket or some shit, right? Fuck that. If you can get knocked away that powerfully, chances are you're getting your ass burned pretty badly, and the smoke rising dramatically from your backside is most likely the airborn remains of what was once the skin on your back. I barely got out of that inferno alive myself, and Bill was a good 20 feet closer to ground zero than I was. For a long time I thought he was dead. I really did. But that's the thing with Bill.

He'll never die unless it's funny.
posted by shmegegge at 12:07 PM on April 30, 2010 [12 favorites]

Even when those people are telling you what you want, and it's something you definitely do not want?

In this instance, yes. Sometimes you must be forcibly given medication, too. That's what we do as people -- we take charge when somebody is no longer looking out for themselves. It's called compassion.

Now get back in that room and finish watching Quick Change.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:43 PM on April 30, 2010

I love his comment when asked about whether "Ghostbusters 3" is happening with him in it: "No, it's ridiculous. That's an absolutely -- that's just a horrible rumor. It's like illegitimate children in Antarctica, it's ridiculous ..... Mind you, we only made two, and the first one was still the better one, so another one wouldn't seem to be any better."
posted by blucevalo at 12:58 PM on April 30, 2010

Bill Murray's a big tipper.

That may be, but he has lots of money, so it's not all that big for him. And he almost has to be a generous tipper: everyone is watching him and ready to add him to namedroppings like that "The 10 Best and 10 Worst Celebrity Tippers" list.

pracowity, since your argument can be applied to every celebrity of note, it is nonsensical.


Even when those people are telling you what you want, and it's something you definitely do not want? And what they're telling you to want is their taste, which you do not find good.

Kirth Gerson, would you say that this plate of beans looks more menacing like this, or when arranged into the profile of the great internet conspiriator, sharkfu?


Long live Bill Murray, and may he never be mistaken for a zombie, which could be dangerous.
posted by IAmBroom at 5:01 AM on May 1, 2010

If he was working with the Paris Gurdjieff group during the mid-eighties, that means he worked with Jeanne de Saltzmann. I realise that means nothing at all to almost everybody, but personally I'm impressed.
posted by Grangousier at 1:50 PM on May 1, 2010

Kirth Gerson, would you say that this plate of beans looks more menacing like this, or when arranged into the profile of the great internet conspiriator, sharkfu?

No, I wouldn't. You?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:01 PM on May 1, 2010

Another little video with Bill Murray.

"The video was recorded last spring, when Murray was at the lower Manhattan construction site for Poet's House. While the workers were on a break, Murray rounded them up and read a series of poems to them while interjecting his own commentary during the readings."

via Alison Nastasi @ Cinematical.com
posted by sharkfu at 3:24 PM on May 4, 2010