The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned from a Mythical Man (2018) - full transcript

Subtitles by explosiveskull

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

Why would he do that?

That's just how the stories go.

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.

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 ♪

Bill is fun. When people see
him in interviews just being himself

the people around Bill
are having fun.

Who wants a T-shirt?

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 ♪

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?

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.

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.

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!

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.

Message canceled.

- Hello.
- Hello, is this Raheel?

Yeah, this is Raheel.

Cool, it's Tommy Avallone.
I was talking to you on email.

You took the Bill Murray
engagement photo, right?

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.

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.

- How are you doing, man? Tommy.
- Very nice to meet you.

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!

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.

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.

Bill Murray and I had
been friends for a little while.

We have some relationships
with his kids and my kids.

Who is that?

Ah, that's a fucking
reminder for me to be here.

I'm here. Let's do that again.

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.

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.

And took pictures
with everybody in there.

Took his time, made sure that
everyone had special attention.

Before you knew it,
Boom! Houdini, gone.

So why do you think these news
outlets have picked up on the story?

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?

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.

What a game!

Grand slam!

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.

Roker also show this goofy Video

of Murray playing
hairdresser with another fan.

Grand Slam!

What a memorable night!

And thanks to Bill Murray

a night this fan
will never forget.

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.

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."

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.

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...

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.

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

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.

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."

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.

- 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.

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?"

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.

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.

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.

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.

Awesome!

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.

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.

The very first
appearance at Comic Con

for Mr. Bill Murray.
Give it up!

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.

Oh-oh.

Hey, Bill Murray. I...

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."

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."

I don't know what
he was talking about.

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."

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."

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...

...by the Ghost Buster.

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.

- NO.
- 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.

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.

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.

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.

Hello, Bill.

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.

For message
press pound. For additional options

enter 8002, message sent.
Thank you for calling.

- Hi, man.
- What's up?

How are you?

Just tell me when the audio
is clear, man. I'll go...

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.

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."

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.

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.

Bill Murray in the
story of one man in the search for himself.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

I dwell in Possibility -
A fairer House than Prose -

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...

Tell them what your name is and
what your occupation is.

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.

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.

I heard somebody yell:
"Did your child just pick him up?"

It's Bill Murray.
You are kidding me!

- 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.

- You've met Bill?
- I've met Bill.

- Tell me how that went.
- Bill...

Are there times, you know, like
periods of your life where you feel like you

need to be woken up?
Or is it just...

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

So, one of the things Bill
tries to do is to really

just like have a jolt
that wakes people up.

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.

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.

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.

- I'm Bill, by the way.
- I'm Sam. Sam.

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 ♪

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.

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.

- Max.
- Good to meet you.

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.

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?

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.

Then everybody went to Denver.

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.

Let's keep that sense of: This is a
real moment happening in real time.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Subtitles by explosiveskull