Bill Murray Shared Some Predictably Ridiculous Stories In His Latest Reddit AMA

What even is Bill Murray?

I mean, at one point he was a comedian. For decades, he was one of the most respected and beloved men on stage and screen. Now, he seems more like a walking collection of surreal stunts, absurd stories, and urban legends. This week he turned up to chat to Jimmy Kimmel inexplicably dressed as some kind of Shakespearean clown. Earlier this year, he said goodbye to David Letterman by jumping out of a cake and sporadically leading a chant through the streets of New York. And over the years, he’s dropped in to so many random parties and buck’s nights, there’s now a website solely dedicated to his many real (and imagined) sightings.

He is literally more myth than man.

Either way, today Murray jumped on Reddit for an AMA promoting his new film Rock The Kasbah and delivered some more fodder for the inevitable screwball biopic about his life.

Incidentally, this wasn’t all he did. When asked about the one role he never landed, he enthusiastically praised Australian director Peter Weir and said he had been gunning for Mel Gibson’s breakthrough role in 1982’s The Year Of Living Dangerously. Then, when questioned about the best and worst parts of being Bill Murray, he offered an uncharacteristically solemn assessment of fame: “It’s an obligation and you’re reminded you have to show up”. It’s an incredibly sobering thing to hear when you consider it’s coming from a 65-year-old man being carted through a relentless promo tour.

But, hell! That’s not what you’re here for. Here are some crazy stories your favourite whacky uncle told after downing “a bit of tequila”:

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That Time He Looked Like An Idiot In Front Of Andy Warhol

Knowing the comedian’s legendary history, one Redditor kicked things off by asking Murray about the best party he’s ever crashed. The answer did not disappoint:

“We crashed a famous party called the subway party to celebrate the premiere of Tommy, in the ’70s. It was Gilda Radner, [Jim] Belushi, Harold Ramis, Joe Flaherty, Brian Doyle Murray, and we were all plus ones, probably. It was the biggest party ever in NYC at the time. You couldn’t get into this party. It was an inner-circle thing. It was at an enclosed subway stop, it was a roar. It was a scream. If you made an airport movie with everyone on the plane is a celebrity, it was like that, times ten.

“We were doing a show in the restaurant cabaret and the guys catering were the same guys who gave us left over french fries, we went into the backdoor to the subway with everyone. Everyone saying hi, hello. And we felt like we didn’t belong at all. It was so fantastic.

“Now I have compassion when people say dumb stuff to me. I said to Andy Warhol, ‘I love the soup can’ and he looked at me like, ‘You don’t belong here’. What a time that was.”

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That Time He Was An Art-Loving Hooligan With Some Guy’s Dad

After decades of hearing endless stories from his dad about being best mates with Bill Murray in the ’70s, another guy decided to check out whether he was lying. Of course, as Bill Murray seemingly goes out of his way to be friends with everyone, the stories were true.

Yes, they did walk around New York together to find pink rolling papers and heart-shaped sunglasses. Yes, this guy’s dad has every reason to brag.

“Uh yes I know Tom, we called him Co back then cause he was a hipster. I sent someone looking for Co years ago. This person found him and he was running for office but the person I sent was not someone your father wanted to be affiliated with while running a campaign. He was a funny guy; if you’re his kid, you’re probably funny too. Tell your Dad to lay low, his past is gonna catch up with him.

“We got pulled over driving a car back in the days of rage in Chicago, when people pulled people over. Co had long hair and … we thought we were screwed. Co was driving the car and he handed the cop his driver’s license, the cop was so delighted … [he] enjoyed making fun of the hillbilly long hair.

“Here’s another one about Co. It’s almost the same story, but we were riding around in the middle of the night, and I think I was driving this time, and the cop pulled up. It was bad. I said, ‘Excuse me, we’re looking for the baseball bat?’ He paused and he backed up 2 steps, and looked at me real hard. ‘The Claes Oldenberg Baseball Bat: It’s over-sized, 150 feet tall’. So the cop says, ‘The Calder standing mobile, is in the city of Chicago building, and the Chagall painted windows are at the First National Bank’

“We thought we’d be beaten, and the idea of nine guys riding around looking for art installations… it was just funny.”

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That Time He Crashed An MC Hammer Concert

A totally normal response to a question about his favourite movie:

“You’re not supposed to have favorite children. The early ones were fun, when people weren’t as fussy. Maybe What About Bob. That was really fun. We were on a lake in Smith Mountain, Virginia. We took over a resort. Labor Day night was a brawl, and in the morning everyone was gone. We waterskiied on a full moon… it’s moonshine country there. The party would start at 5.45pm and be full-tilt at 6.08am.

“We crashed an MC Hammer concert. We were an hour from Roanoke. We had to find our way back to see the concert. I called CAA and said, ‘I want to see this show. I’m bringing people’. We hired a bus — 55 people who partied all the way to the place! We get there and bouncers are like, ‘Hey Bill! Aw, man… how many with you?’ They put us on the side of the stage.”

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That Time He Maybe Abducted A Traveling Mariachi Band

A totally normal response to a question about working with Wes Anderson:

“He doesn’t like to fly; he prefers ground travel. I’m telling you guys this… he came through and we worked in Santa Fe. We had to get down to this train. We met this Mariachi band: eight violins and a couple of big guitars. They were striking!

“They had a layover so I said, ‘OH COME ON, let’s get something to eat’. We got great Mexican food; we ate outdoors. Wes said, ‘I felt something funny when you opened the door’, and the whole train station just got filled with their music. They played to us as the train pulled away. We had someone else on the film get married, and we got this same bland all-women band to blast them with music.”

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Check out the full AMA over here.