Bill Murray is a known badass. While he's famous for his talent as an actor and comedian, more people have come to love Bill Murray for the weird, awesome stories surrounding him. From stories on the set to sightings in random Karaoke clubs and even crashing a stranger's family photo, here some of his most legendary moments.
1. Bill Murray crashed a bachelor party full of complete strangers
Over Memorial Day weekend 2014, a handful of guys from Boston College were in Charleston, SC, for a bachelor party when Bill Murray just waltzed right up to offer some words of wisdom to the groom.
A friend of the groom reported: "At one point during dinner at a steakhouse, one guy goes to the bathroom downstairs and sees Bill Murray sitting with some people with a fishing vest on. We talked to the waiter to see if we could send him some drinks, to which Bill declined. One of my buddies then went down and asked if he'd come up and say a few words for EJ and got a 'No thanks.' My buddy comes back up dejected and tells us it's not going to happen. Two minutes later, Bill f*cking Murray walks into the room and gives this speech."
Murray says to the group, "You know how they say funerals are for the dead, not for the living? Bachelor parties are not for the groom, they're for the unmarried."
He then goes on to give sound advice to the rest of the group who hasn't gotten engaged yet. "If you have someone that you think is The One, take that person and travel around the world. Buy a plane ticket for the two of you to travel all around the world, and go to places that are hard to go to and hard to get out of. And when you land at JFK, and you're still in love with that person... get married."
Then, Bill Murray hoists the groom up on his shoulders.
Check out the video here:
2. That time he crashed someone's engagement photos.
In May, 2014, wedding photographer Raheel Gauba was out on a photo shoot with Erik Rogers and Ashley Donald, when suddenly the expressions on their faces went from candid to pure shock. Gauba told The Post and Courier: "I thought who the heck is bothering them? I turn around and it's Bill Murray with his shirt up, belly out, tapping his belly and trying to make them laugh."
Gauba invited Murray over to pose with the young couple for a few shots, to which he obliged, and then took off.
3. Bill Murray Accidentally Stars in Garfield
So, Bill Murray receives the Garfield script one day and sees the name "Joel Cohen" attached to it. He believes it's the famed director of Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, and No Country for Old Men Joel Coen (no H, you see). Academy Award-winning Joel Coen.
When actually, it was...
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According to Esquire magazine, Murray says: "I looked at the script, and it said, 'So-and-so and Joel Coen.' And I thought: Christ, well, I love those Coens! They're funny. So I sorta read a few pages of it and thought, Yeah, I'd like to do that."
Then he saw the movie. And only AFTER that did he realize that it wasn't Joel Coen, but Joel Cohen. No Fargo, No Country for Old Men or Big Lebowski no, this one was Daddy Day Camp (the sequel to Daddy Day Care), Evan Almighty, and Cheaper By the Dozen Joel Cohen.
"I kept saying, 'Who did this? What the f**k was Coen thinking?' And then they explained it to me: It wasn't written by that Joel Coen."
Ahhhhh... classic Bill Murray.
4. Bill Murray Does Karaoke with Complete Strangers
A group of friends go out to have a few drinks at a bar called Karaoke One 7 in New York City. Mike, the guy who reported this story to authorities, notices a couple of women who have just walked in with a guy that looks just like Bill Murray... because he IS Bill Murray.
After they do the good ol' "celebrity confirmation", the group proceeds to invite Bill Murray into their karaoke room.
15 minutes later, Bill Murray knocks on their door.
Bill Murray and the girl he's with notably from Amsterdam sing a bunch of French songs and buy everyone these weird green drinks made with Chartreuse. After these, Bill Murray himself sings an Elvis song with Mike and the group, of course, takes a bunch of photos.
5. Bill Murray Reads Poetry to Construction Workers
We all need a little art in our lives sometimes, to keep us inspired. But it doesn't usually come in the middle of a work day - especially when you're a construction worker! But, leave it to Bill Murray to change that.
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During construction of the Poet's House, a library in Manhattan, Bill Murray stops by to read poems to the construction workers who are working on the building. In the middle of reading, he says, "It gets worse. If you want to take a sick day, do it now." Workers laugh and take photos with their cell phones.
You can watch the full reading in this video:
6. Bill Murray Pairs Up with Blonde Girl in Foreign Country... Goes to Party
One evening after a golf tournament in St. Andrews, Bill Murray decides to go out and explore the city.
He's out for drinks with fellow golfers when he meets young a beautiful blonde Nordic woman named Lykke Stavnef, who is there with her friend Marie Bergene and who, naturally, invites him to a party.
Bill Murray (in typical Bill Murray fashion) says yes.
When they show up, no one can believe that 22-year-old Stavnef has brought him to a house party. She's concerned that there are not enough clean dishes there, so Bill Murray actually decides to start washing dishes. Everyone is amused when he
cleans some dishes so that people can drink, but even more charmed when he happily accepts drinking vodka out of a coffee mug.
Before he leaves, he finishes cleaning the feet-high dishes pile left by the college students, then heads back to his hotel.
7. Bill Murray Gets Drunk and Drives a Golf Cart
One day, Bill Murray had a few drinks and thought, Hey, I'm not going to get into a car because drunk driving isn't cool. But you know what I COULD do? Golf cart.
Yep. That's right.
Bill Murray is caught driving a golf cart down the streets of Stockholm, Sweden on his way back from a fancy nightclub less than a mile away from his hotel. He is with several other VIPs who are in town for a golf tournament and who stumbled upon these golf carts, which were on display near their hotel. Authorities say this is the first time they have ever seen anything like this.
Now, the great part of this story isn't that he wow'ed a hotel manager, or even that he zipped around on a golf cart. The great part of this story is that
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Bill Murray illustrates the fact that he's the type of guy who will see something he wants, knows he can afford any of the consequences of his actions financially, and just goes ahead and takes it. He can pretty much do anything he wants, he knows it, and he's having an absolutely amazing time with it.
When police accost him to take a breath test, he cites American law and refuses but he later admits to them that he was, indeed, driving under the influence. Way to own up, big guy!
8. Bill Murray Throws A Bottle And Gives a Offensive (kind of) Eulogy
Bill Murray was really great friends with comedy great and "Saturday Night Live" star John Belushi at the time of Belushis death. Belushi lived in excess and was known for doing a lot of disgusting things and for making everyone laugh doing them. It was part of his comedic craft.
So, after Ghostbusters, Bill Murray got the go-ahead to make his pet project a film called The Razors Edge based on W. Somerset Maughams 1944 novel. It's about a disillusioned World War I vet, Larry Darrell, who travels the globe to find the meaning of life. Murray says he only really did Ghostbusters so that Columbia Pictures would allow him to make this picture.
He did, and it was met with some critical acclaim, but an overall box office failureexcept one gem of a scene where a character is eulogized. Given that this film was made a little after John Belushis death, Bill Murray decided to...
use the eulogy in his film, which he co-wrote, to say goodbye to his dear friend John:
"He was a slob. Did you ever see him eat? Starving children could fill their bellies on the food that ended up on his beard and clothes. Dogs would gather to watch him eat. I never understood gluttony, but I hated it I hated that about you. He enjoyed disgusting people, being disgusting, that thrill of offending people and making them uncomfortable. He was despicable. He will not be missed."
Murray then explained why he eulogized Belushi in such a fashion, "It comes from this old Persian thing where if somebody dies you tell horrible stories about him. Thats what I did when John died What it does is remind you not to get sentimental. You say, That guy was a rat, and Im a rat too, and Id better do something about it rather than weep my life away."
9. Bill Murray Thinks Autographs Are Boring, Decides to Spice it Up
Like most celebrities, Bill Murray isn't a fan of being bothered for his autograph. Unlike most celebrities, it's because he finds it too impersonal.
One day, Bill Murray is doing a shoot for a guy, and that guy's friend asks him for an autograph. Instead of just writing his name on a piece of paper, Bill gives them...
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something better. He films an entire slow motion walk down the hall with all the guys la Wes Anderson, and they later make a short film about it called, appropriately, 'A Film About Walking In Slow Motion.'
New {fake} Trailer from David Walton Smith on Vimeo.
10. Bill Murray Surprise Bartends at Shangri-La at SXSW
Bill Murray has a lot of talents. He's a hilarious comedian, great actor and writer, and an all around awesome guy (as evinced by all these stories). But one thing that nobody saw coming was his sudden interest in bartending.
This story begins when Bill Murray attends Austin's SXSW festival and hands out with Wu-Tang Clan, you know, as one does.
But then it gets a whole lot wilder. All of them decide they'd like to go out for the night, so they show up at the bar Shangri-La. Bill Murray decides he'd like to make his bartending debut and in typical Bill Murray fashion, it has to be right then and there. So, he weasels himself behind the bar and
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takes over (how? we're not entirely sure). Not only does he serve people their drinks, he insists that everyone only drink shots of tequila. No matter what anyone went up to order, he would turn around and pour them a shot of tequila.
Rum and Coke? Tequila! Gin & Tonic? Tequila! Water? Try this tequila!
11. Bill Murray Accepts Someone's Invitation To Their Birthday Party
Marvin Larry Reynolds, of Jedburg, South Carolina, was celebrating his birthday Saturday night, and his wife Julie "invited Murray to attend the party and celebrate his own birthday." Murray turned 64 on the Sunday.
By this point, are you even surprised at what happened next? Of course, Bill Murray showed up.
But he didn't just sit quietly in the corner. Chef Brett McKee, a friend of Murray's, was catering the party and snapped shots of Bill Murray dancing with everyone, especially his beautiful choreography to "Turn Down For What."
Here, he can be seen dancing around in some random living room.
"He doesn't care," McKee told the Post and Courier of Murray. "To him, he's just a regular dude."
12. A woman named Kelly Rose shared this personal account of her adventures with Bill Murray...
The summer I was 11 years old, I looked about 8 and was habitually forced to attend Hudson Valley Renegades baseball games with my family every Friday night. Unbeknownst to my 11-year-old-Ghost-buster-loving-self, Bill Murray was part owner of this minor league baseball team.
One August Friday they were giving out Bill Murray bobbleheads as a gag and, much to everyones surprise, he actually showed up. Bill ended up sitting right behind me and I wanted to say hi so bad, but the people in my section were warned not to make a big deal out of it and let him pay attention to the game.
I decided that the best loophole was to get him to pay attention to ME, so I furrowed my brow and looked directly at him, apathetically wiggling my bobblehead. Within two minutes he caught sight of this, locked eyes with me, and started wiggling his own head in tandem with the bobble head.
After what felt like a good while, my father looks at me, then double takes because Billy and I are intently bobbling at each other. He loudly announces that I have to stop bothering Mr. Murray, to which Mr. Murray replied Oh shes alright and gave me what I can only describe as a noogie.
That was the best baseball game of MY LIFE.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.