Top 5 Bill Murray Moments

By Ned Hepburn on April 8th, 2009

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Bill Murray, we can all agree, is a talented performer. That’s an understatement. That’s like saying Jimi Hendrix “could play pretty good”. Bill Murray is the high water mark for high brow low brow comedy.

Dude got his start, amazingly, in Los Angeles, a fact that’s often glossed over given how synonymous he is with New York (due to Ghostbusters). After training at Second City, Bill moved to LA and started some guerilla style video projects which are increasingly rare to find (if you’ve got them, send them this way, because Manolith HQ started collectively salivating at the mouth when I brought up his guerilla video projects). It was around this time that he did the original filming of Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas, aptly titled Where The Buffalo Roam.

So rather than post the same ol’ clips from Caddyshack and what not, here’s some under appreciated moments gleamed off of Youtube.

5. Murray Vs. Vinton

Watch as Bill Murray silently hates on Bobby Vinton. It’s all in the facial expressions.

4. Kingpin Showdown

A clip from the actually-not-that-bad 1996 movie Kingpin. Bill squares off against Woody Harrelson in this bowling comedy. Check out the bowling ball with the rose in it.

3. Wired In Rant

A rare, rare clip from 1982. This is an string of takes for a promo for a show called Wired In. This shows him at his best, just riffing. This is 7 minutes of takes, so bear with some repetition. This is basically Murray being Murray, trying to get the take, and watching him try and get to that “a-ha!” moment is half the fun.

2. Murray as Hunter S. Thompson

Bill Murray as Hunter S Thompson from this clip from Where The Buffalo Roam. To be played in juxtaposition with our next clip. Bill’s performance in this movie would later be one upped by Johnny Depp’s vitriolic performance as Dr Raoul Duke in the 90’s version of “Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas”, but personally, I think this one, a mesh between Murray and Thompson, comes off more human.

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And finally, “what would you do if the world was going to end tomorrow?”. Probably his most natural performance, it shows that he can fit in in a romantic setting as well as surrealist Hunter S Thompson material without changing his personal style too much at all. In a world of character actors hyping up performances with fake noses (I’m looking at you, Nicole Kidman), it’s good to have a real personality like Mr Murray reminding us that being an extension of yourself is sometimes the realest performance one can make.

(Photo By: DKaz)