Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Bill Murray

Episode Date: April 15, 2018

When the one and only Bill Murray comes calling for interview, you drop everything to make it happen. In the first episode of "Sunday Sitdown," Willie Geist meets up with the legendary actor on a moment’s notice to talk about his days on Saturday Night Live, his epic movie career, and everything in between, including the infamous 1-800 phone number he uses to connect with Hollywood. Even Wes Anderson, who directed Murray’s latest film “Isle of Dogs,” has to leave a message for him there, and they’ve worked on eight movies together. Murray opens up to Willie about his decision to live outside the spotlight, besides crashing a party every now and then. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, it's Willie Geist, and you have just clicked on a piece of podcast history. That's right. This is the very first episode, first ever, of our podcast Sunday Sit Down, where we bring you the full-length interview from our Sunday sit-down interviews on my show Sunday today on NBC. We take the full deal. On TV, we get to give you about seven or eight minutes of an hour-long conversation. On this podcast, you're going to get every last word of what we said sitting down. with some of the biggest stars, the biggest CEOs, presidents of the United States on the planet. So, our first episode, and I can't even believe I'm saying this out loud, but it's the truth, comes from our two-year anniversary, which we've just celebrated. It is Bill Murray. Bill Murray, the great Bill Murray, the legendary actor, the elusive actor, the myth, the legend, the man who turns up at people's weddings and bachelor parties and slides into their wedding pictures and throws out random first pitches at ball games

and throws old ladies into sand traps at golf tournaments. Bill Murray, Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day. I could go on and on and on. So the way this worked is, Bill doesn't have a publicist. So you call this number. He's got a pager. And if he wants to call you back, whoever you are, by the way, he will call you back.

If he doesn't, he won't. His latest movie is with Wes Anderson, a guy he's worked with eight times. Wes Anderson has to page the guy. And if he wants to be in the movie, he'll call Wes back. He says he always does want to call Wes back. The latest one is called Isle of Dogs. It's one of those stop animation movies that Wes Anderson does so well,

getting great reviews. And so Bill Murray a couple of weeks ago walked into the Today Show Green Room and said, hey, I want to do that Willie Geist show. And they said, oh, okay. We hadn't heard back from it. He was like, no, yeah, I think I want to do that show. So literally Bill Murray summoned me to his hotel here in New York City. We got together.

We sat down the thrill of an interviewer's lifetime. And we began talking about that movie, I Love Dogs. Let's talk about your movie. Okay. You've done eight, I think it is, with Wes Anderson. I don't know. Something like that. I've done a bunch.

What was it about this one? What was it about this one, the movie? Yeah, what was it about it that attracted you to the party? To him or this job? This particular movie. By this time, he just calls and says, he just leaves, sends a message, says, will you be available the first week in February? You know, that's all.

It's like, it's like Mission Impossible if you choose to accept. So, he said, would you be available the first week in January in February when I'm back it was? Is there any universe where you say, you know what, Wes, I can't do this one, or is it an automatic yes for him? It's an automatic yes. I mean, I mean, I can't, no, there's no, I mean, there's no, I mean, there's probably a universe. I mean, that's the whole thing about the universe. There's so many worlds.

You know, there's probably one that's crypt, you know, bizarre world, you know, like Superman's place where everything's upside down. But, no, it's just, he's made making movies his life, you know, and he lived, he, and making movies is a joy, you know, it's fun to be with someone that's making movies, making movies his life. When you enter that world, you know, that universe, It's like here, you're just, you're at sort of warp speed, you all of a sudden everything just accelerates. It's like everything we're doing is about this job, and everything is focused and intentional about that job.

And, you know, it's kind of fun. I mean, we've done some really fun things. It makes it kind of like a dormitory kind of living. Sometimes when we were in a house, and a bunch of us were in one house. We, sorry, we had a, we did a, in the Grand Budapest Hotel, we were in this town. which is escaping me, on the Polish-German border. And we literally took over a hotel, an old small hotel, you know, small. And it was like the actor's retirement home.

People would sort of pad down in their pajamas and their rubs. And coffee, you'd have some coffee. And, you know, the lobby was ours. So there was no sort of lobby. And the one side was what the coffee shop was. And the other side was wear makeup, and morning makeup. Morning, yeah, morning. It was like the retirement home.

And it was so funny just coming down the stairs and slippers and stuff. People wearing slippers, you know. And we had the bar across the street was open all the time, literally all the night. And it's freezing cold, like an insanely cold place. And you'd just kind of wake up in the middle of the night and you're like, man. And you'd walk over. And someone would be able to like, because everyone was jet lag coming from California or New York or something. So it'd always be someone over there drinking like hot water.

They're like 3 3 in the morning and be like Bill, you know, like that. It's like completely normal that you'd be going out to drink wine at 3 3 3 in the morning. Is that a West thing? Does he foster that or is that the kind of set you like to be? Well, not the alcoholism. No, we're all responsible for that. The communal element of it? But yeah, the communal part of it.

And like in Newport, we had like we lived in one else's old mansion. We had like a bunch of people in the cutting rooms on the downstairs floor and how to cook, you know. you know, which is kind of a savage thing. You know, you think it's cool, like, oh, we got to cook. You know, you're going to eat some good food. No, it means that you can keep shooting until 8.30 at night. Say, oh, we're getting dinner tonight. We're getting some special meal, right.

11.30 at night, you're having dinner. Right. Oh, right, right. That's what they keep you in there, right? It was kind of cruel. It was kind of cruel. They're going to design prisons that way someday. The white-collar prisons will be that way.

How do you describe not the same? that and the way you interact with the other actress, but cinematically, the Wes Anderson thing, whatever it is. What draws you to it? Well, you know, it starts with the script, of course, and the design of it is, you know, that's, he really has, you know, just dived into the world of making films and the look of films. And the history of it. So, um, the, um, the, um, the The first time I read, it's an old story, but they're always bugging me to meet this guy, meet this guy.

And you gotta see this movie, he made Bottle Rocket. So it was back when there were VCRs, and people were sending me VCRs. I have the largest collection of videotaped VCRs of Bottle Rocket in the world. Because the only people kept sending me, I've still never seen the movie. So, and finally someone sends me a script, and I was like, okay. They said, well, you want to meet him? I said, no. What time, what time when were I wear, you know?

That was it. It was it. You look at the script and you go, okay, this guy knows exactly what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. And it had been a long time since I read a script like that where you went, oh boy, this guy knows exactly what he's doing. Everything was very clear all the directions were right there, not an extra word in the script. I don't think, I mean, I'm used to throwing in lots of extra.

stuff because there's usually things that are missing so are just little pieces you know they're missing sort of but it was I mean I said very little that did very little in that movie except what was there so he's good so but the design element I don't you know he's got you know this wonderful cameraman Bob Yelman who's great you know he's just a lot of fun he's also from Wilmot Illinois really yeah he's from Wilmot Illinois and cradle of greatness and we can talk basketball all night long with him too. We were on a life aquatic. You know, I kind of went big time on it. Actually, you can imagine what it's like to get a TV in Italian, right? And so to get the Cubs game in Italian,

we actually had to hire a satellite dish on a little wagon that followed us around Italy while. Is that right? And we were watching it in, what's at Naples, you know, right over like in the harbor there when the apartment incident happened. And he and I were in the room Then we had to go back down. And you know, Naples, it's such a crazy town. Have you ever been there? Yeah, yeah. Well, like, it's like, it makes the most dangerous place

you've been seem absurd. It's almost a cartoon. Like, people try to rob you. I mean, I would try to rob you. Like, the guy was sitting right there and just try, he just look at you go, you know, reach for your wallet. It's this crazy.

I mean, like small kids try to, like, carjack my little motor scooter. When I'm on it, I'm, are you kidding? Are you really kidding me? Trying to get carjacked when a couple of kids chasing after me. I said, run. Come on, run, catch it. It's just funny criminal town. And you go down there, and the crime meant nothing.

You know, there were people doing stuff, roaming, everything. So animated movies, I'm always interested in everyone's take on these because some people say it is like acting in a way. Other people like Chris Rock says, I show up in my sweatpants, I read the thing somebody wrote for me, and I get a check on the way out the door. It's his favorite thing to do. How do you view animated movies? Well, not exactly.

Well, you can show up in your sweatpants, that's for sure. But I've had only a couple of, I've had a few experiences and some of them are just savage. I had a, I was in the Jungle Book, I got to sing, and the Jungle Book was, what's to say, John Faber was funny, you know, it's like, I don't, I'm supposed to be a bear. You know, I don't know, what was a bear sound like? What was a bear sound like, you know? We had this, a little bit of a conversation. He heard me like my first bass, and he went,

so you're sort of like a northern Illinois bear. You know? I think he thought I was gonna growl or something, I don't know, I didn't have it. I was like, I'm sorry, Johnny, that's what I got. So eventually he came to like it, I think, but I got to sing with Kermit Ruffin and these, like Dr. John and these insane New Orleans guys.

He got to actually sing with these guys. and that was really that made a career kind of thing that was like okay now that's cool okay now I've done something so that was really a lot of fun I did the Garfield movies

which were like just one crazier than the next I did two of them and they were that's a long story of like you know it's madness but is the story true about you signing up for that movie thinking it was a different director

I thought it was, yeah, it's true. It's absolutely true. And I didn't really read the script. I was like, you know, I'd love to do it. I'd try one of these animated movies. It'd kind of fun. You know, and I'm looking at go, Joel Cohen, one of my favorites. I mean, the Cohen brothers, these guys make great movies.

Well, you know, I never, it was kind of blurry, and it was one of those times. And it wasn't that Joel Cohen. It was a different Joel Cohen. There's an H in the one you signed before. Yeah, I signed up with the guy with the, with the Ellis Island spelling or something. I don't know what. But I got that going. And it was a really troubled kind of a production.

It's a long story, I'll tell you. So they'd shot the movie before they did any of the cat stuff. They shot the whole movie, which is kind of like a backwards way to do it. And I went to work. They got my friend Bobby Greenhut to be like a sort of a producer guy. just to get me to work or something like that, I think. And so I started working on it, and the script was, you know, I had, I began rewriting the script basically and going,

well, how can you do this? And looking at the shots and everything's already shot and there's like this little gray creature, and that's I, that's what I'm supposed to be. So I was trying to fix this thing. And I mean, I broke an insane sweat. I worked an entire day and got through with one reel. Just 10 minutes a movie 10 minutes a movie that because you had to go like well you can't say you know I had to rewrite everything and jamged everything

It was really hard and I looked at the second real and we got to the second real and they showed me the first time I was like Jesus Hold on you are you better show me the whole thing So they showed me the whole movie I sat there and watched the whole movie and it was an absolute it was insane. I said Who cut this movie that guy's Give me his name. We've got to find him, and we've got to kill him, so he doesn't do this ever again.

And I didn't realize that one of these guys behind the glass was the editor of the movie. He quit the movie that night. Did he really? Yeah, he quit the movie. He didn't come back again. And it was just a savage butcher job. But I said, I can fix this,

but it's going to take a long time. I mean, because it was really a mess. Did you think what have I got myself into here with the Garfield movie? Yeah, it was what I've got myself into. And so the next day that like so there was a set of golf clubs there for me you know because they knew it was a mess someone was a mess right so it took a long time it took like three different sessions of going okay did all of it and then it said okay and then doing

it again it took months I mean I was in Italy doing some of it I was in you know I said okay well they would go in because they kept they're always creating and animating all the time so I said okay let's do it again and you go oh God, I can, you know. Anyway, that was a mess. Who knew that much had to go into the Garfield movie? That bad movie was a mess. And then I said, just do me a favor and don't do that again.

Don't shoot the movie first before you do that. Right. And they did it again. They did the very same thing again. And that one was really, and the first one really made a lot of money. It made a whole lot of money. Yeah. So how was...

But that was, I don't know. I'm going off. No. I just love to go crazy in those guys. And then they did it again, and it was really bad. And then that one, how insane. I mean, they were, no, you're never going to use any of stuff, so. Web Extra.

Yeah. So the next one, I was working with another guy who'd never directed a movie before. It was like, I don't know where they find these people, but he was directing it. And they'd made it, someone had made a movie that had lots of talking animals in it. And so that was the Vogue. And so, unbeknownst to me, the head of studio, Fox and giving me Tom something, monster. So I'm working with this editor and it's another one where, oh my God, this director, he said, this is just who did this?

Who did this? And I was working in the editing room, not just doing the voices, and cutting the movie, trying to fix this movie. And I would work like long, long hours. And sometime around 3.30 in the afternoon, the director would say, I got to go now. I got to go, I got to go, I got to go take a meeting. I'm going, okay, whatever. And he would go, he was going to this guy, Tom,

who was cutting the movie a completely different way. At the same time, I was working all day long making this thing trying to, they were, that was the end of that one. They killed the franchise with that one because that movie was really bad. Really bad. Not that you've thought about it much,

but it feels like you've been thinking about this one. What, about Garfield? No, it's just a funny thing. And I did have a funny, I had a, in Zombie Land, they said, any regrets? I said, eh, Garfield. So people would call me on that one, they go, Garfield. All right, you guys don't want to hear this much. They want to hear everything.

Garfield fans. But then, but then I made the two with West, which were great. Yeah. So as bad as those were, the one with West, the previous one, the fantastic Mr. Fox. First, we did the first take on our friend's farm, and we were like in the, in the, the barn doing this. We were in culverts inside of tanks down by the waterfall, just all these natural places doing the recording of the thing. Then the next one he calls us, well, I'm over in London, you've got to come over here for five days and work. So you go over there. It turns out

it's about an hour's work and the rest of the time you're just clowning around. Then about a couple months later, it's like, oh, you've got to come over to Paris. I'm in Paris. Same thing. About an hour's work. And then we're in Paris for like another one. That's not a bad deal. It's good. He's it figured out but this one was bad we only had one session two sessions here in New York and that was all we did I thought well it's a Japanese movie where we you know Hokkaido or someplace for a reshoot where's the trip yeah where's my boarding pass so that didn't happen on this one so you famously have the 1-800 number that people call if they want to get in touch with you yeah we know you always

answer if it's Wes what does it take to get you to call back somebody who leaves a message on that what are you looking for to move well you know you want manners you really do want you guys got to be manners involved you know and just the way people talk is different you know you can tell right away when you know no it's like mail you know you can look at it it used to be like there was mail and then there was mail right and now they spent a lot of time disguising mail to make it look like it's male when it's really just a solicitation you know and you can get fooled every once in a while and they're like it got me

It looked like it was a wedding invitation, and it was an opportunity to get a discount on pillows. Is there any consideration of getting a phone, getting a phone number where people can reach you? Well, you have to get a, if you have children, you end up having to be able to send messages to your children. They will not answer a phone call, but they will respond to messages. You've got to be able to figure out how to send them a message. So you do have a phone? Yeah. But for kids only?

Well, people get on it. And well, kids are in friends, really. You're my favorite, you know. It's just, it's, isn't it fun to say, Who gave you this number? I just love to say, who gave you this number? Who gave you this number? I can't tell you that.

Okay. I'll let you go. Which is a great California expression, which I love. Okay. I'm on the phone with people, and they really want to hang up on the other. All right, I'll let you go. California is good for something.

And that alone is, it's like Woody Allen said, the only thing in California did it was right turn on red light. That's right. It was the greatest thing they ever did until this, I'll let you go, I think. Has this always been your way of doing business, the phone number? Like when you were coming up in the business, were you more accessible? No, I used to have an Asian. I had Ovitz.

I had Mike Ovitz. He was the greatest Asian of all time. Yeah. He was spectacular. He, really, I mean, my children's children will go to college, thanks to him, you know. But when did you decide he didn't need it anymore? Well, he quit the business and then it got a little disheveled.

It got a little disorganized. I remember they said, okay, I have a job that was going to start a movie and they said, yeah, it starts next week. I mean, great, you know, in Calgary. Calgary, Calgary. We were making this movie in Southern California, I thought. Calgary's a long ways away. I love Calgary.

Nice place, pretty. And the Stampede is awesome. You ever go to the Stampede? That's cool. One of the few things that's under-rated. My family's from up there. We've done the Stampede. That's really good.

But commuting with kids, when you've got to go back and forth, the Calgary is really bad. It was really hard. that's the kind of thing that happened two times and the second time it was like and then a movie that was going to be made in New York they said in the same thing like we're starting in four days in Toronto I'm like what you're telling you're telling me I am going to have to go through customs 75 times or 76 times I got to go through customs 76 times to go to work on this job that's how I'm not done

So that's when I put it. Four days before, you said... It was like that. It was like what? They got a little disorganized. So at that point you realized that you let me run this myself? Yeah. And they also have...

Pardon me, I don't know what I'm calling, but... It's all the pollen coming down with the snow. And they have people in that business where it'll be like, get me Willie Geist. And so someone calls Willie Geist. Right. And the phone... And they have no other...

the thing to do until Willie Gehys picks up the phone, so the phone will ring 150 times. I'm not exaggerating. I mean, just ring for minutes. And you're gonna go, well, they're gonna hang up sometime. And finally you just pick it up and say, who is this? Hi, is he in for Dennis? You know, whatever they say, no, and not going to be.

You know, it's infuriating. It's my house, you know. And you say, I'll let you go. I'll let you go. That was before I'll let you go. I had other words then. I had other words that I'd learned. It was not good.

So is that a, you've been known as a pre-private guy, right? You like to have your life not be part of the public thing. Is that a concerted thing that you like to keep? Well, I mean, you know, your life is, nowadays, your life is sort of documented by every person with a cell phone camera. everywhere you go, you know, people want to take a picture, you know, or something, or they're videotaping you without you're knowing it, you know, while you're eating your food. But, so, yeah, anything you can do to push back, you know, the walls a little bit.

You know, I was always curious about people that, you know, they have a sort of a celebrity life. They either become total maniacs or they end up in my mind. Montana with barbware, you know, with thousands of yards of barbware between themselves and the outside world. So I try to split the difference with that. I mean, that's too much work. But I don't know, it's, you can't be afraid of it. You know, you can't really be afraid of it. And yet you can't just jump into it, dive into it. You've got to, you have to keep some sort of balance or you're going, you'll go nuts. Are you aware, Bill, of the mythology that surrounds you, that there are

websites about your exploits showing out the bachelor parties there's a documentary coming out trying to verify all the stories about you yeah and they want me to be in it I'm like I don't what documentary about myself I think I'll wait till after I'm dead but do you realize that there's a Bill Murray thing like he might turn up at your wedding and do it a picture right and I get a lot of wedding invitation but yeah it's you know I don't know what to make of it it's I'm not there's no plan there I don't have, that wasn't my plan.

You know, it's kind of, kind of, it feels kind of nice, you know, you know, people like like you, whatever, but, you know, I'm just, there's no plan. You know, there's not a plan that I can't, because this exists, this kind of thing exists now, I can't, like, okay, well, I've got, gee, I've got to work on my mythology stuff this afternoon, you know, it's like, you can't, you can't, like, oh, Jesus, what am I doing about my myth? What am I doing about the myth today? It's not like that, you know. It's just... But what goes through your mind? Let's say there's a couple taking wedding pictures in Charleston, South Carolina.

You see him over there. You could keep walking. Nobody would notice you. When you drop in on those photos, what are you thinking? Well, that kind of a thing is like you just look and you go, oh my God, there's two people that are in love, really in love. And there's a difference. There's people that are getting married.

and there's people that are in love. Those people were in love. And it's extraordinary just to get in the space of them, you know, into the thing of it. And I wasn't thinking, oh, let me just jump into your, let me photo bomb your wedding, your engagement pictures. I was like, God, look at you, look at you. They were just a lit.

They were lit. And I knew the people in the hall hole in the house, too. And they told me, they're like, oh, God, there's people taking the people. their picture on our porch on our steps again and who was it oh it's bill you know they were going to kick them up but that's got to feel good to be the guy who when he shows up it's kind of fun it's exciting and happy yeah it's fun it's fun to just drop in you know that i i've read this thing once like in thibet like when someone's in love they make them wear a bell so that people don't

because people will fall in love with people that are in love, and it's dangerous, you know, kind of dangerous. So they make them wear a belt, so they don't, okay, DefCon, four, when this person. But it's fun to drop in like that, and the same, you know, but you don't want it to change the event. You know, you don't want it to change it. And like, oh, you don't want to be about you.

It's just sort of fun to jump on those things every once in a while. But that is their story forever. Do you show up at a bachelor party? Bill Murray was there. That sort of stuff happens. You know, and it's not, it's just sort of being free enough to say this is, this looks funny. You know, bachelor parties are funny. You know, and sometimes the batch party assaults you kind of thing, but they're, they're funny

because there's someone who's going, you know, it's not exactly the, you know, the, the guillotine, you know, but one of us is going to get this head cut off tomorrow, you know, and one of us is. One of us is on the block, you know, and that's going to be different tomorrow. His life's going to change completely tomorrow. You know, it's like they have a child, your life changes completely forever. There is this perception that you kind of float through life, that you answer that phone when you want to, you take the jobs, you want to, you drop in, you make people happy at random events.

Is that, you're not self-conscious, you know who you are, is that an accurate description of you? Well, I'm not conscious. Fair enough. That's probably it. That's a fair one. I'm not conscious. I just, like, some celebrities, as well known as you are, live in a world where they're in a bubble and they don't go out into the world.

That's true. And it's, I don't know if they're saving themselves for their work or they're saving themselves for themselves, you know, which maybe that's all right, too. you know that's um i just for me i need to collide with things you know i need to collide with things and um and and the you know i don't know how to explain it but of like the smartest guy i knew said okay that the moment when you know you are recognized when in that moment of hey that's you that's where your work will be that's where your real work will be and like what happens then and a lot of things happen in that moment where sometimes you're just daydreaming you know and you're gone you're a million miles away and someone and even though it's

they you're just awakened it's like a shock someone calls you on yourself you know it calls you on yourself you know and you got to come back you have to return to oh here I am again so that's a lot of things a lot of different kind of things can happen in the moment too where you can react automatically and you see yourself react automatically, you can do the kinds of things that get you into it, out of it, make it worse, exacerbate it. Sometimes it's irritating.

It can be like 3 o'clock in the morning, and you really don't want to, you don't really want to engage with anyone. You can be having a really hard day. You can be something terrible hard, can be having your life, and all of a sudden you get this thing. Like, ah, mm-hmm, huh. So the floating part of it,

is there is a kind of a okay what am I going to do here and not be self-conscious and be and just sort of be what would it what would an ordinary what would you do in the situation that would be a natural thing to do what would be natural behavior in a situation you know it's not a plan but you know you try to be as natural as you can you try to really relax you know you try to sort of bring yourself back into your skin and and see if you can negotiate, you know, see the past, go inner life and, you know, make it, make a moment, just elevate a little bit, just elevate something.

So you play, you were back at SNL a few weeks ago, playing Steve Bannon. Steve Bannon. Doing a spoof of my show, by the way, Morning Joe. Did you like it? It was excellent. The Willie Geist was just okay, but we can get into that later. What does it feel like for you to be back in that building, back on that show, 40, years after you first walked in there?

Well, like you say, you feel comfortable. You know what you're doing. I mean, I used to know everyone's name and face, and now there's a whole, you know, there's obviously all the crew is gone. There's only one person left from the original crew, and he wasn't there. He'd gone home early that day.

Phil Hines, who's, I think he's 90 something. Oh, right. And he's a pistol. Right. Is he lighting? Billethe? Yeah, he's a lighting guy. Yeah, he's a lighting guy.

And he's good. He's great and he's still the guy. And he always had a little scotch in his little closet there. He could be counted on. But, yeah, to go in there and, you know, everyone's very nice. They're like, oh, thank you for coming and, you know, whatever. But it was fun. It was fun to work on that particular thing, and I got to spend some time, because it was written that.

Because it was written that day, and we just kept working on it, working on it. It was fun to keep going, and I think everyone appreciated it. Because everyone else had something else to do. It had like five sketches to do or something. So I had nothing to do but this. So I was like, okay, let's just keep going. We just kept playing with it all day long. It got pretty good by the time we were done, and it was fun to do.

I met some girl that worked for Steve Bannon the next day. I worked for him. I thought she was going to come apart. I don't know what that meant. I didn't know if she wanted me to rescue her or call the police or what. Was she upset at you or excited that she's not? I don't know if it was just a coincidence of seeing the guy who played her boss the next day or something. There is something about the next day where it's sort of larger than life.

That was the- But it was fun in there. And you know, the crazy thing is Lauren's actually learned how to do the job. That's what I had to admit to the last. I was saying, hey, you know, you've figured this thing out finally. Good. Took you 42 seasons. And it's a, boy, there's even more people in that meeting than ever before in the meeting between dress and air.

And they're surgical. It's really surgical. It's really like a war machine. It's pretty, it's pretty impressive. A lot different than when you were there? When we were there was still pretty much the writers and the actors and the writers that still be bitching about something, you know, like, you know, I tried. Did you cut anything out of that? Yeah, I did the best I can, you know, people still be arguing about, there's no argument.

anymore there's no argument whatsoever did our mutual friend Jim Downey help with Bannon or no he did not he did not he did not help with Bannon but he's been he obviously loves you and it's been at your side for many many years well we have some great fun together we have he just he's really funny he's so much fun yeah we went to you know we've gone to basketball gates we were at St. Louis and so yeah sure he he's really really a lot of fun. He's just the funniest guy. He's so funny. It's just a delight to meet him. And it's just whenever I can drag him wherever I am. It's really fun. And the way he, I gotta get my taxes done. He's always getting his taxes done. I think he's getting his

taxes done from the 80s. You know, I can't get my taxes. He's funny. He's really, he's not unlike you. If you want to talk to him, you've got to sort of email somebody else. Maybe you don't, But people like, I have to. I go through the channels. And he'll, yeah, I had to, my car broke down. He's just fun. It's always something. He's just so funny.

So when you think back on your SNL run of a couple of years, how huge was that for you? How big was it to catapult you into the movie career? It was enormous. It was an enormous thing, you know, because all of a sudden you had some viability as a movie movie actor you went from being unemployed to having money you know money and a place to live and you know a phone bill paid that kind of stuff which was you know

what and then all of a sudden someone would ask you to be in a movie and then you make a movie and the movie does well and then you have you know this that's and it was it's a fantastic job because it's like a school teacher's job you have the You have all the holidays off. You have big breaks at Christmas and Easter. You have, you do three weeks a month, so you get a whole week off every month. Right. And the summer.

And you get the summer off. So you can do a movie in the summer, you know, vacation, go around the world, do anything you want to do. You get a week off every month. Think about that. A week off every month. It's fantastic. And it was an unbelievable job. and then of course

you know you know all that all the sort of fame thing comes along with it and that's hmm you know that's a different thing but it changed

a lot of things and you know the show back then was so cutting edge and brand new and people changed their habits you know to watch the television show you know they would take a nap so they could say up through the show people would take naps to see the show

or they'd all gather at someone's house, my mother wouldn't let us watch your show, and we had to go to my cousin's house to watch it every week and I go, and that kind of stuff. Crazy stories like that. So it was a big deal, and you got to meet all kinds of great actors

and actresses and all the great music acts of the day. Right. And see, I mean, you know, we had the Rolling Stones on the show. And they were rehearsing in the SIR studios, you know, and the Stones. And it's like, you know, well, you guys want to come over, you know, we're invited to come over and see. the stones. So you go over to see the stones and you walk in someone hands you a Heineken.

Like someone's like, I'm drinking, okay, here we go. The next thing, you know, it's like seven hours later and you're passing a bottle of rebel yell around inside of a restroom. You know, like what the hell? And they played like the great record, you know, it's a some girl's record. You know, you sit down and they play Beast of Burden, you know, which is like one of the greatest songs of all time, right? They play Beast of Burden and then they go, and then they go it's not quite right and then they did it again and they did it five more times they just played live beast of burden like that far away five times in a row and you're just like this is who am I how the hell let I get in here this is ridiculous so that kind

of thing happened was it as wild as legend has it you're all the SNL stories about the partying and the the after parties and all that was it as crazy as they say it was well the after parties had some intensity and and the kind of of released it you'd get after that because the pressure was strong you know there's a lot of there was a lot of energy it took a lot it takes a little think about what kind of energy it takes to be at your highest level of performance at 1130 at night on saturday night until until 1 o'clock in the morning so you've got to get your clock all wound rewound and so the writing gets on that schedule so then you're up all through the night and then if you're out in the middle

of the night strange things happen there's weirdness out there And you get your body on this funny clock. But, you know, and I, you know, they talk about, oh, all the drugs and everything. Well, there were a lot of drugs in the world back then, and there were a lot of drugs in the world now. But we had a job to do. You had to get the job done. There was no one that was, like, too messed up to work, you know. I accept our gas hosts sometimes.

You know, they would get nervous and, you know, medicate themselves. And like, oh, great. You'd walk out there and go, oh, great. Between just before the show, someone would, and you go, oh, perfect. Now we've got to deal with this guy for the next 90 minutes. You rolled out of SNL into one of the most incredible movie runs of meatballs, caddyshack, stripes going into Ghostbusters a couple of years after that. Tootsie.

Tootsie, of course, Tootsie. I mean, you were hitting home run after home run after home run. There were no weak links in that chain. What did that do to your life, especially once Ghostbusters became this international phenomenon? Well, it was fun. I mean, being a Ghostbuster is a great job. It's just a great job. We own the city.

It was like, in that uniform with that car, you could do anything. People actually believe we were some sort of special unit. I mean, really, I'm not kidding. There were people who thought, geez, these guys are pretty official. I mean, we were walking to stores on Fifth Avenue with all the guns and everything, and people like everything are right in here you know we're just checking things out and you know picking things up and saying you've got to take a look at this we'll take this we'll get this back to you and we just walk out with things you know we bring it back like an hour later and they're like

but it was it was a great um there was a great run of movies I had some great luck I made some you know you know I had great people helping me I got you know Harold Ramos you know on meatballs and stripes and you know John Candy and Ivan Reitman director in a couple of those movies and used to give him a really hard time but he basically you know he kept getting better at the movies and we kept getting better and Aykroyd I mean I mean the Ghostbusters that was his you know he created that thing and I mean I remember he sent me like 17 pages and I said we're in I said this is great we're at we had a caterer in about 20

That movie was banked. And he said, he was really nice to me too. He said, where should we take it? I said, well, I'm trying to get this movie the Razor's Edge made over at Columbia, and they won't do it. And he said, tell them they can have this one. So, Rancet's Edge was, we had a caterer in 30 minutes.

So that was nice. But that was a great run of movies, and I'm really, I like my movies. I've been very, you know, lucky with movies, and it's saying no is the key thing. You gotta say no. to certain movies. There's some movies, even though you know,

it's gonna be a successful movie. You let someone else take it, but I've had good luck with movies. I'm really proud of my movies. I like them. You said no for a while, and then people view Groundhog Day as kind of like a comeback in some way for you.

Did it feel that way to you or no? You know, I never felt like, come back. There's a funny thing, we're doing this music show now with these guys, and somehow, I never bothered to write, like, everyone has their body. biography and the thing and I read mine and God it was the word they used was so after a dull period oh it was like it was in a crazy thing it was like and I go to like my guys go did you

write this you know no we didn't I don't know it was like a dull list list life list career like what I never I mean I never thought of anything it's like a comeback it's like you know but I always I felt like I was always making fine choices I mean I mean I Sometimes life occurs, you know, and you do things like, you know, have some children and do things. You don't always have to go to work. But Lost in Translation was definitely something different for you. Yeah, that was different. And that was a, you know, that sort of represented the change of life, you know, in a way.

You know, all of a sudden I was like a, you know, I was no longer an ingenue, you know. Right. Okay, now you're this guy. You know, that's what that was. and that was a different kind of thing. But it was the same process of working. I was very fortunate that Sophia asked me to be in the movie. I mean, a lot of people would kill to be in that movie, you know.

Are we surprised she asked you? Because it was an unconventional pick. They saw you one way. The public saw you one way and not this way until they actually saw you on the screen. Well, I knew I could do. I mean, I was thinking about that guy. I was thinking, you know, there's something romantic to do. And I was actually thinking about it.

Not that I, I said, there's something I could do that I haven't seen, you know, that is a piece of life that just doesn't get shown, you know. And she called up with this thing, and it was a very elegant, very spare script, and I went, cool. She said, well, what do you think? I said, well, okay, I'll do it. And then they were all over there in Tokyo, and they didn't think I was coming, you know, I just showed up. But it's a beautiful, you know, it's really, she's a really good filmmaker. She gets better and better, and she's a delightful person, too. So.

Do you think Hollywood looked at you differently after that? You were nominated for the Oscar. They saw you as a funny guy, and now you went, wait a minute. Probably, you know, but that's dull, you know, that's, you know, it's like, you know, if you can bake a cake, do you think you could make a pie? Probably, you know, you know, it's the same process of acting, you know, it's, If you can do comedy, you can do drama. It's not always going the other way, but if you can do comedy, you can do drama.

Because comedy's hard. Comedy's harder. You know, I can make you cry. I can make you cry at a second, right? Punching the nose. But to make you laugh, that's hard. You know, that's hard to do. That's not so easy.

So that's a skill set. You have to have great teachers. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the great Bill Murray. My thanks to Bill for spending so much time sitting at. down with us. Doesn't do a ton of interviews. I'm so glad he strolled into the Today Show Green Room and requested one with me. That's one I will always grant. For more of our Sunday sit downs, be sure to click subscribe and don't forget to check out Sunday today every Sunday on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you back here next week.