Bill Murray - French Fries and Cellphones

Oh. Edgy old Bill Murray tossed some cell phones. So he's going to pay for the damage.

It's just the latest in the "legendary" list of Bill Murray anecdotes.

You might recall seeing THIS fucking MEME:

Is it true?

Unlike George Carlin, who regularly debunked dopey quotes attributed to him, and fumed over the MEMES and other junk using his name, Bill isn't committed to honesty.

Not if it means people will shut up and STOP talking about him.

A variation on the "nobody will believe you" French Fries story has Wild Bill giving a "noogie" (ie, a rough knuckle to the top of the head) to a complete stranger. He then walks away uttering the famous "Nobody will believe you" catch-phrase.

Bill was asked once about this, and gave a sadly evasive and stupid answer.

I understand it. Some stars LIKE to be "legendary," and why not take credit for any wild and crazy remark or anecdote? "Did that really happen?" Does it matter, as long as it's good copy? Bill might say "No, that did NOT happen," if he was quoted as doing or saying something racist. But this kind of "colorful" nonsense? Go ahead. Stars are so used to seeing shit attributed to them in the tabloids, they could care less.

It's only a few of us, who are fans of honesty in reporting, who are pissed off when hype or ignorance is swallowed whole. We correct the Bogart fans who insist he said "Play it again, Sam," or the W.C. Fields fans who insist he said, "Anyone who hates dogs and children can't be all bad." We like to reward real ad-lib wit and scorn people who never said the funny remark, which was handed to a gossip columnist along with a hundred dollar bill to make sure the story would get printed.

At this point, there's even a fucking BILLMURRAYSTORIES website where people can contribute their encounters with him.

Does the site demand that every anecdote come with camcorder footage to back it up? Of course not. One example that's probably true:

You can imagine how many times Murray pulled this shit, giving the stock reply of "I've always wanted to meet YOU!"

It reminds me of Steve Martin, who was tired of signing autographs so used to hand out a funny card stating (and I paraphrse) "This proves that the person holding the card actually met me, Steve Martin, and found me polite, pleasant, and even handsome!"

Fans eat it up. But do they have to eat up a phony French Fries story and make up other "urban legend" shit? It's ALL good, yo. Ask the average jerk who buys a tabloid, "do you believe everything in it," and the answer would be NO, but it's FUN to read. Jeeeeez.

Murray doesn't even need this crap. There's plenty of true zaniness to talk about. Or, rather, calculated attempts at showing how wild and crazy he is. This unpredictable, if not pockmarkedly scary guy was "legendary" for going on Letterman's show and surprising Dave with some destructive or self-destructive stunt.

He'd do anything from an off-key version of Newton-John's "Physical" (complete with spastic jumping jack moves), to suddenly leaving the comfortable chair and jogging down the street (just slow enough so the camera could chase after him). And on and on.

The latest? Bill's at some event, and gets cranky about idiots whipping out their cellphones and snapping flash pictures in his face. (People don't realize that while stars can get used to signing autographs, they can't get used to the eye-damaging misery of constant flash pictures going off). He grabs a few cell phones and tosses them. Awwww.

On Farcebook there was a fairly interesting example of point/counterpoint.

POINT:

COUNTERPOINT:

At least he didn't toss the cell phones and shout "Nobody will believe you!"