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We’re making a list, and checking it twice: Celebrating Bill’s many gifts to mark A Very Murray Christmas, airing Dec. 4 on Netflix.

By Chris Lackner

All I really need to know I learned from Bill Murray.

With his Netflix holiday special bowing Dec. 4, I’m reminded of the many gifts the craggy-faced, curmudgeonly comedian has given me.

As a child of the ’80s, most of my friends looked up to action heroes – from Arnie to Sly, Van Damme to Seagal. Not me. I emulated a smartass with a delightfully deadpan delivery. To wish you all A Very Murray Christmas, I’d like to celebrate the many things the actor has taught us:

Sarcasm is mightier than the sword: Male pop icons, from Luke Skywalker to Rocky, were largely men of action. My ultimate boyhood hero was Murray’s Peter Venkman from 1984’s Ghostbusters. The classic Murray character wielded dry sarcasm like a weapon, firing off effortless barbs to overcome adversity, motivate his team – or get the girl. Sure, he also had a proton pack to fend of pesky phantoms. But his wit was the real mover and shaker.

Murray, Murray, quite contrary: Being a contrarian is way more fun than towing the party line.

Bill Murrays Many Faces – many of them look alike
Don’t overdo it: Murray’s a master of subtlety. Coupled with his trademark dry delivery, his blank expressions are priceless. No actor can fill a seemingly vacant stare with more twinkle and mirth. Murray also shows us that soft and mellow can be just as amusing as loud and obnoxious. He can do both, giving him the comic range to play an emotionally repressed husband (Moonrise Kingdom) or a jerk who joins the army to meet girls (Stripes).

The profane can be sacred: Murray reinvented a Christmas classic with his portrayal of cynical TV executive Frank Cross in 1988’s Scrooged – and it became my endearingly jaded family’s go-to annual Christmas Eve film. We desperately wanted sarcasm mixed into the standard sweet and saccharine holiday tonic. I’ll take a man who suggests stapling antlers to a mouse over the usual seasonal parade of boy scouts, angels, miracles and white Christmas dreamers. (I’m still hoping Murray is cast as George Bailey in a remake of It’s a Wonderful Life. While different movie.)

Improvise: The wisdom-laden comedy, Groundhog Day, is set on my birthday. Murray’s acerbic weatherman, Phil Connors, taught us to learn from our mistakes, strive to be better people, live life to the fullest. These would be sappy, cringe-inducing lessons if presented by any other performer. Then there’s the actor’s career-long tendency to often rewrite and improvise his own lines. As Murray knows: When life gives you lemons, make… anything you want.

Say more with less: Murray’s late-career resurgence was fuelled by Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation. The role was literally built for him – and who wouldn’t want to parade around Tokyo falling in love with Scarlett Johansson? But that’s not the point. The unlikely romantic sparks between the two spoke to life’s unexpected surprises. The fact that those feelings went largely unspoken (minus the mysterious whisper in the final scene) only added to their magic. As he so often does, Murray delivered more “lines” with his eyes, face and body language than he did with any actual dialogue. Luckily, Murray plays himself in his pending meta Christmas special, which is also helmed by Coppola.

“It Just Doesn’t Matter!”: Murray led the memorable Meatballs’ chant as Tripper, a deranged, young-at-heart camp counselor. Whenever life feels overwhelming, it’s a useful phrase to shout out loud. Because usually it’s true. Or soon will be. Tripper wasn’t exactly a glowing role model, but his soft spot for loner, outcast campers redeemed him. (Murray has always been a bit of a self-imposed Hollywood outcast. For much of his career, he has eschewed a publicist, manager agent or entourage.)

Dedication: Caddyshack’s Carl Spackler devoted boundless time and energy in his fruitless pursuit of an intrepid gopher. In honour, I devoted countless hours on a seminal camping trip with my grandfather to plugging an elaborate system of holes created by a clan of groundhogs. I used sticks instead of dynamite. (Much like the movie, the critters got the last laugh: the entire campground was a subterranean labyrinth. But Carl and I both get an A for effort.)

Bend, but don’t break: Murray’s late-career love for playing melancholy, misanthropic men – characters that have lost something vital, often tragically so – teaches us that redemption is always right around the corner. For examples, binge watch films like Broken Flowers, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and St. Vincent. These roles also show us that sarcasm is not only a weapon, and a defence mechanism, but can also be a tonic to heal.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it: Murray has his go-to directors like Wes Anderson, Harold Ramis, Ivan Reitman, and Jim Jarmusch.

Be a man of the people: Murray’s career is rife with stories of his common touch, from hanging out and drinking with film crews instead of fellow celebrities, to joining and delivering a speech at a random bachelor party in South Carolina in 2014 where he doled sage advice like “Bachelor parties are not for the groom, they’re for the uncommitted.”

Don’t take yourself too seriously: See Zombieland. Or, presumably, A Very Murray Christmas.

Melancholy can be sweet: As Murray himself once said. “Melancholic and lovable is the trick, right? You’ve got to be able to show that you have these feelings…. A melancholy can be sweet. It’s not a mean thing, but it’s something that happens in life – like autumn.”

Women like funny guys: Whether played by Johansson, Andie MacDowell or Sigourney Weaver, smart, interesting women fell for Murray’s characters. And it always felt more like they were falling for him than his fictional counterpart. For guys like me, mildly funny without a real athletic bone in my body, it inspired hope. Murray proved women like a man who can truly make them laugh.

So this holiday season, let’s all drink and be Murray.

A Very Murray Christmas is available Dec. 4 on Netflix.