Bill Murray’s 10 favourite comedy actors: “He was something”
Of all artistic mediums that are evolving rapidly under the influence of the internet right now, I would say comedy is quietly shifting the furthest.
The heady days of sitcoms and sketch shows that I grew up on are long gone, lost in the slipstream of new-age digital media where the modern sketch ideas now live. But unlike other art forms, which feel positively under threat from the internet, comedy is thriving in this new era of publication, and it feels as though the art of the sketch is well and truly alive.
It’s surely attributed to the announcement of a British Saturday Night Live, which is set to air in 2026, fostering a healthy alumni of sketch-based comedians on the terrestrial network. While it may seem somewhat of an alien concept to British viewers, the fact of the matter is, SNL has been a proven breeding ground for some of history’s most iconic comedians.
One of whom was Bill Murray, who crafted his comedy acting chops on the show between the years of 1977 to 1980. On the show, not only did he perfect his comedic timing, but he also developed his ability to share the stage with comedy greats.
“There’s been extraordinary talent, let’s get real,” Murray once stated, gushing about his time on the show before simply saying, “I mean, I don’t want to start listing names because there’s too many that I would forget.”
If Murray won’t do it, then I will. During his era, which many regard as the heyday of the show, he shared the stage with Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, and Jane Curtin, to name a few. But through its history, the show has acted like a revolving door to comedians that the world, and more precisely Murray, considers some of the funniest of all time.
When he was quizzed on those who he turns to in need of comedic relief, he was quick to distinguish himself from the rest, saying, “At home I am not funny all the time, if I were, I would be sick and imbalanced, and I think you have to be in balance in your life. It’s nice to be able to find the humour in something, but you don’t always have to cash it in.”
He continued, listing those who he considers the very best when it comes to comedy, with the bulk coming from the SNL stage. He said, “I enjoy making people laugh, but I’d much rather have somebody else make me laugh, like Jim Carrey, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy, Jerry Lewis, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, WC Fields, the Marx Brothers.”
The latter choices show how the lineage of comedy has crafted Murray’s performance style. He is a comedian who can flip between the dry and quick-witted, to the physical, pioneered by the likes of Chaplin and the Marx Brothers. All of those influences combined have made for the modern comedy star, which Murray is very much an example of.
