Bill Murray Gets Political

Comedy Icon Bill Murray doesn’t do a lot of formal interviews, but he did sit down with Joe Kernen and Becky Quick on CNBC’s Squawk Box and talked politics and comedy and dressed as Bill Murray-esque as it gets in white shoes and brightly colored splotch pants. Kernan picked Murray’s brain on politics on the idea that you can’t become a successful comedian without having a feel for what’s happening in society.

Murray called life in the now more of a transition period, calling it a “clash of clans” every single morning, and saying that this dynamic creates a sort of compost and fertilizer that will set the stage for the next period in time. He says its the observers in this time period who will determine what comes next.

Murray said the challenge for comedians is the current state of “identity politics.” Using Kristin Wiig as an example, he said, “she’s not thinking about being political, she’s thinking about what resonates and what is common to all of us, and I think that’s harder and harder to do because people are trying to win their point of view as opposed to saying ‘What if I spoke to everyone?’”

On SNL writer Jim Downey, who is accused being a right wing writer, Murray defending him. “He’s saying: ‘No, I just think the way the Democrats handle things is poor where they try to pick out little pieces of a population. We represent the Hispanics, we represent the LGBT or something.’ And they’re not speaking to everyone at once. It’s almost demeaning to say, ‘I’m choosing you because you’re a splinter group, or a certain minority group.’ There’s almost a resentment that somehow you’re separated, again, by a politician. You’re my people, I’m in control of you and I represent you instead of thinking that each citizen has a right to be respected as a citizen first under the laws of the Country.”

Bill briefly talked about the new tax bill- its a great thing for corporations, (and incidentally, the markets rose as Murray talked about the markets) and maybe short term for others as well, (“In the first step, it’s made things easier,” he explained. “I think people feel like there was too much regulation, and yet I hope they don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater when breaking down regulations.”)

Overall, Murray is a believer that things shake themselves out. “If people are monstrous, it comes back,” he said. Eventually, it comes around. We get justice but we don’t get it when we want it.”

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