Bill Murray Drove A Taxi So That The Driver Could Practice His Saxophone In Back

As you may remember, we celebrated Bill Murray Day in Toronto last week, yet another contribution to the world from the city that gave us Rob Ford (please re-elect him, Toronto, the comedy world is counting on you). Of course, it wouldn’t be a celebration of Bill Murray without a story or two about how he gave a stranger a very memorable day. One of the stories we haven’t covered yet involves Bill Murray getting into cab going from Oakland to Sausalito last week (about an hour drive across the Bay and Golden Gate bridges, probably a $70 fare) with a cab driver who Murray found out played the saxophone. Long story short, Murray ended up driving the cab himself while the driver played his sax in the back. Have you ever had sax in the back of a cab? It’s exhilirating.

PageSix reports the story he told at the Festival:

He recalled that the night before the festival, he got into a taxi in Oakland and ended up driving the cab driver around. …the driver mentioned he was a saxophone player.

“I said, ‘When do you practice?’ He said, ‘I drive 14 hours a day.’ ” Murray then asked him, “Well, where’s your sax?” The driver replied, “In the trunk.” Murray told the cabbie, “Pull over and get in the back, I know how to drive a car.’ ”

“Not only did he play all the way to Sausalito, which is a long way, we stopped and got barbecue. He [wound up] playing in what some would call a sketchy, weird place in Oakland at 2:15 in the morning. I was like, ‘Relax, man, you’ve got the [bleeping] horn! We’re cool!’ And it was great and it made for a beautiful night!” [PageSix]

Jesus Christ, driving to a barbecue joint with a sax-playing cabbie in the backseat? That’s the most whimsical f*cking thing I’ve ever heard. Bill Murray’s entire life is a Fox Searchlight movie.

Reached for comment later on, Murray said “The Bay Area’s alright I guess, if you like saxophones.”

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