Bill Murray asked a top Trump economic adviser to announce that his dog had died on live television Monday, hoping to find out whether anything could wipe the smile off his face.
The “Ghostbusters” actor was on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to promote his six-part golf travel series “A Course Called Ireland” when he became distracted by National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett’s apparently permanent grin.
“Why is that man always smiling?” Murray asked after anchor Becky Quick handed him her microphone. Hassett replied that he was thinking about Murray, whose movies he admired.
Murray clarified that he was “concerned — not worried — but concerned.” Co-host Joe Kernen suggested the adviser might be pleased with new economic figures showing 3.4 percent growth in the previous quarter.
“Well when I talked to the president about the number, he said ‘3.4 — it should be 20,’ so he’s expected more from us,” Hassett replied.
When Kernen later invited Murray to question Hassett directly, the actor decided to test the smile instead of asking about the economy.
“I would regret it if I didn’t take this opportunity,” Murray told the adviser. “Could you just say the words, ‘My dog just died?’ I want to see what happens to your smile.”
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Hassett kept smiling as he asked whether Murray meant his dog or the actor’s. Murray specified that it was Hassett’s, and the adviser obliged before briefly adopting a more neutral expression.
“We were gonna have someone go take your blood. We’re gonna call them off. Not gonna happen,” Murray joked.
Kernen then asked Hassett to name his favorite Murray movie. He chose “Groundhog Day,” calling the 1993 comedy “fantastic” and “one of the top five movies ever made.”
Murray said former Attorney General Janet Reno had a particular appreciation for the film, which follows a television meteorologist forced to relive the same day. She used it, he recalled, to explain what working at the Justice Department would feel like.
“Two guys came and got me and dragged me back to her,” Murray recalled. “She said, ‘Bill, the first thing I do to everyone at Justice is I show them that movie and I say, ‘This is what your job is going to be: Groundhog Day.’”
The reference resonated with Hassett, who compared the movie’s repetition with the uncertainty and familiar arguments surrounding midterm elections.
“It seems like every election, everybody’s angry at each other. Everybody thinks this side is going to win. That side’s going to win. And when it comes to Election Day, it feels like it could go either way,” Hassett said.
Murray’s CNBC visit followed the premiere of “A Course Called Ireland,” based on author Tom Coyne’s bestselling book.
The two travel through Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland playing golf, meeting locals and talking about their lives, alongside appearances by Chris O’Dowd and comedian Joanne McNally.
The series includes a decidedly less cheerful answer from Murray himself. Asked in the fourth episode whether being famous had made him happy, he replied, “In a word, no.”
O’Dowd also questioned Murray about fans constantly asking him for photographs. Murray said he once considered autographs a nuisance but had stopped trying to manage every encounter.
“But, you know, I’ve done all kinds of things and tried to control it and do it according to my terms, and I find that it’s an enormous waste of energy to ever try to direct it. Now, I just jump in and go.… I take the camera. I take the picture,” the actor explained.
Golf has also figured in Murray’s encounters with Trump. In a 2016 interview, Murray recalled meeting him at an Adele concert, where Trump proposed they play a round together.
“There Trump is at the Adele concert, rolling in the deep with the guys muscling him down the hall,” Murray recalled.
“And I go, ‘Hey, how ya doin’?’ He says, ‘When this is all over, we’re gonna get together and we’re gonna play some golf. When this is all over.’”
Murray addressed Trump more pointedly in 2017 after the president drew criticism for tweets suggesting federal emergency assistance could be withdrawn from hurricane-stricken Puerto Rico.
Appearing on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” to perform selections from his classical album “New Worlds,” Murray sang part of a “West Side Story” medley and closed his version of “America” with the line, “Puerto Rico’s in America!”