Joe Rogan and Bill Murray Talk About Hunter S. Thompson

Bill Murray recently appeared on JRE and spent the first 30 mins talking about Hunter.

It’s Sunday morning here in Cambodia and for me that means breakfast and a book by the sea and then a trip to the gym. When it comes to listening material, I usually go for music but sometimes podcasts. Today, I opened Spotify and saw that Joe Rogan had just uploaded an interview with Bill Murray, one of my absolute favourite actors and an all-round great person. I ended up at the gym for two and a half hours listening to this.

I was immediately amused when Joe said that Bill was a bit of a legend and Bill replied that he basically had no idea who Joe was, having never listened to the show. However, he noted vaguely that he’d heard of Joe’s notoriety (seemingly hinting at a political difference). This then prompted Bill to mention that upon entering the building, he had noticed lots of Hunter S. Thompson stuff on the walls, and so he determined, “Well, okay… this guy can’t be a complete disaster.” This kicked off approximately half an hour of the two men talking about Hunter.

You can watch it here:

I love Bill Murray and thought it was hilarious that he had so little awareness of Joe Rogan’s show. “Are you filming this as… part of what you do?” he asks early in the show.

Bill remarks several times that he’s sick and lacking sleep and basically not on form, and indeed he struggles to remember things (including the name of the film he’s promoting) but he really is witty and insightful throughout. His memories of Hunter are wonderful and I loved hearing the two of them chat about the great Gonzo journalist. Joe never got to meet him but is a collector of HST artifacts.

A highlight for me was seeing the two men watch a clip from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) and Bill is visibly moved by Johnny Depp’s wave monologue. Later he acknowledges that he had shed a tear.

Another highlight was Bill telling the story of Hunter tying him to a chair and throwing him in a pool. For some reason, I hadn’t known (or possibly just forgot) that it was the first time they’d met and Bill had no idea who Hunter was!

It’s a long show but it’s worth a listen or a watch. I know many of you will dislike Joe Rogan and I’ve personally been disappointed by some of his views… but as he says in this show and elsewhere, you shouldn’t have to agree with someone 100% to get along with them. Whatever his political views, he’s a hell of an interviewer and Bill Murray was the perfect guest.

I see also that Anita Thompson has posted about the podcast on Facebook. She, too, had not been familiar with Rogan’s show but said that Hunter would have approved. I must agree. Hunter would almost certainly not agree with Rogan’s views on Trump, Zelensky, and Musk, but he would have respected the fact that he’s an honest guy doing long-form content in a world obsessed with short-form, reductive nonsense. Anita wrote:

I will watch more Joe Rogan podcasts. There is not a doubt in my mind that Hunter would have loved Joe’s curiosity and focus, and the would have become friends. And he would have loved to mentor Joe and the world would be a better place today. But seeing Bill Murray step up to be a hilarious and aso serious elder statesman with Joe — reaching across the isle was a beautiful.

Admirable words. You can read them on the official HST Facebook page.