Jay Pharoah’s Wild SNL Showdown With Bill Murray
Jay Pharoah reveals the moment he body-slammed Bill Murray backstage at SNL, describing how he stood up for himself after Murray’s repeated jabs and unexpected behaviour.
When Bill Murray turns up, you never quite know what’s coming. The bloke’s been keeping everyone on their toes for years, and if someone’s not a fan of his antics, they’re well within their rights to push back—sometimes literally. Murray’s got a bit of a reputation for stirring the pot, whether it’s winding up Richard Dreyfuss on set or copping a spray from Lucy Liu for being out of line. He’s even had a go at directors, once telling one he should be “pierced with a lance and killed” after being accused of nearly breaking his nose. That’s not even mentioning the run-ins with Chevy Chase, Anjelica Huston, or Harold Ramis. Safe to say, he’s ruffled a few feathers over the years.
Most folks, faced with a world-famous star who’s always in the headlines, wouldn’t dream of taking things physical. But Jay Pharoah wasn’t having a bar of it. When Murray made a surprise appearance at Saturday Night Live, Pharoah decided enough was enough. Asked by Shannon Sharpe why he did it, Pharoah kept it simple:
“He wouldn’t stop hitting me.”
He’d gone to see Lorne Michaels, only to find Murray there, and things went downhill fast.
“He’s like, ‘Come here, fat boy,’”
Pharoah remembered. That didn’t sit well, and it only got worse from there.
Unscripted Chaos Backstage
Murray started calling him names, then began smacking him in the same spot over and over.
“He calls me ‘fat boy’, then he gets on me. He starts hitting me, in the same place, over and over again. Right. Now, I don’t give a damn who you are. If you hit somebody in the same place, eventually, it’s going to start getting a little sore.”
Pharoah said. After a while, he’d had enough.
“When it started stinging, I said, ‘I gotta drop him, son.’”
So he did just that—hoisted Murray up and slammed him onto the couch in Michaels’ office.
Even after that, Murray kept swinging. Pharoah reckoned the only explanation was that Murray was
“Drunk out of his mind. No recollection, probably, of this. But I slammed him, and I had to hold him down. He was still trying to fight me! But he was just attacking me, and I got him.”
After pinning him down, Pharoah left Murray on the sofa to think about what he’d done.
Standing Up to a Comedy Legend
If someone starts throwing punches for no reason, you’re not just going to cop it, are you? Just because it’s Murray doesn’t mean Pharoah was going to let it slide. Plenty of actors have probably dreamed of doing the same when Murray’s been taking the mickey, but Pharoah was the one who actually followed through and put the veteran in his place.