Friday, October 02, 2009

Bill Murray Versus John Cleese

I was thinking the other day about Bill Murray, and a thought occurred to me that Bill Murray is America's John Cleese.  Can you think of anyone else from the United States, in the world of comedic acting, who compares with the longevity, influence, and shear mass of work of John Cleese?  A friend of mine seemed to think that Bill Murray might even surpass John Cleese, but the resumes tell a different story.  See below a summary of credits of each (shamelessly gathered from IMDb):

Bill Murray          Category                  John Cleese
7                         Writer                      55
57                       Actor                       108
5                         Soundtracks             3
3                         Produced                 42
1                         Directed                   3
1                         Edited                      0
3                         Thanked                   2
60                       Played Himself          161
35                       Archived                   35

The numbers tell a story which is decidedly in favor of JC.  JC is eleven years older than BM, but they began their careers only one year apart, so the comparison is pretty fair.