He’s lost in libation!
Bill Murray tended bar at the opening of his son Homer Murray’s new restaurant, 21 Greenpoint, on Friday and Saturday.
The 65-year-old actor arrived in bizarre fashion for his Friday night debut. On the way to the restaurant, his car broke down on the highway in The Bronx, where
he was then picked up by a random passenger in an Uber. Murray took the e-hail to the opening, and he and his ride entered with their arms full of flea-market junk — including a stuffed badger wearing a hunting jacket.
The bartender’s first shift started around 8 p.m. Friday, as he sported a striped button-down over a t-shirt for the gig. The new bar has an elaborate cocktail menu — specials include the Smoking Peaches with tequila, mezcal, agave, habenero shrub and lime oils — but Murray was unable to serve up anything other than shots of whiskey and tequila, and the occasional vodka-soda. Between handling customers, Murray poured shots for himself while singing along to classics such as War’s “Why Can’t We Be Friends” and The Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up.”
At one point, asked by a customer if Murray could make a bellini, he took a beat and said, “I know people that do,” before turning to a fellow bartender for assistance.
Asked what he found most difficult about being behind the bar, Murray told The Post: “finding the right glass.”
The “Lost In Translation” actor also led a toast to Homer, 34, the eldest of Murray’s children with first wife Margaret Kelly. “I am so happy . . . that he has not continued in the family business,” Murray said to the cheers of about 100 rowdy revelers, a mix of industry folk and friends of Homer and his business partners . “Instead he has taken the joy of the family — to have a drink, to have a meal and have friends together — and made it his life’s work.”
Outside, a line of fans desperate to join the party stretched down the block. Murray took time away from his bartending to go out and say hi. “It was cool,” said Rachel Cook, 32, a Ditmas Park , Brooklyn, resident who waited for three hours. “He’s a human being like all of us.”
The party almost came to an early end when FDNY firefighters crashed the party, citing overcrowding — but they simply wanted to meet the famous actor.
21 Greenpoint is Homer’s second restaurant in the same location.
“[My dad] has been very supporting of me,” Homer told The Post. “He didn’t do this because I asked him to. He didn’t do this because he thought it would drum up business. He did this because he wanted to. That’s the beauty of it.”
Additional reporting by Christian Gollayan