I Emailed Bill Murray and Took A Trip Down the Rabbit Hole
The prize for Funniest Super Bowl Commercial of 2025 was an all-way tie between “none of them.” But we’ve got a winner for Most Bizarre Super Bowl Spot — it’s Bill Murray’s 15-second ad for, well, I‘m still not exactly sure what it’s for.
In Murray’s short, Lynchian commercial, he reveals that when he looks in the mirror, he sees a dog looking back at him. Weird. He needs help from me, apparently, and holds up a legal pad with an email address: billhimself@yahoo.com. What the heck, let’s see what Bill wants.
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The comic actor responded almost immediately to my email, although it was unclear when it was a human typing or a dog, still showing up in the mirror.
“People ask, are you a cat person or a dog person? Dog person,” Murray wrties. “And, now, literally a dog person.” Due to his strange affliction, Murray headed to a veterinarian, linking to a video chronicling his visit. There’s not much to tell — the vet won’t take his insurance.
Replying to Murray’s email brings the next chapter in his trip into Bizarro World — he’s headed to a pet psychic to get to the bottom of things. The latest video dials up the creepy vibes, with distorted psychedelic jitters adding to my sense of unease. At least the psychic appears legit, as Murray includes a link to her website, Platinum Pet Premonitions. (The first and only clue to who is paying for all this — try to make your own appointment with Mona, Long Island’s 16th Most Trusted Pet Psychic, and you’ll find out she’s completely booked when a rooster crows the Yahoo! slogan.)
As Murray pleads for advice at the end of his second email, I reply with a one-word answer: “Run.” This brought a third email introducing me to Murray’s childhood dog, Peppy. The linked video brings a visit from brother Brian Doyle-Murray, who identifies the dog in the mirror as their beloved family pet back to say his final goodbye.
“You gotta go away, don’t you?” Murray says to his canine reflection, delivered in his trademark comic melancholy. “Take care of yourself.”
As the ghostly image in the mirror flickers back to Murray’s own visage, he turns the camera back on himself. He’s misting up as he nods and says, “You too.”
Googling the Murray spot (ironically) reveals this entire through-the-looking-glass adventure was indeed a promotion for Yahoo! Mail, although Murray never mentions it beyond his own email address. Entirely plausible, by the way, that Murray would have a yahoo.com email address. The otherworldly mystery ain’t going to get me to sign up for one, but the trip down the rabbit hole was more entertaining than that lopsided mess of a Super Bowl.
