National

Is the Dalai Lama a ‘big hitter’?

By Pete Grathoff

pgrathoff@kcstar.com
Bushwood Country Club groundskeeper Carl Spackler, played by Bill Murray in the 1980 movie “Caddyshack,” claims to have caddied for the Dalai Lama. “So, I'm on the first tee with him,” Spackler says. “I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-lagunga.”
Bushwood Country Club groundskeeper Carl Spackler, played by Bill Murray in the 1980 movie “Caddyshack,” claims to have caddied for the Dalai Lama. “So, I'm on the first tee with him,” Spackler says. “I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-lagunga.” Orion Pictures/Warner Bros.

Bret Baier couldn’t resist.

In an interview with the Dalai Lama, Fox News’ chief political anchor asked if the monk had ever seen the movie “Caddyshack.” In the 1980 film, Bill Murray’s character, Carl Speckler, claims to have been a caddy once for the Dalai Lama.

“Big hitter, the Lama,” Speckler says.

Baier was hoping the Dalai Lama was aware of the movie.

Here is the clip from the movie, and I love that Murray is holding a pitchfork through the entire story (and it was all improvised by Murray).

Pete Grathoff: 816-234-4330, @pgrathoff

This story was originally published June 17, 2016 at 10:31 AM with the headline "Is the Dalai Lama a ‘big hitter’?."

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