A Course Called Ireland: Bill Murray clearly hated making his new golfing show – but it’s extremely fun to binge

In his rogue new travelogue, the Hollywood star tees off, has drunken pub singalongs – but mostly just proves how tired he is of fame I’m suspicious of travelogues, which often feature celebrities in contrived situations, serving up a sentimental postcard of a place that is tanta

In his rogue new travelogue, the Hollywood star tees off, has drunken pub singalongs – but mostly just proves how tired he is of fame I’m suspicious of travelogues, which often feature celebrities in contrived situations, serving up a sentimental postcard of a place that is tantamount to a lie. I also hate how famous people are inexorably drawn to golf: a boring game historically predicated on a rancid mix of social exclusivity and extensive land ownership. So it was perverse of me to watch a show in which author Tom Coyne drives around Ireland playing various courses with his friend, actor Bill Murray.

It’s the perfect intersection of none of my interests. I was, however, hooked by a strange promise in A Course Called Ireland’s introductory sequence. “This is not a show about golf,” it says.

“It’s not even a show about Bill Murray.” This was immediately followed by a scene in which an Irish woman standing by the roadside misidentified the actor as Bill Cosby. OK, I thought. What are they teeing up here?

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