In a statement regarding the passing of Harold Ramis, U.S. President Barack Obama referenced a scene from the filmmaker’s 1980 comedy Caddyshack where Bill Murray’s character, Carl Spackler, tells a story about how he was once a golf caddy for the Dalai Lama, who he says was a “big hitter,” but not a good tipper. In lieu of money, Spackler says that His Holiness promised him that on his deathbed he’d “receive total consciousness.”

Right after Ramis’s death, ABC News sat down with the Dalai Lama, where at the very end of the interview they snuck in some questions about Caddyshack. Yes, that’s right, the 78-year-old Nobel Peace Prize-winning spiritual leader did an on-camera interview with a reporter from a major news organization, who then went on to ask the Tibetan monk if he’s ever seen Caddyshack, a 1980’s R-rated “snobs vs. slobs” comedy centering on the crazy exploits of golf tournament competitors and their sexually charged caddies. The interviewer also asked the Dalai Lama if he plays golf, but didn’t get the chance to ask if he was a “big hitter.”

Watch the interview here below, which is intercut with the Bill Murray/Dalai Lama scene from Caddyshack.

I have to say, on the one hand I think they are crazy to have asked these ridiculous questions to the Dalai Lama, especially since they had to have known that this holy man has never seen Caddyshack! But, from a pop culture standpoint, it was a genius maneuver. You know what they say, it’s such a fine line between stupid and clever.

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[Source: ABC News]

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