Billy Crystal appears on Broadway in the Imperial Theater to present
860, a story of the devastating tragedy of how he and his wife lost their home of nearly 50 years in the 2025 fire in Palisades, CA in 2025.
Well, that’s not all this one-man show is about. Perhaps Crystal thought the content was too downbeat for the audience. Or perhaps compared to his previous one-man onstage triumph, 700 Sundays, he determined the subject of losing one’s home in a fire could not sufficiently fill the allotted time of 100 minutes (without an intermission). Regardless, this production suddenly and strongly with Crystal running onto the set, which replicates his home office (now gone) with actual aerial footage of the fire filling the back wall.
Crystal filled 700 Sundays with memories of his extended family, his nuclear family and, most pointedly, his father. In
860, he regales the audience through the highlights of his career by displaying various mementos in that office: photographs, Emmys, his friendship with Muhammad Ali, even a souvenir seat from Yankee Stadium that is signed by one of his idols, slugger Mickey Mantle.
For a devoted Crystal follower like me, the memories he shared were familiar but still welcome. The audience may have been equally familiar with his career, but they were also equally receptive. He recounted how he once opened for the 1970s musical group, Blood, Sweat & Tears, in Scranton, Pa. (“The audience wasn’t ready for me,” he recalled. “Their drugs were timed for the band!”) He told how BS&T frontman David Clayton-Thomas had an irrational temper tantrum on the stage and how a panicking Crystal was rushed back onto the stage to placate the audience while the lead singer was calmed down offstage. Thus a star was born.
He told how he entertained at the
Sport magazine banquet for Ali in the year that the boxer was named Sportsman of the Year. (It seemed that comedian Robert Klein was their normal go-to guy, but he was not available that night.) When asked how he should be introduced, Crystal said to say he was one of Ali’s closest friends… a hysterical lie that bewildered Ali. The audience was then treated to two of Crystal’s funniest imitations when he acted out sportscaster Howard Cosell interviewing the charismatic boxer.
And who would not have gladly welcomed memories of the great lounge lizard, Fernando, who Crystal portrayed so memorably on his one season as a cast member of Saturday Night Live? He talked about how everyone – EVERYONE! – would come up to him just to say “You look MAHvelous!,” as though he had never heard the catchphrase before. There is even a bonus rendition of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger deadpanning stoically on a plane, “Billy Crystal! You look marvelous!”
Approximately 70 percent of the show is devoted to these memories. But then the setting reverts to the opening warning about the fire and how, in a panic, Crystal and his wife escaped with nothing more than the clothes on the backs. About how all was lost for them and their neighbors, all shown in terrifyingly and startling detail. And then to cap off this most horrible of years, he respectfully notes the passing of his good friends Rob and Michele Reiner.
For those who are involved in entertainment, whether as performers, writers or stage technicians,
860 is a reminder of what a national treasure Billy Crystal is. Surely the designs for the set and the video are evocative and support him effectively. But the constant is Crystal himself; he is riveting on that stage. He adroitly avoids the cheap or cloying laughs, striking at our common humanity and all we build if we’re fortunate to have a life well lived.
Crystal tells how he planted four garden stones engraved with the words "welcome," "dream," "patience" and “laughter.” It turns out that his daughter Lindsay found that only the "Laughter" stone survived. That one quality inspired him to create this show, as well as the graphic that concludes it.
At the 2023 Kennedy Center Honors, Robert De Niro closed the tribute to honoree Billy Crystal by calling him one of the funniest comedians and actors, praising his talent and ability to inhabit characters naturally, without exaggeration. De Niro reasoned that if Crystal was one of the funniest comedy actors, it followed that he was also “one of our best dramatic actors.” That full range of talent is on display in
860, both in the show itself and in its retrospective look at Crystal’s career. For that reason, the opening section reviewing his career is justified, serving as a preamble to the show as a whole.
860 is at the Imperial Theater in New York City until its limited run ends on January 3, 2027.
P.S. To see two of Billy Crystal’s most memorable public appearances, click
here for his eulogy at a memorial for Muhammad Ali. To revisit his tribute to Rob and Janice Reiner at the 2026 Oscars, click
herere. Be sure to stay for the very end, when the stars of Reiner’s films enter the stage.
Pat Rocchi is a versatile entertainer and writer. Currently a stand-up comic, emcee, and overall funnyman, he uses his voice and his way with words in many additional ways. Learn more about Pat at his Website (www.patrocchi.com), and well as his presence on social media (https://www.facebook.com/patrocchicommunicates/; https://www.instagram.com/patrocchi.0612/; and https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrocchi/).
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