-Wow, in person! -In person.
Thank you for being here. I missed seeing you.
We were Zooming. -Yeah, well, I miss --
I miss you not being able to say "unmute" to me.
I mean, you know. -[ Laughs ] Exactly.
Do you always get a long standing ovation like that?
What's the longest -- -At home. At home.
-Wow. -No, no. That's lovely.
I more than appreciate it.
I'm so glad to be here.
-I was cheering you on.
I was watching the Critics' Choice Awards the other night,
and you received a Lifetime Achievement Award.
-It was very nice. It was great. -That was -- that was amazing.
I mean, for all the things you've done,
that's got to feel great.
-It was a little scary, because when they call and say,
"It's a lifetime achievement," do they know something I don't?
-Yeah, exactly. Yeah. -What's happening?
Yeah, it was -- it was really nice to be
in front of people again,
you know, in a beautiful setting,
and people were getting back to normal.
-Yeah. -And -- And that was --
That was really nice. -That was nice.
I saw Jimmy Kimmel gave you -- gave you the award.
-Yes, he made the speech. -Yeah.
-And it was -- he was great because Jimmy's also terrific.
-Yeah, he's fantastic.
-And when I came out, I said, "This is awkward. I --
I had asked for Jimmy Fallon."
[ Laughter ]
Now it was, "What do I do?" -It was really funny.
-He's right over here. What do I do?
-"What do I do?" Yeah, yeah. It was great.
It was perfect. He was good. -But I remember -- you know,
I heard you telling the story about when we first met.
And then you came over to -- We were shooting "Analyze This."
And you came over to the hotel.
-Yeah. -And we talked for, like,
two hours about characters and what to do and what to --
-You were so nice to me. -And then here you are.
-I will never forget as long as I live,
that you took the time to even talk to me.
You were like, "Jimmy, write. Just keep writing."
-Yeah. -You gave me great advice.
-And that's really -- You know what?
Eventually, how this musical ends up being,
because Buddy Young was a character that I first did
on an HBO special in 1984 called "A Comic's Line" where I --
It was a parody of "A Chorus Line,"
so I played all these different people.
-Yeah. -And he was one of them.
And he was, like, a hack comedian, you know?
With a bad prom tuxedo. -Yes.
-"Hi. I'm Buddy Young Jr. from Las Vegas, Nevada.
And, boy, is my son stupid."
Comes in with a lump of dog crap in his hand.
He said, "Pop, I almost stepped in this."
You know? He's unbelievably dumb.
But then when I brought him here to "SNL"
when I came here in 1984 --
-Yeah. In this building.
-Yeah, and then we brought him here.
And then I had him at the news desk.
He was a restaurant critic, right?
And then I did a special called "Don't Get Me Started,"
which I know you -- you happen to really love.
-I think it's one of the best --
I think it's the best special that's ever --
ever aired on HBO. -Thanks. It was a lot of fun.
-It was groundbreaking. -And then we did the film,
"Mr. Saturday Night," in 1991.
So 30 years later, you know, when I --
When we did the movie, I was -- I was 40.
-Yeah. -Right?
And the character is 73 in the movie.
So it was like five hours of makeup every day and so on.
So, now I turned 74 on Monday,
so they have to make me look younger.
-Wow. See how that happens? Isn't that amazing?
-This is a thrill. I just show up now. Yeah.
-By the way, happy belated birthday.
-Thank you. -I -- Really, I --
-Thank you. -We love you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Believe me, it's my pleasure.
-You share -- You share the birthday with --
-My grandson Griffin. -Yeah.
-Yeah, he turned 9. I didn't. [ Laughter ]
And -- And, so, I had to fly to Los Angeles for this award,
and I didn't tell them that I was coming.
I wanted to surprise him.
So, we're birthday buddies,
and it means a lot to both of us.
So my -- my amazing wife, Janice,
gets this huge carton, and we called him up,
and I made-believe I was at rehearsal in New York.
And I said, "I've got to go, but, you know,
there's a big present for you.
So it's on his front -- you know, so maybe --
Go pick it up, and I love you and I hope to see you.
But I've got to go. I'm in rehearsal!"
I was, you know, two minutes away.
And, so, I got into the box.
-This is insane. -Yeah.
And I heard him coming up the steps.
So here's the last moments of me opening up the box
and I'm in it.
-You videotaped his reaction? -Yeah.
Well, I had my phone inside in the dark.
-Here we go. Check this out.
-[ Laughter ] -Oh, my God.
[ Woman screams ]
-Happy birthday!
-[ Laughs ]
[ Audience "Awws" ]
-I mean, come on. Is that -- You can't pay for that.
-No, no. It's cool. -Is that the greatest --
-Yeah.
-That's a genuine laugh right there.
-Yeah. Yeah. -It's so cool.
And they're gonna -- Do they know your work?
Do they -- Have they seen -- -Yeah, yeah.
They -- You know, they catch up
because you can find anything, you know?
-Yeah, I guess. Yeah, you're right.
-And so he's a little -- he's a little comedy nerd, Griffin.
-Yeah. Good. -He'll watch something,
and he'll be like -- He'll be like me.
And he -- he won't laugh much. He'll just go, "Funny."
[ Laughter ] -He analyzed it.
-"Funny." -Yeah.
-I thought I knew everything you did.
And, you know, I'm a student of yours, and I love your stuff.
But I -- You were telling me
that Buddy Young Jr. was on "Update."
I'm like, "I don't remember..." Because I remember him
from "Don't Get Me Started."
But he was a restaurant critic? -A restaurant critic.
Yeah, Christopher Guest was the host of "Update."
-That's right.
-And so Buddy now was an insult comic.
But I would do these restaurant jokes.
-So he would roast people. -Roast people.
So then Dick Ebersol produced it that year for us.
Said, "We have some famous people in the audience.
What do you want to do? Do you want to...?"
I said, "I'll just go after them. Who is it?"
So we're just live, and it happened to be the one
and only Johnny Cash was in the audience.
So here's a little clip from 37 years ago from two --
two stories up. -And this is live.
No script, no new -- -No, no, no, I just go.
-Billy Crystal, check this out.
-And you must be, uh... -Johnny Cash.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Who cares? You know what I'm saying?
[ Laughter ]
Good to see you working with new colors these days, Johnny.
Well, you believe, he's got the Portuguese flag
around his throat. [ Laughter ]
Johnny, from the bottom of my heart,
it's over. You know what I'm saying?
[ Laughter ]
No, seriously. I kid, Johnny.
He's a big star.
Does Jack Lord know you have his hair?
[ Laughter ]
We need love today. Oh, excuse me.
Oh, I was almost Jewish again.
[ Laughter and applause ]
-Oh, my God. You --
-Yeah. -You don't get intimidated
when you see Johnny Cash -- and Waylon Jennings
sitting right next to him? -Yeah, there's Waylon Jennings,
so I said, "When did you go Hasid?
I didn't know that you went Hasid."
Because he had this big hat on,
and Christopher Reeve was there, too.
And, you know, just loose and just fun.
And so, then, you know, this character just stays with me.
And so, we did the film.
But then Mel Brooks called me in 2004
when I was finishing up my run of "700 Sundays."
-God, you were great. But, like -- But I know,
can we just say for a second how great you were
in "700 Sundays" on Broadway?
One of my favorite shows I ever saw.
-Oh, thank you. Thanks.
-I remember, I saw it twice,
because I was like, "I have to do this again.
I have to experience it."
It was so funny but emotional.
And it was -- it was just a fun night,
because -- -Yeah.
-Do you remember -- I was there that night.
-And Sandy Koufax was there with Joe Torre.
-Yeah, it was crazy.
-Yeah, and we went out for, like, till 3:00 in the morning
just talking about baseball and stuff.
It was, like, the greatest. Yeah.
-Do you like having people visit you backstage
and say hi? Okay. -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's only one person who ever disappointed me backstage.
-Who? -The Geico gecko.
-Oh. [ Laughter ]
-But, you know, it's interesting.
Because first of all, he's a little arrogant.
[ Laughter ] -Wow.
-With the accent and the whole thing.
And it's like -- it's like meeting Tom Cruise.
He's a little smaller in person. -Oh!
[ Laughter ] That's very interesting.
-And -- yeah, and he's like about this.
-Yeah. -And he hands me a script.
"Could you read it?"
-No, you don't have time for this stuff.
I'm sorry to hear that. -No, so Mel Brooks calls me
at the end of the run, and he says, "Listen, Billy.
I got two ideas. Here's the first.
I'd like you to be Max Bialystock
in 'The Producers.' Come across the street.
You'll do it for six months.
Whatever you want to do, it's yours."
So I said, "Mel, I love you.
I don't want to be the fifth person
to play Max Bialystock." -Yeah.
-"You won't, you'll be the 12th."
[ Laughter ]
And then this company --
these people in London said, "Would 'Mr. Saturday Night'
be a musical, you think?"
So I started thinking about it then, put it away.
Then over time, I went back to our original writers,
who you know very well -- Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel.
-Babaloo Mandel. -The best.
And we wrote the movie together.
And we started fashioning the musical,
and it got better and better and better and better.
And here we're going to start previews March 29th,
and we open April 27th.
I hope you can make that. -Of course.
-The show, I have to say, is -- it's hilarious.
It's really touching.
The music is phenomenal.
A great composer -- Jason Robert Brown --
and Amanda Green wrote the lyrics.
And it's beyond -- it's the best version
of this character, because --
-Have you ever sang on -- -Yeah, well -- you know,
I sang the last time in college in "Finian's Rainbow."
I was the leprechaun. [ Laughter ]
-Wow. -Perfect timing for today.
A Jewish leprechaun. -Happy St. Patrick's day, yeah.
-And -- And then on the Oscars.
I would sing when I was on the Oscars.
But this is -- I've been training for a year.
And I have like eight songs, the music is spectacular.
It's hilarious.
And, boy, I couldn't be more excited about --
I'm going to be here open-ended. So I'm -- I'm here.
-Oh, but I'm -- but you're gonna get tired of me.
Buddy -- Buddy Young Jr., the story is basically --
he's, like, a comic who's kind of --
-He's down and out, but he's -- he's not doing well.
He had some problems in the '50s,
mentally, and his show got cancelled.
And now, present day, 1994, in the show,
he's got a chance to make a comeback.
And so now he gets his brother back, who is his manager,
played once again by David Paymer.
-That's -- -Who was nominated
for an Oscar for the movie.
-That's really good. -For best supporting actor.
We have an amazing cast.
Shoshana Bean, Randy Graff, Chasten Harmon,
and it's tremendous.
And in getting his comeback going, he realizes his family
is suffering, and they don't -- they don't have enough of him.
So, it really becomes about pulling his --
his estranged daughter back in the fold and healing his family.
So it's got a lot of stuff in it that's beautiful.
-I can't wait and -- -Me either.
-And, really, I will be there.
"Mr. Saturday Night" -- break a leg.
Billy Crystal, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
"Mr. Saturday Night" begins previews
March 29th on Broadway.
Billy and I are doing something fun after the break.
Come on back, everybody. It's good, it's good.