1969–1985: Stand-up, Soap, and SNL In 1969, Crystal joined various improv troupes. He spent over four years in a comedy improv group with two friends. They played colleges and coffee houses and Crystal worked as a substitute teacher on Long Island. Crystal later became a solo act and performed regularly at
The Improv and
Catch a Rising Star. In 1976, he appeared on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and on an episode of
All in the Family. Crystal was on the dais for
the Dean Martin celebrity roast of
Muhammad Ali in 1976, where he performed
impressions of both Ali and sportscaster
Howard Cosell. This began a lifelong friendship between Ali and Crystal. Crystal was scheduled to appear on the first episode of
NBC Saturday Night on October 11, 1975 (the show was renamed
Saturday Night Live on March 26, 1977), but his sketch was cut. Crystal did perform on episode 17 of that first season, doing a monologue of an old jazz man capped by the line "Can you dig it? I knew that you could." Host
Ron Nessen introduced him as "Bill Crystal." Crystal made a guest appearance on "The Love Boat" Season 2 Episode 5, which aired on October 20, 1978. He also made game show appearances such as
The Hollywood Squares, All Star Secrets and
The $20,000 Pyramid. To this day, Crystal holds the Pyramid franchise's record for getting his contestant partner to the top of the pyramid in the winner's circle in the fastest time: 26 seconds. '' (1977). Back row, L-R:
Robert Urich,
Ted Wass,
Richard Mulligan,
Robert Guillaume,
Robert Mandan,
Jimmy Baio,
Diana Canova,
Arthur Peterson Jr. Seated: Billy Crystal,
Cathryn Damon,
Katherine Helmond,
Jennifer Salt. Crystal's earliest prominent role was as
Jodie Dallas on
Soap, one of the first unambiguously gay characters in the cast of an American television series. He continued in the role during the series's entire 1977–1981 run. In 1982, Crystal hosted his own variety show,
The Billy Crystal Comedy Hour on NBC. When Crystal arrived to shoot the fifth episode, he learned it had been canceled after only the first two aired. After hosting
Saturday Night Live twice, on March 17, 1984, and the show's ninth season finale on May 5, Crystal joined the regular cast for
the 1984–85 season. Crystal appeared briefly in the
Rob Reiner "
rockumentary"
This Is Spinal Tap (1984) as Morty The Mime, a waiter dressed as a mime at one of Spinal Tap's parties. He shared the scene with a then-unknown, non-speaking
Dana Carvey, stating famously that "Mime is money."
1986–1999: Oscar host and leading man status Due to the success of Crystal's standup and
SNL career, in 1985, he released an album of his stand-up material titled
Mahvelous!. The title track
You Look Marvelous, written by Crystal and
Paul Shaffer, had an accompanying music video that debuted on
MTV. Both the song and video features Crystal in character as his
SNL persona of talk show host
Fernando Lamas. The video features Lamas cruising around in what was at the time the world's longest stretch limousine, built by custom-coach designer and builder Vini Bergeman, surrounded by models in bikinis. The single peaked at No. 58 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in the US and No. 17 in Canada. The album was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording at the 1986 Grammy Awards. He later starred in the action comedy
Running Scared (1986) opposite
Gregory Hines. Film critic of the
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert praised the two for their on-screen chemistry writing, "But Crystal and Hines...don't need a plot because they have so much good dialogue and such a great screen relationship." During this time, Crystal hosted the
Academy Awards broadcast a total of nine times, from
1990,
1991,
1992,
1993,
1997,
1998,
2000,
2004 and
2012. His hosting was critically praised, resulting in two
Primetime Emmy Award wins for hosting and writing the
63rd Academy Awards and an Emmy win for writing the
64th Academy Awards.
San Francisco Chronicle columnist John Carman raved about Crystal's performance for the
70th Academy Awards writing, "It was the best Oscar show in two decades...Crystal was back in razor form."
The Seattle Times television editor Kay McFadden praised Crystal commenting that "he possesses nearly impeccable timing and judgment." Crystal reunited with director Rob Reiner in
The Princess Bride (1987), in a comedic supporting role as "Miracle Max." Reiner got Crystal to accept the part by saying, "How would you like to play Mel Brooks?" Reiner also allowed Crystal to ad-lib, and his parting shot, "Have fun storming the castle!" is a frequently quoted line. Critic
Roger Ebert described Crystal as a highlight of the film writing "the funniest sequences in the film stars Billy Crystal and Carol Kane, both unrecogizable behind makeup, as an ancient wizard and crone who specialize in bringing the dead back to life." Reiner directed Crystal for a third time in the romantic comedy
When Harry Met Sally... (1989). Crystal starred alongside
Meg Ryan,
Bruno Kirby and
Carrie Fisher in a script written by
Nora Ephron.
The Hollywood Reporter praised the film and Crystal's performance writing, "Crystal's lustrous, deeply-shaded performance is certain to win him legions of new fans; indeed, his prowess as a comic reaches its deepest human dimension here." Crystal was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy losing to
Morgan Freeman in
Driving Miss Daisy (1989). The film has since become an iconic classic for the genre and is Crystal's most celebrated film. In 2019, the
BBC named the film the greatest romantic comedy of all time. In 1991, Crystal created and produced the HBO six-part comedy miniseries
Sessions starring
Michael McKean and
Elliott Gould. The
Los Angeles Times praised the project describing it as "swankily written, elegantly staged and perfectly cast." Crystal then starred in the award-winning buddy comedy
City Slickers (1991), which proved very successful both commercially and critically and for which Crystal was nominated for his second
Golden Globe. The film was followed by a sequel, which was less successful. The name of his company is Face Productions.
Entertainment Weekly praised Crystal's performance writing, "It's also the first movie ever to do the talented Billy Crystal justice...he's far more pleasureful to watch in this sort of dramatic-comedy role than, say, Robin Williams, because his comfy, urban-shlemiel personality helps ground the jokes." Following the significant success of these films, Crystal wrote, directed, and starred in
Mr. Saturday Night (1992) and
Forget Paris (1995). In the former, Crystal played a serious role in aging makeup, as an egotistical comedian who reflects back on his career. In 1992, Crystal narrated
Dr. Seuss Video Classics: Horton Hatches the Egg. He was originally asked to voice
Buzz Lightyear in
Toy Story (1995) but turned it down, a decision he later regretted due to the popularity of the series. He also had success alongside
Robert De Niro in
Harold Ramis's mobster comedy
Analyze This (1999). In 1996, Crystal was the guest star of the third episode of
Muppets Tonight and hosted three
Grammy Awards Telecasts: the
29th Grammys; the
30th Grammys; and the
31st Grammys. Crystal was a guest on the first and the last episode of
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which concluded February 6, 2014, after 22 seasons on the air.
2000–2014: Later film work and Broadway debut Crystal directed the made-for-television movie
61* (2001) based on
Roger Maris's and
Mickey Mantle's race to break
Babe Ruth's single-season home run record in 1961. This earned Crystal an
Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special. More recent performances include roles in ''
America's Sweethearts (2001), the sequel Analyze That (2002), and Parental Guidance (2012). Crystal later went on to provide the voice of Mike Wazowski in the blockbuster Pixar film Monsters, Inc. (2001), Cars (2006), during the epilogue in the end credits as a car version of the character, and to reprise his voice role in the prequel film, Monsters University (2013) and the TV interquel/sequel television series Monsters at Work'' (2021–2024). Crystal also provided the voice of
Calcifer in the English version of
Hayao Miyazaki's ''
Howl's Moving Castle (2004). He won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event for 700 Sundays'', a two-act,
one-man play, which Crystal conceived and wrote about his parents and his childhood growing up on
Long Island. His nine times is second only to
Bob Hope's 19 in most ceremonies hosted. At the
83rd Academy Awards ceremony in 2011, Crystal appeared as a presenter for a digitally inserted Bob Hope and before doing so was given a standing ovation. The ceremony's hosts were
James Franco and
Anne Hathaway who received largely negative reviews, with film critic
Roger Ebert writing that "when Crystal came onstage about two hours into the show, he got the first laughs of the broadcast". Crystal's hosting gigs have regularly included an introductory video segment in which he comedically inserts himself into scenes of that year's nominees in addition to a song following his opening monologue. In 2013, Crystal released his autobiographical memoir ''Still Foolin' Em''. The audiobook version was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album at the 2014
Grammy Awards. The televised special received three
Primetime Emmy Award nominations including
Outstanding Variety Special, and
Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. In 2014, Crystal paid tribute to his close friend
Robin Williams at the
66th Primetime Emmy Awards. In his tribute, Crystal talked about their friendship, saying, "As genius as he was on stage, he was the greatest friend you could ever imagine. Supportive. Protective. Loving. It's very hard to talk about him in the past because he was so present in all of our lives. For almost 40 years, he was the brightest star in the comedy galaxy… [His] beautiful light will continue to shine on us forever. And the glow will be so bright, it'll warm your heart. It'll make your eyes glisten. And you'll think to yourselves: Robin Williams. What a concept." Crystal stated that paying tribute to Williams so publicly and so soon after Williams had died was one of "the hardest things I've had to do" and that "I was really worried that I wasn't going to get through it." Crystal soon after appeared on
The View where he and
Whoopi Goldberg shared stories about Williams, reminiscing about their friendship, and their collaborations together on
Comic Relief.
2015–present: Return to Broadway , Crystal,
Renée Fleming,
Dionne Warrick,
Queen Latifah,
Barry Gibb, and
Jill Biden in 2023 In 2015, Crystal co-starred alongside
Josh Gad on the
FX comedy series
The Comedians, which ran for just one season before being canceled. His series received mixed reviews with many critics noting the chemistry developed further as the series went on. The series was compared to backstage shows such as
The Larry Sanders Show and
30 Rock. Kate Kulzick of
The A.V. Club wrote "The odd-couple pairing of Crystal and Gad works well, with their generational divide providing many of the show's early highlights...The friendly rapport that develops between the fictionalized Billy and Josh allows them to relax a bit and get to know each other better". In 2016, Crystal gave one of the eulogies for
Muhammad Ali at his funeral. In his remembrance of Ali, Crystal talked about his admiration for Ali as a boxer, and humanitarian. He also shared stories of their unlikely friendship after Crystal did a series of impersonations of him. Crystal stated of Ali's legacy, "Only once in a thousand years or so, do we get to hear a
Mozart, or see a
Picasso, or read a
Shakespeare. Ali was one of them. And yet, at his heart, he was still a kid from
Louisville who ran with the gods and walked with the crippled and smiled at the foolishness of it all." In the fall of 2021, Crystal reprised the role of Buddy Young Jr., in a theatrical musical staging of
Mr. Saturday Night at the
Barrington Stage Company in
Pittsfield, MA. In 2022, Crystal adapted his 1992 movie
Mr. Saturday Night into a
Broadway musical with the same name. Crystal stars in the musical reprising his role from the film alongside
David Paymer. The production began previews on Broadway at the
Nederlander Theatre on March 29, 2022, prior to officially opening on April 27. Crystal earned the
Drama League Award for Contribution to the Theater Award for "his extraordinary work on stages across the country and commitment to mentorship in the field." Crystal performed a number with the ensemble from his musical at the
75th Tony Awards. Crystal also performed what he described as
Yiddish scat singing. Crystal went into the crowd teaching
Lin-Manuel Miranda and
Samuel L. Jackson as well as the rest of the audience.
The New York Times praised Crystal on his bit, describing it as a highlight of the telecast writing, "one of the few moments that broke through...is when [Crystal] brought it out into the audience, and threw it up to the balcony, he showed how precision, delivery and command of a room can make even the oldest, silliest material impossibly compelling." In 2023, Crystal was celebrated by the
Kennedy Center Honors. Tributes came from
Rob Reiner,
Meg Ryan,
Whoopi Goldberg,
Robert De Niro,
Jay Leno, and
Bob Costas.
Lin-Manuel Miranda and
Marc Shaiman did a tribute to Crystal's "Oscar Medleys" to the tunes of "
Too Marvelous for Words", "
It Had to Be You" (the theme from
When Harry Met Sally...), and "
My Favorite Things" from
The Sound of Music. Crystal attended the
97th Academy Awards where he served as a presenter for
Best Picture with his
When Harry met Sally... co-star
Meg Ryan. In February 2025, Crystal appeared alongside Meg Ryan and
Sydney Sweeney in an advert for
Hellmann's mayonnaise which aired during
Super Bowl LIX. The advert recreated the
Katz's Delicatessen scene from
When Harry Met Sally..., with Crystal and Ryan playing their characters from the original movie and Sweeney delivering the "I'll have what she's having" line. == Acting credits and accolades ==