This was broadcast when my daughter was 10 months old.....I actually remember this one, too. What a great talent Billy Crystal is, and was. Being on Johnny Carson on the Tonight show was a big boost for any aspiring talent, almost anyone that got to be on the show was rocketed to fame and fortune. Thanks for the memories, I always enjoyed the Tonight show and miss the days when late night TV wasn't Political jokes that aren't funny anymore like they all are now.
*Billy Crystal's stand-up routine was nothing to write home about--but his impressions of Mohamed Ali and Howard Cossell were spot-on. He's one of the few comedians whom I respect as a person. I remember his saying on "Inside the Actors Studio" that the last time he'd been on a date was during the Johnson Administration! No "scandals" and has been married to the same woman since 1970. You can't say that about most other comics of his generation.*
😃 *Thank you!* I’ve never seen this one. What a maaaavelous and unique routine 😉 from one of my all-time favorites. To this day, I still tape Carson reruns on the tube.
👏👏👏 That was definitely new & refreshing! Billy just got better & better as the years went passing by!! Haven't heard anything from him in awhile, I hope he's doing well!!! 👍👍
@@danerd8978 Thanks for the information, I don't get to the movies & I don't have TV, I do all watching here on RU-vid. I'm glad to hear he's still working!
As he came on you could see the nerves yes folks a time when Billy Crystal was merely human, but the nerves soon went and he did some wonderful observation comedy which was good but also very brave, and Carson acknowledged that.
Billy talks about the appearence in his book. He remembers being told by the segment producer to look at him after he was done to see if Billy should take a bow and leave or if he would get the holy of holies...getting called to the couch. Billy was apparently the first since Freddie Prinze to get called to the couch at his first appearence. Also, in the book, he tells about an awkward encounter he had with Orson Welles the night before which made him slightly more nervous about his appearence.
@lonewulf44 Billy approached Orson backstage at the Martin Roast of Ali they both appeared at the night before and Orson, in a funky mood, told Billy to go f#&k himself
And also, Holly crap, Billy was just about taking over the whole show with the close up camera Ali impression I think Johnny had to snap him out of it!
How did these guys look older back then? I remember watching City Slickers, which was my introduction to Billy Crystal. But in this old clip he looked capable and durable. Pretty amazing how young he was here.
You had to be pretty damn good for Carson to invite a person back with such kudos. I loved watching Carson... often on the sly. That's back when late nite was good. And good music shows. Sigh.
I think he was invited to visit with Johnny because Johnny had been apprised of Crystal's skill as an impersonator of two well-known and controversial personas as Ali and Cosel. If it was just based on his "routine" that night, they would have bid him adios!
Well, I don't know how I missed that appearance. IMHO, very nuanced humor that took a lot of guts to perform on national TV, let alone Carson. But, man, didn't he get the praise? And we ALL know what even a thumbs up from Carson could do for a comedian. How wonderful that these performances have been archived!
Billy really went for high wire audience trust , or he didn't care that much, which for his big shot is really brave in either case.. Or this was his best out of the off kilter , repetition, bits...or all of the above,, of course it was. Thank you so much
For Crystal's first SNL appearance (season 1, episode 17), it appears as though his character from the Carson bit has morphed into an old jazz musician - again it's a character-driven routine with only a few jokes. So again, despite being a mostly unknown comic at the time, Crystal fearlessly abstained from punch lines and stayed with a concept. Reading some of the other comments here, this isn't to everyone's taste (like, where are the one-liners?), but clearly Carson and SNL saw something in his performances.
I know a lot of the comments aren't a fan of his standup here but paradoxically I think this routine would play super well with a gen z crowd with maybe a few of the references updated. Even if almost no one under the age of, like, 60 has seen a lounge comic the concept of committing to a character, recurring gags, few actual punchlines, and cringe comedy would play super well with modern young audiences
Hello. Love your channel. Do you have any clips of when Johnny interviewed David Niven please? I have seen a few still photos, but cant find any videos. Many thanks.
I saw him maybe 2 yrs before this at the Exit In in Nashville. He was playing piano for Martin Mull's gig. He was so handsome until he got smaller... and smaller lol.
When it comes down to it, crystal wasnt a great standup but he was a good comedic actor. Hes a kid here, and would go on to make a good name for himself. I like the bit but it went on for way too long.
This is 1976. Things weren't as RUSHED. Comedians were allowed to story tell a bit. I can remember when Robin Williams first came on the scene - he was almost TOO FAST !
Considering how Billy has makes this appearance sound whenever he talks about it, I expected a lot more. The lounge thing was mildly funny at first, but he shouldn't have made it basically his whole routine. Got stale pretty quickly, imo. Meanwhile his Ali Cosell impressions were absolutely spot on and hilarious and made me think he should've had THOSE in his routine rather than just doing them from the chair. Plus he's also described the reaction to the Ali bit as "Johnny kicked back in hysterics and it was just magical." Didn't see any of that here, but in fairness, maybe he was confusing it with a later appearance. Oh well...
strangely enough, the voice (intonation) Billy Crystal is using here is exactly the same as the voice Steve Martin has been using for years. I wonder who copied whom.
Definitely.. WEIRD. Good thing for The Oscars that the sitcom "Soap" got picked up or 'Billy' probably would have been selling insurance a LONG time ago.. 😒
Bill's character of the lounge singer is dead on for what shallow wealthy financialy but poor in Caracter people acted like and thought was cool were and some still are like. The rest of the act including Ali impression are wonderful.
I love billy, but perhaps I'm dating myself but I just think you should have stuck with the impressions in my opinion. Clearly Johnny thought otherwise, which makes me wrong.
William Edward Crystal (Nueva York; 14 de marzo de 1948), más conocido como Billy Crystal, es un actor, escritor, productor, comediante y director de cine estadounidense.
I'm not sure what I'm missing, because I didn't find that bit funny at all. Billy Crystal is a great talent, but I just didn't find this bit funny at all.
I cannot for the life of me make out what he says at 8:54 ... "Mohammad, you did not dance until the 12th round ..." and then gibberish. Can anyone tell me what he says? Sounds like "it leaves this repulitzner feel" but that, of course is nonsense :)
Well Carson didn't think so and if Carson thought you were funny you are funny and we have to remember this was the mid-70s so don't bash on crystal too hard.
The comedy routine to me was NOT funny. Billy was funnier on the panel when he did the Ali and Cossell routine. However, Johnny liked the routine and thats what mattered.
I love Billy Crystal, but I have to say, imo, this routine was cringe. He did great in the interview, but the standup was not funny. I suspect he was invited over based on other performances, or reputation.
Billy Crystal is a product of "who you know" in Hollywood. His skit was terribly boring and even the audience back then didn't laugh at all. Johnny was just being nice and said what he said out of professionalism.
Crystal should try to stop these videos from appearing. He is terrible here. Wish I never saw it as I was kind of loving the job he did on the oscars. The imitations were very good, but his personality was off-putting and the skit was not at all good. Kind of a passive/aggressive personality.
