Billy Crystal thought his comedy career was over before it even really started after being cut from the premiere episode of Saturday Night Live.
Crystal, 76, has had a famed Hollywood career including winning multiple Emmy awards and a Tony award, but endured a tough start to his days in comedy.
The comedian started doing stand-up in New York City and, as his star slowly began to rise following multiple TV appearances, was recruited to help develop a new sketch show in 1975 by the name of NBC Saturday.
That would go on to be known as Saturday Night Live, and it is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The show’s legendary creator and executive producer, Lorne Michaels, knew Crystal and invited him to be a part of the show in its early days.
Not only did Crystal play a helping hand in getting the show to air, but was due to act in his own sketch in the first episode.
“On Friday night, there was a dress rehearsal with a live audience, and it did really well. And it was a real highlight of the night,” Crystal said about his sketch during an appearance on Monday’s episode of the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast.
But as it got closer to air time, Michaels asked Crystal to find a way to cut his sketch down by two minutes in order to fit in the schedule. Eventually the sketch was axed altogether, leaving Crystal devastated.
“It was particularly heartbreaking at the time because I was 25. I was part of the planning of the show… I’m new into my standup life too, at that point… and I was really starting to find my way,” Crystal said.
He recounted how he caught the Long Island Railroad home before the show aired and called all of his family members to tell them not to bother watching because he was no longer going to be on it.
It all eventually worked out for Crystal because he was brought back for a sketch in the 19th episode of SNL’s first season and over the ensuing years, appeared multiple times as host before joining the cast in 1985 for one year.
Crystal said joining the SNL cast and packing up his family to move from California to New York City in order to do so was a no-brainer because, even though he had enjoyed success, he knew SNL is “where I should have been.”
“I was having a successful time, but I didn’t feel like myself,” he said, adding that when he got the call to join SNL, Crystal “just knew it was the right thing.”
“We packed up the kids and we moved to New York and I had the time of my life. I felt like I was where I was supposed to be, it all felt right.”
Crystal recently spoke to Newsweek about making a move into more a dramatic role, with the Apple TV+ series Before. In the series, which currently available to stream, Crystal plays Eli, a child psychiatrist grappling with the recent loss of his wife, Lynn, played by Judith Light. His world takes a chilling turn when he meets Noah (Jacobi Jupe), a troubled young boy who seems eerily connected to Eli’s past.
“For me personally, I had an incredibly enlightened experience playing [Eli], very freeing, [I’ve] never had to play a character who was losing his mind in the way that Eli is, but while he’s losing his mind, he’s finding himself at the same time,” Crystal said of working on the drama.
The actor added: “And then all the inventions that Sarah and her other wonderful writers invented for me to do, for Eli to go through were—I don’t know, I just kept giggling sometimes. We would finish something horrific and they’d go, ‘Cut,’ and I’d go, ‘What a job! I loved it! Look what I get to do!’ I got this thing coming out of my neck or whatever it may be. It was actually thrilling, you know, exhausting. It’s a tough schedule, shooting two shows at once, so it’s hard to let go of it.”
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