Billy Crystal has written and is starring in a new two-hour, one-man show at New York’s Imperial Theatre called “860” — the street address of the Pacific Palisades home he lived in for decades before it burned to the ground in the wildfire that tore through the Los Angeles neighborhood.
The show is a solo performance, with Crystal the only person on stage for its full run time. According to a review of the production, Crystal spends part of the evening discussing what it means to find humor after losing the house, closing out a night built largely around laughs with a more reflective turn on the subject.
Crystal had talked about wanting to do a one-man show for decades without following through, with reported mentions of the idea going back to 1988, repeated again in 1989, in 2000, and again around 2010 and 2011. “860” marks the actor finally putting that long-standing ambition on stage, built around the most personal subject matter he has tackled: the destruction of his own home.
Crystal’s career includes nine stints hosting the Academy Awards, including a 2004 ceremony for which he worked with six writers. He has said that despite hosting so many Oscar telecasts, he never actually watched one back afterward, saying hosting is fun but “the aftermath stinks.”
Crystal’s comedy roots trace to Caroline’s Comedy Club, and he is widely known for his role in “When Harry Met Sally.” The bar at the Friars Club has reportedly been renamed in his honor.
The Palisades fire that destroyed Crystal’s longtime home was among the blazes that swept through Los Angeles-area communities, displacing residents and destroying homes across the region.
