Billy Crystal transcript

MICHAEL EISNER:
So, Billy. Thank you for — coming on this show. And — and I'm a little obsessed with you now.

BILLY CRYSTAL:
Uh-oh.

MICHAEL EISNER:
'Cause I saw — Seven Hundred Sundays — your one man show — twice, and I read the book —  and () based on Seven Hundred Sundays. And I've been going to theater since Oklahoma — when I grew up in Manhattan until Lion King era. And I've never seen an audience go as crazy or having a better time — or a more emotional time than at Seven Hundred Sundays.

BILLY CRYSTAL:
Oh —

MICHAEL EISNER:
And —

BILLY CRYSTAL:
--thank you.

MICHAEL EISNER:
I don't know why I felt that way, except that you taking the audience on a Disney-esque roller coaster ride through extreme happiness, and fun, and comedy — and then into the — darkness of — of death and other issues was pretty brilliant.

BILLY CRYSTAL:
Oh — a Disney-esque.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Well, Disney-- I mean--

BILLY CRYSTAL:
Mi-- Mr. Jew's wild ride.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Yeah. Exactly. (LAUGHTER) Did you-- I mean, I know you worked on it a long time and I know--

BILLY CRYSTAL:
Well, I started writing in 1948--basically. But-- you know--

MICHAEL EISNER:
Living and writing it.

BILLY CRYSTAL:

Yeah and-- it just came time for it to-- it needed to come out. I mean-- you know-- my dad died when I was 15. It was always a hurt that was in there-- no matter how old you get, no matter ho-- what you do-- you just miss the phone calls-- still you miss that-- the-- person in the audience waving. And that-- little things that-- you know, you would get to do and hopefully-- would be there for the rest of your lives. So--

MICHAEL EISNER:
Was it traumatic license-- in the play, in the book-- you said that on the actual day that he died-- you had a fight with him and then felt guilty, 'cause--

BILLY CRYSTAL:
Oh, no. That was that-- that was-- that was part of the-- the hurt of it all in never getting a chance to say, "I'm sorry."

MICHAEL EISNER:
That was the only fight you really had with him?

BILLY CRYSTAL:
Well, we had-- you know, we had father and son things, but that was really the one that I remember the most, 'cause-- we were alone for the first time-- my two older brothers were finally away at college. I was the youngest, so I had him alone for a-- well-- five Sundays-- one month. And then we had this fight about this girl that I was-- first love-- you know, first crush. And he was upset with me. And-- but at the same time in his life-- business had folded-- he wasn't well, which we didn't know. And he was under incredible pressure. So, it came out at me. So, we had a little-- thing about this girl. And then that night he-- he dies.

MICHAEL EISNER:
If you wrote that in a play--

BILLY CRYSTAL:
E-- right.

MICHAEL EISNER:
--or a television-- show and it was given to an executive, he would say, "That's too convenient."

BILLY CRYSTAL:
Yeah, I know it's-- but life isn't convenient sometimes. You know? And-- that's-- that's the way it was. And--

MICHAEL EISNER:
Well, some--

BILLY CRYSTAL:
--to relate that to the audience at that point in the show when that starts to turn-- after--first act of very funny things, and then-- you start to understand that this is-- this is now-- we're gonna have to sit through this-- gave me a power on stage that I've never-- felt before in my life. And I think that's why it-- it reached people-- that I was to simply tell this-- what happened to me. And then-- and in many instances, what I found out in the three hundred shows that we've done now-- is that I keep getting these letters-- it happened to-- all these other people. So, my life became their lives. So, it wasn't just me-- it was a-- universal story about-- losing.

MICHAEL EISNER:
…you probably don't even know it, but-- one of the last things I did at ABC was a-- a woman by the name of Marcie Carsey came into my office and said, "I'd like you to read this script. I think this half hour comedy-- it's gonna be a soap opera, but it's a comedy. It should be on Tuesday and Thursday, twice a week-- and it's called Soap. (LAUGHTER) And here's the cast." And I said, "Sounds good." And went to Paramount. (LAUGHTER) And then this--really-- revolutionary kind of comedy--

BILLY CRYSTAL:
It was.

MICHAEL EISNER:
--called Soap.

BILLY CRYSTAL:
Yeah.

MICHAEL EISNER:
So, I have some-- relationship with you and Adam (PH) and of course-- you-- were the--voice of Mike in Monsters, Inc.

BILLY CRYSTAL:
Still I think the best part I've ever had.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Really?

BILLY CRYSTAL:
I loved doing that. The-- those guys were geniuses and they were just so much fun to play this guy who you really didn't see. You know-- when you do those things, you're reading a script. But what John Lassiter -- did-- let me do-- I also wanted to get John Goodman in the studio with me. Usually you do them separately. Then they piece the voices together.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Right.

BILLY CRYSTAL:
So, I said-- "How can I play-- you know, with John-- and we're so close together in the movie-- Sully (PH) and Mike that we"-- and so, they let John come in. So, the two of us would just riff off each other-- and I think it made the performance that much better that we were actually-- you know, together-- in a room.

MICHAEL EISNER:
It was a great movie.

BILLY CRYSTAL:
It is a-- I think it's a brilliant movie.

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