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When it comes to comedy, there are folks who excel at specific and often singular expressions of the art form b and then there are folks like Billy Crystal, who are just damn good at everything. Just take a peek at his decades-deep resume, and youbll see a comedic icon whobs killed it on TV, at the cinema, on Broadway and even on the web. With his latest production,
Spend the Night With Billy Crystal, he returns to the stage in a conversational format b facilitated by another comedy luminary, Bonnie Hunt b that allows him to tell jokes, stories and more directly to an audience that can interact with him in turn. Ahead of his April 27 visit to Atlanta,
CL checked in and chatted with him about the new show, Robin Williams, baseball and more.
Youbre becoming known for picking a divergent range of projects to be involved in. What led you to Spend the Night?Itbs a show
Bonnie and I started doing in Australia this past summer, and it was a great success. What led me to it was b& I just have so much fun in front of people. Itbs how I started out and what I love to do most. Webve done 27 cities so far, and itbs just been spectacular.
From what I know about the show, it seems like itbs a little different every night.Itbs a lot different. Therebs a lot of stories. Ibve met a lot of interesting people, a lot of funny people. We show film clips that people have never seen. And in that way, itbs always spontaneous. We go where the audience sort of wants us to go. The questions that end up coming to me on stage are things the audience would like to know about. Everywhere webve gone, webve done little focus groups after
the show and what they love with this format is itbs more intimate. Thatbs why we call it Spend the Night With; itbs like if we were able to have dinner with the audience, this is what they would ask me.And then for me, as a comedian, I go off and I do stuff and I improvise. The last few years of my career, the most fun I had was being on the Letterman show with Dave. We had a great relationship together. So this is like a two-hour David Letterman show to me. Thatbs the looseness of it. In that way, Ibm not confined to a script the way I was with my Broadway show,
700 Sundays, which I loved doing. But this is freer. I can go anywhere I want.
So how did Bonnie Hunt get involved with the show?We connected through Robin Williams. They were very, very close friends, and he was my closest friend. We both spoke at his memorial b and we both spent time laughing and crying and talking about him. Then, several months ago, they dedicated a theater complex in Robinbs name in New York;
Bonnie and I were both there for that, and we were very funny on the panel talking about Robin. I knew I wanted to do this tour, so it just felt the appropriate place was to say
to Bonnie: b Hey, you wanna do this with me?b So in that way Robin brought us together.
This showbs unique format speaks to the fact that youbre able to adapt your talents across a lot of platforms. Why do you think youbve found such success in so many different mediums?Oh, I donbt know b& I just try to do good stuff. I just try to be honest and be funny. If youbre funny in the right way and not mean-spirited or something, I guess it just goes to different places. I also really love what Ibm doing, and I think that has always come through.
I know you are a big baseball fan. Any thoughts on the controversy surrounding the Braves leaving Atlanta city limits to set up shop in the suburbs?
Ibm not totally familiar with this b& I just remember when the Dodgers and the Giants both left New York and went West how devastating that was to people who love them. They still feel bad about it. But thing is, all it takes is a few wins by the Braves and all will probably be forgiven!
Spend the Night with Billy Crystal: $55.50-$171.50. 8 p.m. Thurs., April 27. The Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E. 404-881-2100. www.foxtheatre.org.