THURSDAYS WITH BILLY
There is no doubting that Billy Crystal has a bottomless well of goodwill being the Jewish grandpa with the Borscht Belt sense of humor and the emotional intelligence and resilience that comes from having to deal with major blows in life
The show opens with a video-wall aided re-enactment of the day he and his wife evacuated and left their home of 46 years to be consumed by wildfire. From there, he goes on a sentimental, if a bit tangential tour of tangible memories from his office that were lost in the fire. Where he gets a bit lost in threading the needle is when he basically hits a few major “cool story, Grandpa” moments about his early career hits and friendships with the likes of Muhammad Ali and Mickey Mantle. He does also take the time to eulogize both Rob Reiner and Robin Williams, both very touching moments. He does also channel the spirit of Bryce Pinkham a bit by way of a pair of Trump jokes and a Kash Patel joke - three groaners. Fan service - to be expected, I suppose.
Where he really cooks in in the last third of the 90 minutes, where he brings us back to the day of the evacuation and everything that happened afterward. It’s here where the laughter changes over to shock and tears as you watch him in real time recount (again, with the aid of a very artfully used video wall) the moment he knew it was all gone, and then returning to the rubble. However, without giving away the ending, Crystal telegraphs that sometimes things you thought were lost (both material and non-material) can still be found in the ashes and bring comfort when starting over. Admittedly, I was moved to tears as it reminded me of a photograph that survived my grandmother losing her house to a fire while dealing with end stage cancer, the only copy - scorched but not lost.
Overall, though he is given to gilding the lily with some of his tangential anecdotes and (I can’t believe I’m saying this) should cut 5-10 minutes, I don’t think you’ll ever forget the impact of Billy being openly vulnerable about life, loss, and rebuilding in your late 70s. I give this a solid B+
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Updated On: 10/2/26 at 10:17 PM
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