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[0:00] Jeff Malone: Welcome to Half Hour with Jeff & Richie, the podcast where we explore the latest shows we see, sharing our insights and opinions on the performances, storylines, and everything in between. In today's episode, we're discussing the Broadway production of Billy Crystal and 860. Whether you cannot catch the show in person or want to expand your thoughts after seeing it, this episode is for you. And as always, we want to inform you that this episode will contain spoilers, so if you're ready to dive into this production, stick around with us. I'm Jeff.

[0:24] Richie Grasso: And I'm Richie, and we're thrilled to be your host for this episode. But before we start the conversation about 860, here are a few words from our advertisers. Welcome, everyone, to a new episode of Half Hour with Jeff & Richie. Today, we're discussing Billy Crystal and 860.

[0:38] Jeff Malone: 860 Chautauqua Boulevard was the Pacific Palisades house Billy and Janice Crystal lived in for 46 years, until the January 2025 fire destroyed it. The show opens and closes in the fire, and in between, Billy walks through the life that happened in that house. The draft lottery number that sent him towards stand-up, soap, SNL, the Oscars, his marriage, his daughters, and friends he has lost, including Robin Williams, Muhammad Ali, and Rob Reiner.

[1:04] Richie Grasso: Okay, so let's get into our bold statements for Billy Crystal and 860. Should I go first? I'll go first. This was heartwarming. This was eye-opening. It was so wonderful. I just felt like I was sitting for 90 minutes watching someone's heart be poured out on stage about a true story, his career, his life, and yet it felt like such a mix of emotions, of sadness, comedy, just insight as to what happened to him and his family, and learned some things along the way, and we laughed the whole way through. And as the catch line says, sometimes when life gets tough, all you can do is laugh. So very, very impactful piece, I found.

[1:46] Jeff Malone: Yeah, I think that for a bold statement about 860, I think that this is a super strong performance from Billy Crystal, and also probably a hard performance for him to actually put this out there. So I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed seeing this.

[2:07] Richie Grasso: So if we kind of start talking a little bit about this plot and concept here, I feel like there was, you know, he lost his house in the fire. So it seemed like he wanted to write a way of telling that story, but also like with flashbacks and how this house was also important to him. And he talks a lot about, you know, a house is not a home, but he did have all these memorabilia, belongings, furniture, very important things in his house that he lost. So I thought it was interesting that the concept started with like, we're in his office, in the house. And when I first walked in, I actually thought, oh, maybe some of these things are actual things from his house. Maybe these were what were found or left, because I didn't know, spoiler alert, that he really did lose everything.

And so to have seen that was an interesting concept. And I think it started with the fires, them fleeing the house and leaving the house. And then it was like, well, let me take you way back and let me tell you this whole life story. And then it ended with, you know, picking up the pieces and the fire and how he's been living his life lately since. So I think that whole concept worked for me.

[3:04] Jeff Malone: Yeah. I think, you know, right off the bat too, like you look at this and you're like, OK, Billy Crystal, celebrity fame, has a house in California. You know, what more could this man need? And he's really, truly living here. And we forget, though, like celebrities are still people. Right. And as much as they can probably rebuy everything, it doesn't take away from the fact that they did lose a lot. And I feel like that's the thing that people might struggle with at first from a concept standpoint of like, OK, Billy Crystal is kind of like doing a new one man show, stand up style with direction and, you know, Broadway moments that, you know, he's telling about everything that he lost. And it's more of like, let's say the first world problem that you lost your house in a fire and, you know, people are struggling with things all over the world.

And I, you know, taking yourself out of that and I'm saying, yeah, but he still lost everything, which is his journey of being able to go and talk about all of the memories that he was able to create in that home and also like where he came from. Like, it's not like he was just born into fame. He started off in a very rough area of like his career and like had to build it. So everything that came along with that on this was like him building his career, but also him building his family and him building his home. That all just kind of like was taken away from him in that one moment of a sense of like, oh, a fire just took my whole career away.

[4:44] Richie Grasso: Right. And I think throughout as he's gesturing to different photos on the wall and pictures and memorabilia and furniture and things, you're seeing all that. And then at the end, when he talks about the house was gone and the fire destroyed it all, the set actually, spoiler alert, goes away and goes into the stage and goes out into the wings and he's kind of like left alone on stage. And it kind of whether that was a directorial choice or not from Billy or whether it was written in the script like that, I thought that was really, really, a really great way of putting that. And with direction by Scott Ellis that we'll talk about in a little bit, I think that was some great work that Billy and Scott were probably doing together with like, how do we show that like everything behind me here is gone now and I'm kind of like alone in this.

And I also loved this use of audio and video put in throughout that he would take a pause for a second. We look at the screen and we'd watch an old movie clip that he was in or an old TV show or a stand up bit or something or photos of his past from his family and friends. Like it showed the importance of what your memories are, what photos and videos are to people are really important. And it shows that that's how you remember your whole life. So it was like nice. Imagine him being someone who, you know, eight times a week can just be giving these monologue after monologue and then just turn and, you know, take a sip of water and just look at the screen and there you are. And you're taking this journey through this every night on Broadway, sometimes two times a day, you know, so that's kind of cool that he did this as like, I'm going to do this concept of like, let's bring this to Broadway and the live audiences in New York versus I'll just do an HBO recorded special or I'll just do like a one night thing and I'll record it and be done. Like I think there was something special about making this live and how he appreciates the art form of live theater and live entertainment. I think that was really impressive.

[6:19] Jeff Malone: Yeah. You know, Billy says that humor is how he gets through the darkest time. So clearly this must be a moment in his life where he felt like he was in a very dark time. And do you feel like you're convinced by the end of this show that he was able to bring laughter in more of like the aspect of like, listen, my life still continues, but like we can laugh about what has happened?

[6:48] Richie Grasso: Yeah. Especially since, you know, there was this iconic moment of the rock that was found that had the word laughter on it. That was so symbolic to his career and to what was left. And when you look at what's left and you see the video footage, you're sitting in this show watching, you're like horrified by this and you're just watching it all. But it also makes you realize like he's even standing up there. He's like, yeah, like me and my wife don't really have, our kids are asking us like, what's our plan? And we're trying to figure out like our like later years plan. And he's still healthy and still, you know, you look at it like, who do you have? You have your family, you have your health, you're going to pick up the pieces. It's going to be hard and you're going to move forward as best as you can. And he kind of talks about that.

[7:24] Jeff Malone: Yeah. And also from a writing standpoint here, you know, I kind of look at this and I'm saying this is not just like a one man kind of standup show. This is a kind of really scripted out play. It feels like that has a lot of comedy elements in it, which I think works really well. Do you think it really like hits that mark?

[7:43] Richie Grasso: Totally. Because I think that it's nice that it goes from the lighting is changing. The videos come and go. He's referring to different things on stage. It's not like when you see a comedy special and someone's just standing up there with the mic and a stool and a water and they're just the same lights the whole time. And they're just kind of talking for the 90 minutes. It wasn't that it felt theatrical. And yet, yes, of course, he is standing there talking a lot, but he's like recreating some of all the bits he was doing from when he was opening up for that rock band when he was first starting and they had to go out there and do it and then go back and go back. That was so funny with that whole bit.

Like he found bits and then he talked like and then I learned so many things like his relationship with Muhammad Ali. I didn't even know a lot of that. I think that was so impactful for the time. He talks a lot about Robin Williams and he says and that really hit home for me when he ended that segment by saying, Robin Williams, what a concept. And I was like, oh, my gosh, yeah, we're not referring to Robin Williams as like just an actor or a human or a comedian, a concept. When you think of Robin Williams to think of the concept of comedy that he did, how prolific that someone like Billy Crystal saying that about him.

[8:48] Jeff Malone: So I just think there was a moment that kind of weighted it down. It's like, oh, this is kind of this is poignant. This is like he put buttons on things and then like a segment would close and then we'd go into the new segment. New music would start. He'd be like, OK, so now we're 10 years later and he'd pick us up when we kind of drifted down a little bit. Well, I think it had a lot of elements of us being able to take things away from it. It's not just comedy jokes. We're actually having like true stories that are happening here. And what is the actual takeaway from it? You know, one of those questions that we always talk about around the home of like a house is just a home or like you can't take it with you.

You know, there's a whole play about you can't take it with you. And like, what does that mean? And, you know, all of these things that are there and then gone, eventually one day someone would be getting rid of these things anyway. So it's interesting. But it's like you as the person didn't have that opportunity to actually say, oh, I want to actually get rid of this right now or, oh, my family can get rid of it right now. It's just like it's gone. It burned. It's it's out of here. And that to me was something that, you know, you're really able to take away from a piece like this. And I find it interesting to like in this show, I had more moments of taking things away than many plays that I see on Broadway.

[10:00] Richie Grasso: Yeah, totally. Yeah. You know, so, you know, it's interesting.

[10:05] Jeff Malone: Well, let's take a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk a little bit about Billy's performance more in this as well as some direction and some design choices as well. We'll be right back.

[10:13] Richie Grasso: OK. And we're back. So first, we know we were talking a lot about the direction of this and we have Scott Ellis directing this. It's really nice that Billy trusted this story with someone else. Billy could have very easily said, I'm going to direct myself in this. I'm going to design it myself. I'll stand on the bare stage. You don't really need lights. You just put some lights. He could have totally went like he brought a full team on board, scenic design, lighting design, sound design, video design, along with stage management, of course. And then there was even some music supervision, music coordination because there were some musical elements throughout original music and adaptations by Mark Shaman, directed by Scott Ellis.

Here's a team of people telling the story. And I think that's what shows Billy's strengths is that Billy was able to say, hey, I have this story. Can I get some other eyes on this? Well, how would you design this? What does this look like from the house? I'm up here by myself doing this the whole time. What does it look like from out there? That is what I sometimes wish we saw more of from people who are, you know, we've talked about some shows this season that people are writing and starring in and choreographing and directing. And it's like, you know, you got to be able to take a step back and look at the work or have someone else put their eyes on it. I think that's when you trust your team like that. I think that's really nice and important.

[11:20] Jeff Malone: Yeah. Because I think, you know, what Scott Ellis does really nice here, this is the Imperial Theater. This is a big theater. It's a big house. It's a big stage. And he is one person on that stage and filling it. And he does. He really gives it that moment of like, I'm fully taking on this this stage and I will move around and I will be directed and where I need to go and when I need to do it and how to tell that story. And I think, you know, Scott really helped Billy bring that out in a great way. You know, it's funny because I want while watching this, it actually brought me a lot of kind of like relating to like Hacks and Deborah Vance and her doing her like one woman show. And I know that's television, but where she had to go back to her stories from her past and be able to tell them, it almost feels like Billy may have been slightly inspired by a character like that in being able to now tell his stories from his past.

What are his memories and meeting them and taking them like from this one place in his home, which is his office. And that's where he's always stored so many of his memories. So I feel like there may have been some sort of inspiration from that. And I think it worked really totally, totally.

[12:37] Richie Grasso: And when you look at some of the design choices here, we have Scott Pask doing the scenic design. I think like, like you say, you walk in and you see this house, you're like, oh, this must, I really, really thought this is like, oh, some memorabilia and things in his life. And, and then to see it, it was just a strong, bold choice for it to disappear when the house disappeared. I thought that was great. And I thought the mix of video in the frame of the

[12:58] Richie Grasso: Well, it wasn't just a big screen with the video. There were like the set pieces that kind of framed it. I thought that was really nice.

[13:02] Jeff Malone: Yeah, I agree with that as well. I think it made it even more impactful to us when we had to see those pieces removed and come out and that they were burned. But we just heard all of these stories about them, even though they were not the actual pieces. I think that's where it became even more impactful. We were like, oh, those don't even exist anymore.

[13:20] Richie Grasso: And not to mention when you have video designers on board, it's almost like a lot of these videos are from his archival of things he's been in, family videos. So it's like to have to get all of that to a video designer and be like, hey, here's my life of videos or whatever they may have found from the internet or from televised things that he's done to have to sit and kind of cut and paste and edit that really, really impressive to Hannah S. Kim and Kylie Laura were the video designers. That's so impressive there as well.

[13:49] Jeff Malone: And then, like I said, even this original music, like he could have just put any music, and he has Mark Shaman come on to do these original music and adaptations of some thematic music throughout. Really, really wonderful.

[13:57] Richie Grasso: Yeah, as well. Well, it really gave it some filmic moments as well by having this underscore happening throughout the piece. It really kind of just heightened it to the next level.

[14:07] Jeff Malone: And Jen Driver's lighting design. I wanted to bring up one thing that I really enjoyed with her lighting. And if you notice this, when he was talking about specific moments or memories, that was lit on the wall. And then sometimes the lights would dim a little bit and you would just see highlighted like this one picture. And as he's talking about it, I would actually go look at that, the Yankee seat from the Yankee game or whatever was on the wall. I would look at it like, oh, he's talking about this. And I look at him and I look back. That's a wonderful lighting design choice.

[14:34] Richie Grasso: How easy could it have been just to throw some lights up here and everything's going to stay in the same general wash of light? But to bring different moods down of lighting when videos are playing them to highlight certain moments on the wall or the desk, that was wonderful. I thought that was very smart lighting design by Jen.

[14:51] Jeff Malone: It was, I agree with that as well. It really heightened those moments for us as well as being able to say like, okay, we're talking about that. And that's the moment. And we've loved some of Jen Driver's lighting over the years too. Jen, we want you on the podcast, by the way. We've always wanted the lighting designer to come on board. We've loved what you've done. So come on if you're listening.

[15:09] Richie Grasso: But we love that. But yes, I just think all of these design choices, directorial choices in general were very strong and cohesive.

[15:14] Jeff Malone: Yeah, all together. And then from the play and production itself, looking at it, who do you feel like this is really developed for? Fans of Billy or also for new fans?

[15:26] Richie Grasso: Well, it's interesting, you know, because when we went there, one of the first things Billy says is, you know, if you're under the age of 65, you might not understand all my references or jokes this evening. And that got a huge laugh from a lot of people. It led me to believe that a lot of the audience was in their fifties and sixties and older of that time. So he was referencing certain people in certain things. And every once in a while, he'd reference something like, oh yeah, I know that movie, or I know who he's talking about. And sometimes I'm like, I don't know who he's talking about.

[15:52] Jeff Malone: And so it was eye-opening for me to learn about, you know, what it was like to be a community at the time, pre TikTok and Instagram. And those days of kind of hitting the road, he had that one moment he talked about he would drive home to his wife and children and driving hours and hours and just listening to the tapes, listening, literal tapes, rewind the tapes, listen to himself the whole drive home, the work ethic that he had. And so I learned a lot about that.

[16:18] Richie Grasso: But do I think this is for everyone? Yes. Do I also think this is for Billy Crystal fans and also for people of his time period, time era? Yes. I think you would totally enjoy this when he goes all the way back to like the seventies and the eighties and all the times that he's worked all these decades through. I think that's who it's kind of for, but I think it's also for everyone too.

[16:38] Jeff Malone: Yeah. Well, I also think that's where it brings it back to what he says about like, you know, laughter during dark times. We had to see all of those different moments that he brought to the stage where he always used laughter to kind of take them out of it when he was going and struggling through something, especially even at the start of his standup career, he would just go back to the laughter, make people laugh. That's what he's here to do.

[17:01] Richie Grasso: And then also meeting people along the way, like you said, Robin Williams, Muhammad Ali, making them laugh or laughing with them and being friends to them, you know, they had to make fun of each other to really get through, you know, the toughest times. So that was really eye-opening and amazing for me to see. Cause I was like, oh, I'm learning so much from him other than like the smaller things that I know he's from or the big things like "Monsters, Inc." for me is like, you know, I didn't know much about him before our time.

[17:34] Jeff Malone: So yeah, it was great to see that, you know, this really brought new parts of Billy.

[17:42] Richie Grasso: Totally. Well, let's take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk about some Tony talk potentials with this and a little bit more about our experience at the show. So we'll be right back.

[17:50] Jeff Malone: And we're back. So talking Tony awards talk for this, Billy's first Tony was in a special category that no longer exists. So where does age 60 compete now? Best play lead actor in a play. Both does this, you know, the Tony awards committee will have to kind of vote on something like this. Whenever we have these solo act shows, it kind of comes down to like, you know, is it scripted? Yes. Does it have a flow to it? Is it design? Is it a concept? Yes. It's not just, oh, this comedian booked a Broadway theater for three weeks. No, it's like, and it actually got extended. He's going many months with this show and it's selling and it's selling. And I think the Tony awards committee should really consider him for something here.

[18:26] Richie Grasso: Well, I have an idea. So I, after seeing this, I'm saying Billy Crystal 1000% should be hosting the Tony awards this year because he now had the play on Broadway. He is funny. He has so much theater history and references that could happen here. And I think like that would be the big old, like if he's not going to get nominated in the best new play category or leading actor category and more so like, oh, I'm going to host the Tonys and maybe he gets another special Tony in some sort of a way. I think that's the perfect example of how Billy could be incorporated.

[18:58] Jeff Malone: He's hosted the Oscars before, right? He's hosted things. Everyone knows that name. I think that could be really great for them. And yeah, maybe that's the way of the Tony awards honoring him. Like if we're not going to give him a nomination potential for anything, but I also still think the piece should be honored in some way as an award. Maybe he gets a special Tony award at some point in his life for the Broadway, cause he's done a few of these shows before.

[19:19] Richie Grasso: Probably this is not his first time. So that's an interesting thing. Another bit of Tony talk here. Do we wonder if this is actually Scott Ellis's year to win a Tony award? He has been nominated many times for a Tony award for his direction of many productions and he has not yet won a Tony award. So I think it's hard because yeah, he's directing this play, but there are a ton of plays in the category this year, both new and revival. And we do not get two separate categories for the directors for new plays and new revivals. So could he get nominated? Sure. Will he win? I don't know.

[19:54] Jeff Malone: Yes. Very interesting. Right. And it'll be interesting to see. There are so many directors that have been working on Broadway for many, many years who haven't received a Tony award or maybe received one many years ago. So yeah, it would be interesting to see like how that pans out.

[20:06] Richie Grasso: Yeah, it could happen. But even from a scenic design standpoint, the lighting design, there could be other nominations from the creative side that are, you know, looked at for this Tony award season.

[20:15] Jeff Malone: Definitely. Also, "700 Sundays" was the last show he did, which was very successful. That became, yeah. And so that became an HBO special.

[20:20] Richie Grasso: Right. Should "860" be filmed next?

[20:28] Jeff Malone: I definitely think that there probably will be some sort of a pro shot of this because I could easily see it go on HBO again. You know, even with it extended, there are so many people going to see this show. You know, he wasn't "Mr. Saturday Night" and it was not successful. But now this is, you know, people like tickets are around $150 to see this show. So yeah, it is selling. His stand-up is where he lives and people love that. And that is where I think, you know, it definitely could have a moment if there's a pro shot here with an HBO special.

[21:01] Richie Grasso: And they may not announce that yet because they probably want people to buy tickets first if they announce that. And it is running till February, I believe. So you do get that like post-holiday time to see it in January and February if you're like trying to avoid the rush. However, if you're not in New York City and you're coming to New York and you want to check this out, it will be playing over the holidays. And he's doing a full Broadway week. It's not like he's only doing two or three shows a week. He's doing a full Broadway run at the Imperial Theater, which is also a huge theater. And when we went to the theater, I'm like, well, this theater is packed with people for this one person.

[21:32] Jeff Malone: Well, and we also look at the grosses every week and this show was pulling in over a million dollars. So yeah, this, I mean, it's clearly selling and it's working for him.

[21:41] Richie Grasso: And it's done well. It was reviewed well. I think it was done well. So very important stuff.

[21:47] Jeff Malone: And speaking of this, you know, Billy's talking about this story from his office in his home. And if you ever had to tell your story, what room would you do it in, in your home?

[21:59] Richie Grasso: Oh my gosh. You know what I would actually do? Probably my kitchen.

[21:59] Jeff Malone: Oh, because I love some of the things in our kitchen. And I think we put nice memorable things. We love to cook and we love different cuisines of food. And I find that the kitchen is a place where like, when we're in our kitchen cooking, we're talking when family and friends are over, we're in the kitchen talking with them, creating a meal, creating a memory. And we have like little, some cute little memorabilia things in our kitchen that we think about when we see. And so, I don't know, there's something about a kitchen to me that I would put my one-person show in a kitchen.

[22:27] Richie Grasso: Yeah. I mean, that's interesting. You know, I'll probably change my way of answering this question in some sort of a way, because you and I both have childhood homes that we no longer live in and they are no longer in our family. And I actually feel like I would want to go back to my childhood home and tell my play from there because I think there are multiple areas in my childhood home that I have so many memories in there that I could tell deep stories. And because it's not there anymore, I look at it and I say, that's where I would want to do it.

[22:57] Jeff Malone: And that's interesting because I would want to go back. Now that you think of it, I think of it, I would want to go back and go walk through my childhood home too and the different memories in different rooms, for sure.

[23:07] Richie Grasso: And I feel like there's probably so many people that, you know, eventually, you know, when parents retire and they no longer want to keep the house or they want to go somewhere else, like, yeah, you have to move on from the home. And, you know, your kids are all like, oh, keep it, keep it, keep it. And then you think about like, when you think about your home and you think about how Billy has lost this home and now he's trying to like start picking up the pieces of this. So it gets a little serious at times, but there's so much comedy scattered throughout this whole thing that, you know, when you're feeling low for a second, he then comes out with this one-liner and everyone starts laughing again.

[23:35] Jeff Malone: So, yeah, the energy of this piece is really heartwarming.

[23:41] Richie Grasso: Yes. Oh my gosh. We're almost out of time. What are your final thoughts on "860" on Broadway with Billy Crystal?

[23:46] Jeff Malone: Again, I, you know, I really, you said earlier too, that this was a heartwarming piece. I think listening about this and looking at it and watching it and really experiencing this with Billy was an amazing experience. And to hear so many of these stories and to be moved by these stories was important, I think, in this season. So I highly recommend it, especially if you're a big fan of Billy Crystal. You know, we've already told many people about this show that was like, oh, I think you would really enjoy that.

[24:14] Richie Grasso: Yeah. And I really want some family and friends and some people listening to go see this because it's really, really wonderful. You know, it also taught me a lot about family and friends, how important his family is to him, how important his friends are to him and the friends he made throughout his career and his life too. He has this wonderful quote in the show that he says, friends, you choose them and they choose you back. Really, really just felt so great to hear that. And he just had moments like that. You just think about your own life in that way.

[24:41] Jeff Malone: So I think it was really great to hear that as well because I feel like that's something that you and I do need to hear sometimes about friends and that like we do get to pick them and that they get to pick us.

[24:49] Richie Grasso: Yeah. And sometimes we forget that. And even with family too. He talks a lot about with his family, how important they are. And like when you hear about his wife throughout all this and his children throughout all this, that he roots a lot of importance in family and friends. And I think that's really important.

[25:06] Jeff Malone: Yeah. I mean, and there were a lot of emotional moments in this play too. And like ending this play, and this is the big spoiler, everyone. He ends this play with the rock with laughter on it. He brings it on stage. And that was the rock that was left at his home after it burned.

[25:22] Richie Grasso: Yeah. He always has to remember that laughter can get you through the dark. That was the button on the whole thing. Right. Which is really, really. So it's a great way to wrap it. Great, great stuff for sure.

[25:31] Jeff Malone: Well, that does wrap up our discussion of this episode. And we hope you enjoyed our deep dive into "860." Remember, we want to hear from you. Continue the conversation with us on Instagram and TikTok at Half Hour Podcast and drop us a comment on Spotify and let us know your thoughts on "860." Please also leave us a review. Your reviews mean so much to us. And remember to subscribe to our channel for all past and future episodes. Until next time, I'm Jeff.

[25:53] Richie Grasso: And I'm Richie saying tata for now.

[25:54] Jeff Malone: Bye.