Billy Crystal turns loss of house in wildfires into a ‘brilliantly funny’ show

‘When Harry Met Sally’ star Crystal began writing the show on the morning the fires struck.

“The show really takes place in the house that was, and it’s all the funny stories, and touching stories, that have happened to us in that time,” he told Stephen Colbert on The Late Show in April.

“I started really writing it the morning of the fires.”

The production incorporates video Crystal filmed as the flames approached, alongside a stage set recreating his home office and the memories attached to it.

Speaking to CBS News about the house, he said: “Yeah, it kept me young, that place.”

The loss was about far more than bricks and possessions. Family photographs, personal keepsakes and memorabilia collected throughout his career had all disappeared.

“Damn, I miss all my stuff,” he says in the show, according to Time Out New York.

“Every time I'd look at something, or hold it, I could remember every detail and I'd be there again.”

The Jewish funnyman has acknowledged that rebuilding his life after the disaster does not erase the pain.

“Yes, we're fortunate to have this and have that, but that doesn't take away the hurt. That doesn't take away the loss,” he told CBS News.

For a comedian whose career has been built around making people laugh, humour has also become a means of navigating the tough times.

“That's what I do! You have to, man. You got to, you got to … It's a healer. It always has been that way,” he said. “You know, we say when life gets tough, all you can do is laugh.”

The show also reflects on another devastating loss: the deaths of Crystal’s close friend Rob Reiner and Reiner’s wife, Michele Singer Reiner, in December 2025.

Crystal had been with the couple at a holiday gathering the night before they died.

He told CBS News: “It's so insane, because we were together the night before. We said goodbye, like, late that night, 10:30 or something, at the party we were at together for the holidays, and then… what?!?”

Crystal paid tribute to the couple during the In Memoriam segment at this year’s Academy Awards.

Reviewing the production for Time Out New York, Adam Feldman praised Crystal’s generosity and his ability to make the large Imperial Theatre feel intimate. He described the show as a “warm and bittersweet new monologue”.

The New York Times named 860 a Critic’s Pick, calling it “brilliantly funny”.

The Los Angeles Times described it as “brilliantly conceived and tremendously moving”, while Entertainment Weekly praised the comedian’s connection with his audience: “Billy Crystal takes audiences by the hand and refuses to let go of their hearts.”

People magazine called it “a remarkable piece of storytelling”, praising Crystal for allowing himself to appear vulnerable without losing the comic timing that made him famous.

Crystal has also spoken about the wider community affected by the fires.

At a benefit event, he recalled escaping the fires.

“These were the clothes I wore when I fled my house with my wife Janice, like so many of us did, on January 7th. This was all I had,” he said, before joking that he had worn them for a week alongside an N95 mask and looked like “an evacuee or someone that just robed a 7-11”.

But his humour gave way to a more painful reflection on the scale of the disaster.

“Have you seen my school? Have you seen my church? Have you seen my house? Have you seen my town? Have you seen the 29 people who lost their lives? Have you seen them?” he asked.

The production was initially scheduled to close on January 3, 2027, but its run has been extended until February 14.

"We're here together to thank [the firefighters] and all those who run towards danger while we run to shelter and safety," Crystal insisted.