Free Still Foolin' 'Em by Billy Crystal

big-time music acts like Billy Joel, Sha Na Na, Melissa Manchester, Harry Chapin, and Barry Manilow, and I got some television spots as well. Mike Douglas did a wonderful talk show in Philadelphia. He had me on many times, and it was so exciting to be picked up in a limo and driven down to Philly to perform on his show. Like Merv Griffin and unlike Johnny Carson, he always had you sit and talk with him after your spot, no matter who else was on the show. This was so important to young performers.
    The day after my first appearance on Mike’s show, I went to visit my grandma Susie. “How come you didn’t mention me? I gave so much money to charity,” she complained. She was also a tad confused that I wasn’t on the next day as well. “Did you get fired?” she asked. One time on Mike’s show, I sat between Jimmy Stewart and Lucille Ball. Mike said, “Nice pair of bookends, huh?” I turned to Jimmy Stewart and said, “I love Lucy of course, but I have seen Gone with the Wind fifty times.” Lucy fell out of her seat, and Jimmy just held a stare during the huge laugh and winked at me, letting me know he had a line. “Yes,” he said, “I did some of my best work in that one.” The great Norman Lear saw me perform at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles and created a part for me on All in the Family; I played Rob Reiner’s best friend, “Al, the Nut Boy.” It was the week after Rob and Sally’s baby was born, and this show would be one of the highest-rated All in the Family episodes ever. People tuned in hoping to meet Joey, but instead they got to see me get married on the show. It was the start of a great friendship between me and Rob. We instantly felt like we had known each other forever. It would also begin a creative relationship that would change both our lives.
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    In 1975, two important things happened that had polar opposite effects on my career. First, on October 11, I was booked to do a guest spot on a new NBC show called Saturday Night, produced by Lorne Michaels. We had met a few times at Catch a Rising Star, and I’d realized that Lorne wasn’t your typical television producer. He was a young, cool funny man, not the middle-aged-comb-over types I had been meeting. When he started talking to me about this new show he was developing, he said, “It’s a show for us.” The idea was that after regular programming ended, at eleven-thirty, these young funny people would take over. He was putting together an ensemble of sketch players for the cast, and a guest would host the show each week. It would also feature the best musical acts in the world. He didn’t want me for the regular cast but asked me to do stand-up spots on the show and suggested that I would make several appearances and perhaps, in time, get to host the show myself. This was the break I’d been hoping for. It was an opportunity to be with the kind of talent I really admired on a show I knew would be important. I met some of the cast. John Belushi had started to come down to the Other End to watch me work. I became friendly with Gilda Radner and some of the writers, like Alan Zweibel, who to this day is one of my closest friends and wrote 700 Sundays with me. One night, Lorne brought the head of NBC, Marvin Antonowsky; the head of talent, Dave Tebbet; Gilda; and Chevy Chase to the Other End. I couldn’t have been more excited.
    Lorne asked me to be on the premiere. The Friday night before the first show, there was a full dress rehearsal with a live audience. George Carlin was the host; there were two musical guests, Billy Preston and Janis Ian, and three new comedians: me, Andy Kaufman, and Valri Bromfield. The run-through was a little spotty—George was funny, of course, yet the sketches didn’t play very well. My piece was very strong, and Andy as “Foreign Man” did “Mighty Mouse,” which brought the house down. I felt great. Afterward, during the notes session, Lorne not only asked me to cut my six-minute spot