In high school, I was the class comedian as opposed to the class clown. The difference is the class clown is the guy who drops his pants at the football game, the class comedian is the guy who talked him into it.
Dad had a music store, and he’d often bring home comedy albums that I would listen to. I started listening to Bob Newhart and Bill Cosby, and developing taste. They really influenced my style of comedy.
The inspiration was this great group of 40 or 50 relatives, sometimes for Thanksgiving or Passover or something and my brothers would just go up and make them laugh.
When I’ve gotten criticism, it’s that it’s too long, too soft, didn’t hit the government hard enough. Then when I do hit the government, they go, What’s he doing hitting the government?
There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there’s usually only one thing you can do. Go through his clothes and look for loose change.
When we had the girls, my daughter Jenny gave us like a Bible from my daughter of, “Don’t feed them this; don’t feed them that, if she says this, don’t say that,” It was crazy!
[I did impressions] of relatives because I heard so many different sounds. My dad was in the music business and of course my uncle was a giant [music producer], but my dad in particular had the house filled with these Dixieland jazz stars.
![Billy Crystal Quote - I love doing it [hosting the Oscars] because I love the danger of it and you have to come through and think on your feet.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/i-love-doing-it-hosting-the-oscars-because-i-love-.jpg)
![Billy Crystal Quote - [I did impressions] of relatives because I heard so many different sounds. My dad was in the music business and of course my uncle was a giant [music producer], but my dad in particular had the house filled with these Dixieland jazz stars.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/i-did-impressions-of-relatives-because-i-heard-so-.jpg)
![Billy Crystal Quote - I have 40-something intros [that Davis Jr. did]; all are different, none of them happened. And it was hilarious.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/i-have-40-something-intros-that-davis-jr-did-all-a.jpg)