[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 CRYSTALI think when I feel I’m at my best is when I’m on stage, and it’s my version of jazz because it’s just riffing or something.
More Billy Crystal Quotes
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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.
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Nobody is more truthful when he’s acting than De Niro.
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It’s money. I remember it from when I was single
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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?
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You really have to have some muscle to be on the stage in front of the world.
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I was introducing [director and producer] Hal Roach – Mr. Roach was 100 years old, he was one of the fathers of early days in films, he put Laurel with Hardy, he created the Our Gang kids, and all these silent movies he did – he was a giant.
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By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he’s too old to go anywhere.
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Even when I was in school shows, in elementary school doing plays, I’d always go off book and start improvising.
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Nothing can take the sting out of the world’s economic problems like watching millionaires present each other with golden statues.
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I never stopped believing in us and I never felt like I was wanting for anything, except for my father, and that was not going to be. I describe in the book [that] I don’t think I ever felt young again in that way.
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I’m married – I’ve caught my limit.
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I don’t like heights. This is why I stopped growing at fifth grade.
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Well, the way things are going, aside from wheat and auto parts, America’s biggest export is now the Oscar.
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That’s the thing about jazz: it’s free flowing, it comes from your soul.
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As a director and an actor, I encourage improvisation but in character and in the moment of what it is.
BILLY CRYSTAL







