Do you get nervous? I know you're Billy Crystal, but that opening night,

everyone was out.

That, you know, the difference between the movie premiere and you have to do the show.

You have to act the movie in front of people.

And I said, don't tell me.

I sort of knew a few.

But when you walk out there, and there are people that I just so love and revere.

Yeah, this is

Had you been talking to people, I mean, openly about this? I guess, when did you decide that you wanted to turn this truly unimaginable grief into such a beautiful piece of art?

When the first plane came over, which is the first image of the show, I was outside.

These are these firefighting plans that they had.

Yeah.

The water drops, the helicopters, the sirens, which woke us up to the news and we were watching everything.

I just ran outside.

And I just started shooting with my phone.

How do you think about that? experiencing all this grief one after the other, after the other, how do you process it? How, I mean, just how are you doing day to

860

was the street address of our house in the Palisades, which was not far from where Whoopi lived when she was in.

Yeah.

The morning, as that morning developed, planes were flying overhead, helicopters also.

So I just took out my phone and I just, for some reason, started filming everything, all through the terrible process that we were all going through.

I just kept filming everything.

I'm not sure why.

Yeah.

When you started hosting the Oscars, you and Jack Nicholson.

Yeah.

The fact I've rubbed shoulders with extraordinary people in my now 53, 2, whatever career, um, they're all, it's all in the show.

And it's, it all takes place in that room that was so powerful to me.

And it, it really focuses also on- As funny as it is on relationships-

Laughter.

Yeah.

When I, when we, when we first got settled in the house, I bought these four rocks with one word engraved in each of them.

Can you even process the loss of Rob and Michelle today? I,

um, no. Um, it's too big.

It's too, it's so insane.

Because we were together the night before.

We said goodbye late that night, 10.30 something, at the party we were at together for the holidays.

And then, what? You know, what? And then, you know...

How do you manage to find humor in these darkest of times?

That's what I do.

Oh, it's gonna be great

... you know, 700 Sundays was the joy of my life to do, and that was about growing up in a house in Long Beach, and that address was 549.

And my daughter Jenny said an interesting thing.

That show was all about, um, losing my parents over time and that thing where we all become orphans in your life and, and rising forward 'cause the gifts that they give you when you're young serve you well throughout your life.

But all the dreams I had in 549 of being a comedian come true in 860.

So the show is...

And, uh, what's interesting about the show as I've developed, I started really writing it the morning of the fires.

[cheering] [clapping]

(laughs)

"Oh yeah, we're honoring him." And um, "We'll see you Friday night, 8:00." So I hung up the phone.

I, I just...

I couldn't believe that this was gonna happen.

Janice and I drive in, um, from Long Beach (laughs) to the Plaza Hotel.

We walk into the ballroom, and cameras are all set up, and all of these people are mingling around, and it's... and we hold hands and we look like, as I described it, two people who, who had just gotten to America.

We had... we were just like, "Oh my God." And then I saw Ali for the first time-...

For you to stop and think about that, that had to be so special to be able to tell that story to an audience every night.

Yeah.

Eh, um, the most important moment for us was, I was substitute teaching, right? In the same junior high that I had gone to in Long Beach.

And I was really frustrated with myself.

I was with two friends, we was a- an improv group called Three's Company, where there was the three of us.

And I loved these guys, they were my best friends, and we were very funny together.

But I was hiding.

I was- I, uh, I needed to be on my own, and I didn't know how to do it, and I was really scared.

Yeah.