Billy Crystal Recalls Late Comedian Milton Berle Slapping Him in the Face — on 2 Different Occasions
Billy Crystal Recalls Late Comedian Milton Berle Slapping Him in the Face — on 2 Different Occasions
Desiree AnelloSat, April 18, 2026 at 9:54 PM UTC
0
Billy Crystal and Milton BerleCredit: Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty -
Billy Crystal recalled the late comedian Milton Berle punching him on two separate occasions, joking that he “may be the last one alive to know Milton Berle stories”
“This was a man who sold more television sets — Milton was Mr. Television for a reason,” the actor and comedian said of Berle’s legacy
The former Texaco Star Theatre host died in 2002 at age 91
Billy Crystal has nothing but fond memories of Milton Berle — even if some of them were painful.
While joking that he “may be the last one alive to know Milton Berle stories” during an April 15 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the When Harry Met Sally actor, 78, recounted two separate occasions in which the late Texaco Star Theatre host slapped him across the face.
On one occasion, Crystal found himself on a panel with Berle and Carl Reiner on what would be the final episode of Tonight Starring Steve Allen.
"I sat in between the two of them, these two bookends, the giants of television," he told Stephen Colbert. “This was a man who sold more television sets — Milton was Mr. Television for a reason. He helped kill the movie business in the beginning because people stayed home to watch this new amazing thing called television.”
Billy Crystal and Milton Berle at an L.A. Clippers game in 1996Credit: Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty
While things were going smoothly at first, the crew told the trio around 20 minutes into the taping that the cameras “were not registering” anything. So, they had no choice but to start all over again.
"Milton Berle turns to me and says, ‘Looks like I’m on,’ ” Crystal went on to recount. “He then asks for a — ‘Give me a mic, give me a mic!’ So, now he goes out in front of the audience and he does a bunch of time, and it’s just hilarious, but weird.”
"He’s doing it, he’s walking on his ankles, he’s doing everything,” he continued. ‘And he finishes, comes back, we give him a standing ovation, and he looks at me, and he slaps me in the face."
Advertisement
— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Clarifying that the unexpected punch was purely for laughs, Crystal said that Berle then invited him over to his house to “smoke some dope” and see his impression of Jerry Lewis directing a movie — which may involve another comedic punch.
While Crystal simply said that he was looking forward to it at the time, the pair ended up bumping into each other a few weeks later while the Princess Bride actor was grabbing dinner with comedian Alan King at Los Angeles restaurant Spago.
“Alan King is facing me, so Alan can’t see Milton," he explained, noting that Berle kept popping his head up to make absurd noises while sitting behind him. "Then there was the cigar under the upper lip. This went on forever and ever and ever, and I’m just dying.”
Eventually, Berle finished his meal and walked over to Crystal’s table, setting the scene for his Jerry Lewis impression.
"Now, listen, your wife has left you, you’re lonely, you’ve been drinking too much. Life is meaningless,” Crystal recalled Berle saying, occasionally slipping into an over-the-top impression of the late comedian. "You’re in a hotel all by yourself, right? You have to reach inside yourself, Bill."
“Just think about any loss in your life, any pain. You have to summon it and say, ‘This really is sucky,’ ” he continued in Berle’s voice. "And then he got up and he slapped me in the face again. He hipped me into the ground.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
