Editing Billy Crystal (section)

=== 1976–1985: Stand-up, ''Soap'', and ''SNL'' ===
[[File:Billy Crystal Soap 1977.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Crystal in 1977]]
Crystal returned to New York City. For four years, he was part of a comedy trio with two friends. They played colleges and coffee houses and Crystal worked as a substitute teacher on Long Island.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-740-billy-crystal|title=Episode 740 – Billy Crystal|website=WTF with Marc Maron Podcast|date=September 7, 2016 }}</ref> Crystal later became a solo act and performed regularly at ''[[The Improv]]'' and ''[[Catch a Rising Star (comedy clubs)|Catch a Rising Star]]''. In 1976, he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and on an episode of ''[[All in the Family]]''. Crystal was on the dais for [[The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast|the Dean Martin celebrity roast]] of [[Muhammad Ali]] on February 19, 1976, where he performed [[Impressionist (entertainment)|impressions]] of both Ali and sportscaster [[Howard Cosell]].<ref>{{cite interview |last=Crystal |first=Billy |date=September 15, 2013 |title=Billy Crystal on Roasting Muhammad Ali |url=https://stage.92ny.org/the-archives/2013/09/billy-crystal-on-roasting-muhammad-ali |work=[[92NY]] |interviewer-last=Goldberg |interviewer-first=Whoopi |location=New York}}</ref> This began a lifelong friendship between Ali and Crystal.<ref>{{cite news |title=Billy Crystal Shares Touching Stories of 42-Year Friendship With Muhammad Ali |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/billy-crystal-shares-touching-stories-42-year-friendship/story?id=39767028 |work=ABC News |date=June 10, 2016}}</ref>

Crystal was scheduled to appear on the first episode of ''[[Saturday Night Live|NBC Saturday Night]]'' on October 11, 1975 (the show was later renamed ''Saturday Night Live'' on March 26, 1977), but his sketch was cut.<ref name="actors">{{cite episode|title=Billy Crystal, 2nd Visit |series=Inside the Actors Studio |air-date=October 8, 2007 |url=http://www.bravotv.com/Inside_the_Actors_Studio/guest/Billy_Crystal_-_2nd_Visit |network=Bravo |season=13 |number=1307 |credits=Lipton, James (host) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011022131/http://www.bravotv.com/Inside_the_Actors_Studio/guest/Billy_Crystal_-_2nd_Visit |archive-date=October 11, 2007}}</ref> Crystal did perform on episode 17 of that first season, doing a monologue of an old jazz man capped by the line "Can you dig it? I knew that you could." Host [[Ron Nessen]] introduced him as "Bill Crystal."<ref>{{cite web | url = http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75qcrystal.phtml | publisher = Saturday Night Live Transcripts | title = Season 1: Episode 17 > Ron Nessen / Patti Smith > Billy Crystal Stand-Up | access-date = September 6, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130923185637/http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75qcrystal.phtml | archive-date = September 23, 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Crystal made a guest appearance on "The Love Boat" Season 2 Episode 5, which aired on October 20, 1978. He also made game show appearances such as ''[[The Hollywood Squares]],'' ''[[All Star Secrets]]'' and ''[[Pyramid (game show)|The $20,000 Pyramid]].'' To this day, Crystal holds the Pyramid franchise's record for getting his contestant partner to the top of the pyramid in the winner's circle in the fastest time: 26 seconds.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/10000-pyramid/episodes/199530|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141217143819/http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/10000-pyramid/episodes/199530|title=$10,000 Pyramid Episodes - $10,000 Pyramid Full Episode Guides on ABC &#124; TVGuide.com|access-date=December 16, 2014|archive-date=December 17, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/shows/10000-pyramid-aka-25000-pyramid-aka-100000-pyramid|title=10,000 Pyramid aka 25,000 Pyramid aka 100,000 Pyramid|website=Archive of American Television|date=October 23, 2017 }}</ref>

[[File:Soap full cast 1977.JPG|thumb|250px|Cast of ''[[Soap (TV series)|Soap]]'' (1977). Back row, L-R: [[Robert Urich]], [[Ted Wass]], [[Richard Mulligan]], [[Robert Guillaume]], [[Robert Mandan]], [[Jimmy Baio]], [[Diana Canova]], [[Arthur Peterson Jr.]] Seated: Billy Crystal, [[Cathryn Damon]], [[Katherine Helmond]], [[Jennifer Salt]]. ]]
Crystal's earliest prominent role was as [[Jodie Dallas]] on ''[[Soap (TV series)|Soap]],'' one of the first unambiguously gay characters in the cast of an American television series.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2017/04/26/tvs-gay-characters-before-and-after-ellen/100898898/|title=TV's gay characters, before and after Ellen|work=USA Today|access-date=February 8, 2018}}</ref> He continued in the role during the series's entire 1977–1981 run.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/billy-crystal|title=Billy Crystal {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com|access-date=September 21, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Soap (TV Series 1977–1981)|website=[[IMDb]] |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075584/fullcredits|access-date=September 21, 2018}}</ref>

In 1982, Crystal hosted his own variety show, ''The Billy Crystal Comedy Hour'' on NBC. When Crystal arrived to shoot the fifth episode, he learned it had been canceled after only the first two aired.<ref>{{cite book | title= Still Foolin' Em | first= Billy | last= Crystal | page= [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780805098204/page/93 93] | year= 2013 | publisher= [[Henry Holt and Company]] | isbn= 978-0-8050-9820-4 | url= https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780805098204/page/93 }}</ref> After hosting ''Saturday Night Live'' twice, on March 17, 1984, and the show's ninth season finale on May 5, Crystal joined the regular cast for [[Saturday Night Live (season 10)|the 1984–85 season]].<ref name="actors" /> His most famous recurring sketch was his parody of [[Fernando Lamas]], a smarmy talk-show host whose [[catchphrase]], "You look... mahvelous!", became a media sensation, including ads for [[Diet Pepsi]].<ref name="actors" /> Also in the 1980s, Crystal starred in an episode of [[Shelley Duvall]]'s ''[[Faerie Tale Theatre]]'' as the smartest of the three little pigs.

Crystal's first film role was in [[Joan Rivers]]' 1978 film ''[[Rabbit Test (film)|Rabbit Test]]'', the story of the "world's first pregnant man."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/09/archives/joan-rivers-rabbit-test-film-depicts-first-pregnant-man.html|title=Joan Rivers 'Rabbit Test' Film Depicts First Pregnant Man|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=Maslin, Janet|date=April 9, 1978}}</ref> Crystal appeared briefly in the [[Rob Reiner]] "[[rockumentary]]" ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'' (1984) as Morty The Mime, a waiter dressed as a mime at one of Spinal Tap's parties. He shared the scene with a then-unknown, non-speaking [[Dana Carvey]], stating famously that "Mime is money."<ref>{{Cite web |title=In the '80s, mime is money: Minor Detail's 'Canvas of Life' |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2013/07/09/in-the-80s-mime-is-money-minor-detail-s-canvas-of-life/ |access-date=May 10, 2022 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en}}</ref>