Billy Crystal says he stopped talking to God after the Pacific Palisades fire took his home and after the killings of friends Rob and Michele Reiner, losses he is now working through on stage.
The longtime comedian and actor told CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Tracy Smith that the back-to-back blows left him without the faith he once leaned on, even as he prepares a return to Broadway.
Breitbart News reported on the interview remarks, which center on Crystal’s home loss in the January 2025 Palisades fire and the December 2025 deaths of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, described in the coverage as a horrific killing allegedly carried out by their son, Nick Reiner.
Crystal did not soften the point when Smith pressed him on whether he still talks to God.
"No, ‘cause I, I don’t trust him,"
He went further when asked if he meant it.
"Yeah. Too many bad things have happened. The Earth is in bad shape, this is a weird, scary time. So no, not anymore."
Crystal lost his home when the Palisades fire tore through his neighborhood in January 2025. The fire left the area burned to the ground, according to the account of his remarks.
Just 12 months later, in December 2025, came the deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner. Rob Reiner was a filmmaker and one of Crystal’s beloved longtime friends. Coverage of the interview states the couple died in a killing allegedly at the hands of their son, Nick. Official charges and court findings were not detailed in the segment summary.
Those two events sit at the center of Crystal’s explanation for cutting off prayer. He framed the choice as a response to piled-up pain, not a casual aside.
Crystal is promoting a new one-man Broadway show titled 860. It follows his Tony-winning 2004 show 700 Sundays, which dealt in part with conversations with God. The new work is part of how he says he is absorbing the damage.
He described comedy the way working people often describe getting back on the job after a bad stretch, as something you do because you have to.
"That’s what I do. You have to, man. You’ve gotta. It’s a healer. It always has been that way. You know, we say when life gets tough, all you can do is laugh,"
Crystal said the show itself has already done real work for him, even before a full run.
"I’ve been doing it. If I didn’t get to perform it, even, I’m OK. I’ve absorbed the biggest pains that people can go through, the loss of home, dearest of friends, and I’m OK,"
At 78, he still talks like a man who expects another round. He told Smith he feels good and remains optimistic about what life will bring. He added that if he and those close to him have gotten through the year the way they have, they are doing all right.
Crystal built a career on sharp timing and warm crowd work, from stand-up and classic film roles to hosting duties that made him a familiar face in American living rooms. The CBS Sunday Morning segment aired to push the Broadway return, and it put a private spiritual break into public view.
He did not offer a theological argument. He offered a ledger: house gone, closest friends gone, a country and a world that feel unstable to him. On that record, he said, trust in God is finished for now.
Plenty of families who lost homes in California’s fire seasons, and plenty of people who have buried friends under ugly circumstances, will recognize the temptation to shut the door on prayer. Crystal’s answer is blunt. His counterweight is older and simpler, get on stage, tell the truth with a joke, and keep moving.
When the worst year knocks out the altar, the work ethic and the laugh track are what some men still have left, and Crystal is betting both can carry him through.
