Billy Crystal could share a sketch with plenty of gifted comedians, but Christopher Guest presented a unique challenge. The former “Saturday Night Live” cast member said Guest made him laugh so intensely that maintaining eye contact became nearly impossible, as reported by Page Six.

Crystal discussed his time on the comedy series during an Oct. 12 Q&A with Whoopi Goldberg at PaleyFest NY 2026. The 78-year-old comedian appeared as an “SNL” cast member from 1984 to 1985.

“I couldn’t look Chris Guest in the face,” Crystal said. He explained that he performed more sketches with Guest than with anyone else during his run on the program.

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Crystal also remembered the broader cast with obvious affection. “And we had a great group: Marty Short, Chris Guest, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Rich Hall, but Chris and I … he’s so funny.”

Guest, also 78, joined the cast for Season 10 of “SNL.” He and Crystal notably appeared together in the recurring “Willie and Frankie” sketches, playing masochistic characters who casually described the painful things they had done to themselves.

After recounting their latest injuries, the characters would respond with the recurring line, “I hate when that happens.” For Crystal, performing the absurd material while standing beside Guest made the scenes especially difficult to complete without laughing.

“Chris makes me laugh like crazy,” Crystal told Goldberg, 70. “There were so many times I couldn’t even look at him. I would just look the other way when he had lines to do.”

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Crystal then recalled one “Willie and Frankie” performance in which Guest made an unexpected adjustment. According to Crystal, Guest was supposed to describe going home, removing his clothes, bathing in a vat of gin and rolling back and forth on push pins.

During the planned version, Crystal would react with a simple “Oh,” before Guest delivered the characters’ familiar complaint. But Guest changed the wording when they performed the sketch live on the air.

Instead of using the rehearsed line, Guest said, “So I stripped down to the nude.” Crystal immediately realized that his costar had found a funnier way to say he had gotten naked.

Crystal remembered responding, “Oh, you bastard,” as he struggled to contain his reaction. “It’s just a funny way of saying I got naked … and I just couldn’t control myself.”

Guest was not the only “SNL” colleague Crystal celebrated during the PaleyFest conversation. He also praised Martin Short, another Season 10 cast member, and remembered the late Robin Williams, who appeared on the show several times before his death in 2014.

“Marty [Short] is as funny as he gets,” Crystal said. His admiration for Williams was just as emphatic as he reflected on the remarkable performers he had encountered.

“I’ve been around amazing people, and we were blessed to be around one of the geniuses [who] I’ve ever been shoulder to shoulder with, and that was Robin [Williams],” Crystal said.

Crystal and Guest also shared credits outside “Saturday Night Live.” Their other projects included “This Is Spinal Tap” and “The Princess Bride,” both directed by the late Rob Reiner.

Reiner died alongside his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, in December 2025. Crystal later spoke about the final conversation he had with the filmmaker before Reiner was fatally stabbed at his Los Angeles home.

During an April appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Crystal said they had spent the previous night together discussing their careers. The conversation occurred at Conan O’Brien’s 2025 Christmas party and included thoughts about how the movie business had changed.

“We talked about the fact that you can’t control how a movie is going to do. What you can control is the experience of making it,” Crystal recalled. He said the experiences they shared, and those Reiner had with casts from his other films, were extraordinary.

Crystal also carried away a final piece of wisdom from his longtime collaborator. Reiner told him, “That’s something you’ll always have. Hits are great to have, but it’s the people that you hold on to,” and Crystal said he kept those words in his heart.