The New York Times review by Lewis Funke was mixed: "A crisply played and highly polished little entertainment called The Billy Barnes Revue arrived at the York Theatre on First Avenue last night..." but Funke found the material lacking "...the trouble is that they have not given the material the edge, sharpness and point of view that would have made it truly comic".

"[7] Overall, however, the reviews were largely positive, and 35 additional investors contributed the extra money needed to move the show from the York Playhouse to Broadway.

Later cast replacements in the off Broadway production included Jo Anne Worley, Charles Nelson Reilly and Larry Hovis.

Following its three-week run at the Lyceum Theatre, rather than closing down for good, the show moved off-Broadway again to the Carnegie Hall Playhouse on October 20, 1959.

[12] A controversy erupted when Barnes, Guilbert, Berry, Joseph, Regan, Rodgers, Weinrib and Eckstein flew to Chicago to tape an episode of ABC-TV's Playboy's Penthouse, produced by Hugh Hefner's Playboy Magazine, and failed to make their flight back to New York in time for the Tuesday, October 27 performance.

Eckstein sent a telegram to the producers stating that the cast had made a "frantically conscientious effort to return to New York by curtain time as numerous impartial witnesses can testify; a dispatching error resulted in misconnections," but rather than simply recognizing the value of the network television publicity, the management filed a complaint with Actors' Equity Association and the American Federation of Musicians (of which Barnes was a member).

"[13] Although one of the producers, Samuel J. Friedman, denied that their decision was a retaliatory action, two weeks later, the entire cast (except Virginia de Luce, who had replaced Jameson) was replaced by Ronnie Cunningham, Arlene Fontana, Jane Johnston, Larry Hovis, James Inman, Charles Nelson Reilly and Tom Williams.

Ironically, the promotional appearance on Playboy's Penthouse by the original cast members did not air until Saturday, December 5, one week after the show had closed.

American cast members Ann Guilbert, Joyce Jameson, Jackie Joseph and Patti Regan were joined by British comedians and actors Ted Rogers, Ronnie Stevens, Terence Cooper and Richard Owens.

[16][17] Several of the original cast members (Berry, Joseph, Jameson and Regan) returned to Los Angeles and began work on a new revue, The Billy Barnes People.