Exclusive | After the closed sale of the Friars’ clubhouse in NYC, the son of the late William B. Williams aims to get a coveted photo inside

In its heyday, New York’s Friars Club was full of laughs, thanks to its fantastic comedy of celebrity roasts from Milton Berle to Donald Trump and Betty White.

But now, one man is dealing with a situation he says is no laughing matter.

The late beloved DJ William B. Williams was a longtime member of the club — so much so that he was named Friars Club Man of the Year in 1984, just two years before his death. Now that the club is closed and facing an uncertain future after a recent sale of its Manhattan property, Williams’ son, Jeffrey Williams, wants a piece of his father back.

“Well, here we are, all these years later, and here I am begging and begging a company in California to return my father’s picture,” Jeffrey told The Post.

A haven for entertainers, the club was founded in the early 1900s by press agents and quickly attracted vaudeville, Broadway and Hollywood stars. Radio and television personalities soon followed and, by 1958, the club owned an apartment building at 57 E. 55th St.

The summer Williams passed away, Jeffrey said the club told him it would honor Williams by naming the first-floor bar the William B. Williams Room. The club brass asked for, and Geoffrey said he lent them, a giant framed photograph of Williams that was prominently displayed above the bar.

A decade later, when the Friars renamed the bar room for Billy Crystal, and displayed Williams’ name and photo in the clubhouse pool room, Jeffrey reiterated his wishes for the photo to remain on loan—and he would like it a day if anything would be. happen to the club.

Then something happened to the club.

Years of fiscal mismanagement followed by a flooded kitchen and COVID-19 lockdowns stifled membership renewals. The club stopped making payments on a $13 million mortgage to Irvine, Calif.-based Kairos Investment Management. After the club closed for good in 2022, Kairos took them to court.

In early December, at the building’s foreclosure auction, Kairos made what is known as a “loan” bid of $17.2 million for the outstanding amount, plus interest, and became the official owner of the famous Midtown townhouse.

“The picture has no value to anyone who’s going to buy that building but me,” said Jeffrey, who has been trying for months to get the work framed by the real estate agent, the administrator and Kairos. And yet, the ultimate use of the building in the future is unclear. “If a government buys it [for a consulate]they won’t want a picture of my father, and the longer it stays there, the more likely it is to disappear. They will send people to clean the room and it will end up in the trash.”

The six-story English Revival-style property still has plenty of furniture, fitness equipment, full liquor bottles and celebrity memorabilia spread out within 14,541 square feet between Park and Madison streets.

Greg Corbin of Northgate Real Estate Group, who originally marketed the 33-foot-wide property for foreclosure sale, had suggested future uses ranging from a residential conversion, consulates and cigar clubs, to private clubs and restaurants. While the exterior was marked by the city in 2016, the interior was not.

A source said the lender is assessing the value of the memorabilia before making any decisions or reselling the building. Items including empty honorary membership certificate boxes, a bronze bust of Ed Sullivan and autographed posters can be cataloged and sold, for example, by a celebrity memorabilia specialist such as Julien’s Auctions.

Julien’s Auctions has so far not been contacted, but CEO David Goodman said: “This portrait of beloved radio icon and Friars Club legend William B. Williams, GROAT (Greatest Baker of All Time), is priceless for any serious collector of comedy and broadcast memorabilia.All jokes aside, Julien’s auctions of entertainment icons have included many of the Club’s stalwarts. Friars from Jerry Lee Lewis to Frank Sinatra, would love to throw our hat in the ring to represent the comedy pantheon.

Kairos did not return requests for comment.

Meanwhile, with the closing of the club, Jeffrey is faced with another embarrassing problem.

His father purchased three graves in the Friars Club section of Kensico Cemetery in scenic Valhalla, where Soupy Sales and other members are buried.

According to cemetery rules, however, someone from the club must approve the “opening” of a grave before someone can be buried, which the cemetery confirmed to The Post. That wasn’t a problem when Jeffrey’s father died, nor when his mother, Dorothy “Dottie Mack” Williams, died in 2019. But now, the club is foreclosed and there’s no one to call the graveyard.

The club’s last dean, lawyer Arthur Aidala, did not return a request for comment.

“I wonder how long I’ll have to be in the freezer before they open the grave?” Williams scoffed.