Mel Brooks says his late friend Carl Reiner was spared by Rob Reiner’s tragic murder late last year.
Mel Brooks has mourned Rob Riner’s death (Image: Getty)
Mel Brooks said he was grateful his longtime friend and collaborator Carl Reiner died before learning of the violent deaths of Reiner’s son and daughter-in-law, calling the double murder a tragedy his friend never could have endured.
The 99-year-old comedy icon addressed the killings during a Q&A at Tuesday’s premiere of Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man! at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
The new HBOdocumentary revisits Brooks’ decades-long bond with Reiner, who died in 2020 at age 98.
Their 32-year-old son, Nick Reiner, has been charged in the murders.
Mel Brooks says Carl Reiner would have been spared from heartache (Image: Getty)
“Carl, with what’s happened, I’m glad that he passed away when he did,” Brooks said. “He never could have survived this terrible, terrible thing.”
Brooks, who co-created The 2000 Year Old Man sketches with Reiner, became visibly emotional as he reflected on their friendship.
“I loved him. I loved Carl,” Brooks said.
“There was no fake laughter. I used to really break him up. He’d grab his belly and sometimes he’d fall down.”
Rob Reiner, who gave one of his final interviews for the documentary, spoke about Brooks’s presence during Carl’s final moments.
“Mel was there when my dad died,” Rob said. “He just collapsed in the bathroom. And Mel came back and realized, ‘Uh oh, something’s wrong.'”
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Brooks recalled the moment in the film.
“I was still hoping they would put the stuff on him and boom, get him up. I kept yelling at them, ‘Keep it up, keep it up,’ and they thought I was crazy after an hour of yelling,” Brooks said. “I just didn’t want him to go. I just couldn’t — I wouldn’t accept it.”
Rob Reiner was 78 at the time of his death.
He directed This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, and When Harry Met Sally, while Michele Singer Reiner, 70, was a photographer and LGBT rights advocate.
The couple, married since 1989, had three children: Jake, Nick, and Romy. Their youngest, Romy, reportedly found the bodies.
On Monday’s Fox & Friends, TMZ’s Harvey Levin said Nick has been ruled incompetent to stand trial.
“He is almost childlike in jail,” Levin said. “He can’t process the consequences of what he’s done. He knows what he did. He just can’t understand where he is right now.”
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