Mel Brooks Says He’s Glad Carl Reiner Was Not Around to Witness His Son’s Murder

Brooks made the remarks following the Los Angeles premiere of his new two-part HBO documentary, ‘Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!’

Actor Mel Brooks speaks on stage at the 36th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards at the InterContinental Hotel on in Century City, Calif., onJan. 15, 2011. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Renowned filmmaker and comedian Mel Brooks addressed Rob Reiner’s murder publicly for the first time, noting his late father and Brooks’s longtime friend, Carl Reiner, would not have been able to cope with the situation had he been alive.

Brooks, 99, made the comments during a Q&A session on Jan. 20 with director Judd Apatow for the Los Angeles premiere of the two-part HBO documentary “Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!”

“Carl, with what’s happened, I’m glad that he passed away when he did,” Brooks said. “I mean, he never could have survived this terrible, terrible thing.”

Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead on Dec. 14, 2025, in their Los Angeles home. Their son, Nick Reiner, 32, has been charged with first-degree murder and is set to be arraigned on Feb. 23.

Brooks developed a close friendship with Carl Reiner, who died in 2020 at the age of 98, after the two met while working on the live variety series “Your Show of Shows” in 1950.

Together, they formed a comedy partnership that went on to shape modern American humor through television and films. Throughout the documentary, Brooks credits Carl Reiner for being not only a personal confidant but a creative anchor in his career.

“I loved him. I loved Carl,” Brooks continued. “There was no fake laughter. I used to really break him up. He’d grab his belly and sometimes he’d fall down.”

Rob posthumously makes an appearance in the film and delves into their relationship both on screen and behind the scenes. When Brooks and Carl both lost their wives, they established a nightly routine of watching TV and eating dinner together for decades to come.

“My father was like a second banana. He never felt like he needed to be the star,” Rob Reiner said in the documentary. “He would push Mel into a corner that would make Mel explode with creativity and humor.”

Rob Reiner detailed that Brooks was at Carl Reiner’s home when he collapsed prior to his passing and how the incident left such a profound, lasting impact on him.

“He was that close to my dad, where he kept … he wanted to be close to him even when my dad was gone,” Rob Reiner said. “I always thought even though Mel was only like, four years younger than my dad, I think he looked to my dad as a father figure.”

Co-directed by Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio, the documentary explores Brooks’s life and career. Best known for his work in “The Producers” (1967), “Blazing Saddles” (1974), and “Spaceballs” (1987), the film chronicles his journey as a comedian in Hollywood.

“Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!” premieres on HBO Max on Jan. 22 with part one and part two on Jan. 23.