Albert Brooks Reacts to Rob Reiner’s Murder: “I’m Still in That Not Believing It Stage”

Albert Brooks first met Rob Reiner when both were teenagers at Beverly Hills High School 60 years ago, and the Hollywood comic and actor still hasn’t come to terms with his lifelong friend’s sudden death.

“Rob was my oldest friend. It’s that simple. He’s the person that I’ve known the longest. I met him when I was 14 years old. So I’m still in that not believing it stage,” Brooks said during an appearance in the CBS News: Rob Reiner – Scene From a Life special to air on Sunday and stream on Paramount+.

The bodies of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Reiner, were discovered inside their Los Angeles home on Dec. 14 and their son, Nick Reiner, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in his parents’ deaths.

Brooks, who met Reiner in their high school drama class, says he’s still in shock over the iconic Hollywood director’s death. “I know it happened, but, you know, I’m driving around and all of a sudden – I actually two days ago, I called his number,” he recalled, according to CBS News, which teased the special on Friday.

In a June 2024 conversation in The Hollywood Reporter, Reiner asked Brooks to recall talking to his father, Carl Reiner, about a comedy bit he was working on for NBC’s Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers show during his early career.

“That was a huge life experience because I was coming up with bits weekly, and Rob was still living at home, so I went by his house. He wasn’t there, but [Rob’s father] Carl [Reiner] was there. I said, ‘I want to show Rob this bit I have to do today,’ and Carl said, ‘Oh, show me. I did the bit, and Carl said, ‘I don’t think so. I just don’t see it.’ And I couldn’t do anything — it was three o’clock, and I had to be at NBC at 3:30. So I did the bit, and it killed. It was one of those lessons where you go, ‘Hey, I might know what I’m doing.’ I tell that to my daughter, who’s a singer-songwriter. The thing that breaks my heart about young people is the opinions that they are under siege with, continuously, with social media. I wouldn’t have had a career!” Brooks recounted.

In other tributes to Reiner and his wife, the Rainbow Brigade organization honored the late couple on Dec. 16 at the LGBT Memorial Corner at Castro and 18th streets in San Francisco. “He (Reiner) was a longtime advocate for gay and AIDS causes, a talented actor and filmmaker, whose legacy extends around the world,” the Rainbow Brigade said in a statement.