Rob Reiner reflects on Carl Reiner's decades-long friendship with Mel Brooks in new doc

Rob Reiner reportedly remembered Mel Brooks in good words.

In the new HBO documentary Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!, Rob Reiner, who died on December 14, reflected on his late father Carl Reiner’s decades-long friendship with Mel Brooks, alongside tributes from fellow comedians and close friends.

The documentary revisits the deeply personal bond the comedy legends shared after both men lost their wives. 

As Sarah Silverman recalls, “Mel lost his wife, and then Carl lost his wife, and then every night they spent together at Carl’s in his little living room with TV trays, eating dinner and watching a different movie every night.”

Praising the friendship, Silverman added, “I just love that kind of friendship.… I want to be able to have that kind of community with comics like they had with each other.”

Jerry Seinfeld echoed the sentiment, saying, “What a great thing that that exists. You get to see what they did, where a lifetime of gigantic achievements leads you. A living room with deli sandwiches, watching Wheel of Fortune. That’s where you get if you succeed in every possible way in life.”

Rob Reiner also shared a lighter moment, recalling how he once tried to ease the mood with a joke. “I said, ‘Maybe it would be better to stage the house with you in it.… It’ll up the value. You get Mel Brooks sitting here.’”

Notably, Rob Reiner made these reflections before his death on December 14, 2025.