Albert Brooks and Rob Reiner

And I feel confused that I'm asked to do something I was asked 40 years ago by some disc jockey

on KHJ, dawn in the morning, and I guess nothing's ever changed, so I'm confused about being

Conan O'Brien's friend.

climb the fence, books and pens, I can tell that we are going to be friends.

I can tell that we are going to be friends.

you friends.

Oh, that's nice.

No, it took a while.

Five years.

Yes.

15.

Is that how, Sona, how long have you been with me?

You know, I actually just messaged you recently because I found, 15 years ago on December

3rd, I found out I got my job because it's my best friend Christina's birthday.

And I emailed you.

She emailed me, it was very sweet.

And she said it was 15 years ago that she met, she was going to be my brand new assistant

because I was moving out to Los Angeles to host The Tonight Show for 40 years.

The plan went off without a hitch.

But we had the interview and then I, you were told that you were hired and then we met at

a coffee shop on San Vicente in Brentwood.

I remembered in the meeting that for some reason you were sitting on a couch that I

think was a very low couch and had a soft cushion.

So people were asking me, who'd you end up hiring?

And I said, it's this woman, Sona.

She seems really bright and she's highly recommended.

And so I hired her and they're like, well, what's she like?

I said, she's got dark hair.

She's really short.

Because I just remember thinking you were really short because you sunk into the couch.

So then I meet you at this coffee shop and you are tall.

Yeah.

Pretty tall.

I mean, but with your hair was up.

You had your hair bun up, so made you over eight feet high.

But you came in and I remembered Sona had a notebook and she was writing everything

I said down very seriously.

And we had a professional exchange for the last time.

It was so hilarious.

And I will say, I did more to corrupt things immediately than anyone.

You did all of it.

I did all my cone and shtick and very quickly you said, I'm not going to listen to anything

this guy says.

Nothing's serious.

He's a fool.

But I always go back to that first time, Sona walks in, taller than I had remembered.

That's the first thing that struck me, notebook, writing everything down.

And then on her own initiative, because I was moving my whole family out from New York,

she made a book for me, like a professional book that she had bound that said, here's

what helpful things to know about LA.

And it included when it first rains in LA, there's a lot of sediment because it doesn't

rain regularly.

So drive more carefully.

The secret menu for In-N-Out.

No, no, seriously, it was filled and it was a book that you could have published that

you just made on your own.

And I remembered thinking, this person is fantastic.

And then I immediately corrupted you.

And it reminds me of, on The Simpsons, I didn't write this joke, but someone wrote this joke

where Barney's really smart and he's studying hard for the LSAT or something.

And then Homer convinces him to have a drink of beer and he has it and he immediately turns

into Barney.

And he's like, and you see, I'm Barney, I realize I infected you with the Conan stupidity.

And then that was all gone.

And then it went from, hey, Sona, you know, when is my car going to be out of my, out

of the shop?

Boo hoo!

Conan doesn't have his car!

Fancy talk show host won't have a way to...

No, Sona, I know, I'm just curious when it's going to be out so I know that I don't have

to take an Uber.

I don't have to take an Uber, boo hoo!

Well, I think you're giving me too much credit.

I think your kids actually said the most accurate thing, which is you melted half my brain.

I said something about Sona and they went, you melted half her brain.

And these are little kids.

And I said, well, what about the first half?

And they went, that was already melted.

I think that is the best description of my relationship with Sona.

Now, Gorley came to me more fully formed as a human being.

And I've tried to damage you, but you seem more resistant.

Oh, I'm pre-damaged.

You're pre-damaged.

Yeah, I think I'm...

But you seem like you have it together.

Oh, no, no.

Fallen apart.

Okay.

Yeah.

You make falling apart look pretty good.

You can clean up real nice.

Yeah.

It is funny how these little memories come along and you time travel back to, oh, right.

I was an adult who was a TV host who was meeting an assistant and we were a professional.

Yeah.

Seconds before it all went to cuckoo town.

You got in just in time.

I want someone to do a deep dive of people before they met you and after they met you

and how much you ruined them.

Well, you know who's been amazing is my wife.

My wife is just so...

Liza is so adept at parrying my madness and handling it.

And you know that thing I do where I'm just saying crazy things and someone will say,

what'd you say that for?

And I'll say, don't let him bother you.

I talk about myself in the third person.

And I managed to get people around me going, what do you mean him?

And I go, he's just...

And they'll be, who?

And I'll be like, Conan.

Conan's just in one of those...

It's just Conan doing his Conan thing.

And they're like, no, you're...

It's so great because I do that around Liza.

And she's like, uh-huh.

Okay.

So anyway.

She's completely unfazed.

She is not having it.

You make all of us unhirable.

Yes.

And you do, I think you do it on purpose.

Like Blake can't work anywhere else.

No.

No.

Yeah.

None of us can work anywhere else.

No, Eduardo.

Eduardo could...

Hasn't been ruined yet.

Eduardo, I think could still, and you will soon, work someplace else.

Because I know you have that look of someone who's like, I'm out of here.

But Eduardo, I haven't ruined you yet, right?

No, I don't think so.

Yeah.

But you are very comfortable giving me tons of shit constantly now.

I am.

Thanks to Sona.

Yeah.

I think you came in the other day and just immediately attacked me for something.

I've never flipped off anyone more times.

No, I'll see Eduardo walking down the street and I'll go, Eduardo!

And he flips me off.

I'm like, wow, that guy hates...

Don't talk to me in public, asshole!

What's it like to work for someone you're scared of?

I would never know that.

I know.

I learned that too.

Oh, no.

No one has...

Anyone who knows me is immediately unafraid to just tell me exactly what they think of

But I think it's not that...

I don't want to speak for you two, but it's not that you feel powerful.

It's more a defense mechanism of like, you have to put up your walls with this guy.

You have to defend yourself.

This guy, by the way, is out of control.

This guy is.

This guy, Conan.

Yeah.

And I've noticed it too with him.

I think he's...

I think he's...

I think he's insanely talented.

This is madness.

No, no.

He's insane.

Look, I'm saying this as I've watched him for a while.

He's crazy off the charts.

Wrap it up, dickface.

Probably means Conan.

But you know what?

To Matt's credit, that's how you have to deal with Conan.

Because he's...

He's what?

He's what?

He's a once-in-a-hundred-year talent, but then he gets off the rails, and this is how

he has to be dealt with.

So what you guys are doing is perfect.

I would say you are a once-in-a-hundred-year something.

Like a tsunami.

All right, I'm back to being me again.

Destroys people's lives.

Hey, Conan, I just showed up.

That other guy just left.

Oh, Conan's back.

Yeah, yeah.

Hey, I am very excited.

I don't know what that other guy thinks.

I am thrilled.

Absolutely thrilled.

This is a very special podcast today.

Seriously.

It really is.

My guests today have been friends for almost 60 years.

One is the filmmaker behind such classics as When Harry Met Sally, and this is Spinal

Tap.

The other is a comedy legend who starred in films like Modern Love and Broadcast News.

Now they have a new documentary streaming on Max.

And it is...

It's a must.

You must watch this.

I have watched it, I think, now three times.

I love it.

It's titled Albert Brooks Defending My Life.

I am honored.

That word doesn't even do it justice.

I'm beside myself that they are here today.

Rob Reiner, Albert Brooks, welcome.

There's no way around this.

I'll get it out of the way.

I've done...

How many of these have I done, Adam?

520.

How many?

It's a big day for me.

I'm totally in love with both of you guys and your incredible body of work.

And so the fact that you're here talking to me is a huge deal.

And that's pretty much all the time we have.

We should wrap it up there.

These are two men that don't want to be complimented, especially Albert.

I want to be complimented.

What can I say?

I have to say there's a lot to talk about here.

I wanted to start because it just happened.

We just lost Norman Lear.

I know you guys both knew this man very well.

And for you, Rob, he was like a second dad.

I'm very lucky that I had two role models in my life that I could look up to and I learned from.

I met Norman when I was a little kid.

And he tells a story.

I don't remember it.

But he tells me that I was playing with his daughter who was 8 years old.

We were both 8.

And we were playing jacks.

And I was teaching her how to play giving of the rules to jacks.

And apparently I was doing it in a funny way.

I didn't know.

And he told my father.

He said, you know, your kid is really funny.

And my dad said, really?

That sullen child of mine?

He can't be that funny.

So, Norman was the first guy to recognize.

Yeah.

Because that's how long ago it was that the thing was your kid is so funny playing jacks.

Today, nothing said about a kid with a little girl is ever good.

If you call your dad.

Yeah.

It doesn't matter.

I wasn't like 24 and she was 8.

And of course, your father, Carl, lived.

98.

Yeah.

And this is maybe two years ago.

And Norman was talking.

And he talked about this longevity thing with comedians.

And he said, I swear to God.

People always ask us.

It's something about laughing all the time.

Henry Kissinger?

He was a riot.

Very funny.

They didn't believe me.

Well.

No, no, no.

Maybe.

And also, you have to have good genes.

I don't think it's any of that.

I think it's lucky.

Okay.

Well, I tried to say a sweet, positive thing.

I don't feel good now.

I absolutely loved the documentary, Albert Brooks Defending My Life, and thought it was beautifully done.

And what was great was, this has been long overdue, because your body of work, Albert, is insanely rich and ingenious.

And inspiring for generations of comedians.

But it took a friend, because you guys knew each other.

You met in high school?

We met in high school.

And we've known each other for 60 years.

And I always wanted to do this.

You remember the film, My Dinner with Andre?

Yeah, yeah.

When it came out.

At that point, I said to Albert, come on, we'll go to a deli.

We'll sit down.

It'll be my lunch with Albert, and we'll do it.

And he never wanted to do it at that point.

But then at a certain point, I don't know what made you change your mind, but we decided to do it.

And that became the centerpiece of the documentary.

The two of us just sitting in a restaurant and talking.

And it didn't work out.

But then the idea was like, the idea to do it is good.

So then I was having dinner with Rob.

And, you know, do you ever want to do my lunch with Albert?

And I said, well, what if we combine this?

We do that.

And then we also broaden it out and do clips and talk to people.

And because the comedic bits that you were doing, they were not, they're evergreen.

I mean, there are people who had shows.

I can't believe who had a show.

Everybody had a show.

Conan O'Brien.

It was like Chuck Yeager.

Yes.

And they found a new way of presenting comedy.

And Albert was.

What I was saying is Albert's as funny as Chuck Yeager.

And then people took it this other way.

Kissinger or Chuck Yeager?

Neil Armstrong was at a party and told these people a joke and no one laughed.

He told a joke about the moon and no one laughed.

And he said, well, I guess you had to be there.

First time I met Albert was at this event and I'd never met him before.

And I was, and this, I'll back up just a second because I was so relieved.

You said something in the documentary, Rob, that resonated with me, which is,

I think I've met everybody, just about everybody.

And I'm never intimidated.

I was intimidated to meet Albert.

I was worried about it.

I thought we're probably going to bump into each other at some point.

And I felt a little queasy about it.

And then you say in the documentary that you always were intimidated by Albert.

You just, where is this coming from?

This mind, you never, I've never met anybody that has a mind that works that way.

And other comics, you know, established comics.

Larry David in the documentary says the same thing.

That he was, you know, so happy when Albert gave him approval to a joker,

he said, or something like that.

You have to understand.

I mean, I, in the circles I was with, I don't care who they were.

It was Robin Williams, Billy Benson.

I don't care who were in the, when we got together and people started

spritzing, when Albert started, when Albert went, it was like, you know,

challenge dance when everybody's challenging, when Albert started,

everybody backed off, everybody backed off because they knew that, you know,

here comes the guy, here's Babe Ruth stepping into the cage.

And then when I got married, my wife said, it's because you never shower.

Yeah, I remember.

you won't remember this, but it was someone's house.

We're standing by a pool.

You told me a story that was really funny.

And I laughed, legitimately laughed, it was a very funny story.

And you had some friend with you who I didn't know.

And the friend just kind of shrugged and said, well, I guess he had to be there.

And you turned on your friend and went, no, no, he laughed.

Apparently, you didn't have to be there.

And I was in the moment watching, you know.

Yeah.

That's when nobody laughs.

If somebody laughs, you don't have to be anywhere.

I don't know who it was, but forever in my mind, I cherish that moment.

Albert would go on national television, live television,

without ever trying out the bit he was going to do.

Yes, yes.

That, to me, is, talk about working without a net.

I mean, this is, in the case, Annette Funicello,

which was what would make anybody good.

But, no, but, but, no.

No, no, but he would do this.

And, you know, we shared a house together.

And I don't remember it exactly, but he did,

the first time he did the mind piece, I don't think it worked.

Did it work the first time you did it?

It was the Steve Allen show.

and he came out in the white face and the leotards,

and he never stopped talking.

and it didn't play the way it should have.

And then time goes by,

and I think you were called to do the Tonight Show or something.

And I said, Albert, what are you going to do on the show tonight?

He says, I'm going to do the mime piece.

And I said, yeah, but it didn't get, it didn't do well.

He says, yeah, but it's funny.

I said, I know it's funny, but it didn't get the kind.

He says, yeah, but it's funny.

And that's the thing that I learned about Albert,

which is, it is funny, you just, the audience has to catch up to it.

They just have to know it.

And Johnny Carson was hosting, and he came out,

and the same kind of thing, where they were a little bit hesitant,

they didn't know, Johnny went.

And I was there.

Johnny literally fell off his chair, and the audience said, I see.

Yes.

I get what this is.

and they want permission, and that they need permission,

and then they know everything's okay.

and you're describing, I am now walking against the wind.

But then you just, it just goes into stand-up comedy as a mime about my wife.

And, you know, she said she lost 30 pounds.

And I said, look behind you, you'll find it.

And you're in total mime makeup, and you're doing it.

And the thing is that I think,

when I talked on the doc about breaking the sound barrier,

to me it's about the level of commitment.

And it's why I think it was no surprise that you turned out to be such an excellent actor.

When you were doing these pieces,

I think there was a time in show business where you needed to let everybody know,

I'm in show business.

These are jokes.

Let's have a good time.