Friendship... according to Brooks and Reiner

March 4, 2020 8:10 AM

An interview with the two delightful old codgers. Of course I can scour the net to find all kinds of clips, articles etc about these two gentlemen. But I just want this interview to stand on its own. As an ode to friendship ... and growing old together.
posted by indianbadger1 (10 comments total)

Thank you, this is a delightful one-link post, which I always appreciate. I'm always impressed at the way the truly great ones are constantly deflecting the focus onto others (friends, colleagues, family), instead of hogging for themselves.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:31 AM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]

I remember an interview I heard years ago with Mel Brooks, talking about hanging out with Carl Reiner and trying to get him to eat unhealthy food. "What's going to happen?" Mel Brooks would ask him. "Are you going to live another year because of that? You're 89, eat the sausage."

I think of this a lot with my 101 year old grandmother. We've been bringing her donuts and cookies and Chinese food because this is probably the end of her life, and what's the point of not enjoying the rest of it?
posted by gc at 10:04 AM on March 4, 2020 [4 favorites]

Also, these two are so sweet and adorable and I hope I have that kind of friendship in my twilight years. And they loved their wives so much.
posted by gc at 10:05 AM on March 4, 2020 [2 favorites]

“I said, ‘Carl, Mel said that you guys watch movies together.’

“He said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘What makes you decide which movies to watch?’

“He said, ‘Oh, we look for one phrase.-Secure the perimeter.'”
posted by Etrigan at 10:19 AM on March 4, 2020 [5 favorites]

Having seen all of Brooks' and Reiner's movies, I'd say they made the perimeter VERY secure.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:40 AM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

That's really touching.

A friend of mine that I'd known for something like 24 years died recently, and until then I was looking forward to the kind of friendship Brooks and Reiner have as we grew older. C'est la mort.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:46 AM on March 4, 2020 [5 favorites]

If you have Netflix, Carl and Mel were on the second season of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee in 2012. It starts with Carl and Jerry Seinfeld doing the coffee and food thing and then they go to Carl's and Jerry gets invited to hang with Carl and Mel for dinner. It's fun to watch them together.
posted by ceejaytee at 2:41 PM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

Estelle Reiner’s “clip”
posted by growabrain at 3:05 PM on March 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

Thanks for this link, I've passed it straight on to my father. He and his group of friends from elementary school in the Bronx are coming up on 80 years of friendship next year. They still have breakfast together once a week in one of the few remaining old-style diners in Manhattan. They used to love having heated arguments about politics and everything else, but in the last few years all they do is tell jokes and stories and enjoy each others' company. Every time I join them I wind up pissing myself with laughter. There comes a point where even a bunch of crabby old Jewish New Yorkers are too old to be crabby anymore.
posted by fuzz at 1:31 AM on March 5, 2020 [8 favorites]

My mother had all of their comedy albums. The 10000 yo man ones would crack her up. It took me a few years of listening before I got the joke. I was a clueless 9 yo.

Great read. I am sorry my mom is no longer here to read it. Dad too. Gone this year. Rather than dinner, for years he met the same group of kibitzing old men for coffee and a bagel (with a schmear) at 6:30 am before work. The deli even put his picture and the other guy's pictures on the wall.
posted by AugustWest at 12:43 PM on March 5, 2020 [2 favorites]