good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with one of the great pioneers of television, writer and performer, carl reiner and he son, writer, director and actor, rob reiner. he has gone on to direct comedy classics like this is spinal tap and like when harry met sally. we're glad you joined us about a conversation with father and sons with carl reiner and rob reiner coming up right now. ♪

>> announcer: and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. actor and director, rob reiner who has given us such great comedies like "this is spinal tap" "and when harry met sally." he was inspired by his father, carl reiner, one of the pioneers of television who created the dick van dyke show. she was agent a part of your show of shows and with his good friend mel brooks created the 2,000 year old man.

i love that. he wrote a book called "i just remembered." we'll look at rob's latest movie "and so it goes." >> this looks like it, eugene. >> and what does eugene look like? >> like someone who loved you. >> last time i had sex, i tore my acl. >> is this relevant to anything? >> i thought of information you should have. >> is this some pathetic chance of flirtation? >> well, when you put it that way, no. >> good night. >> only rob reiner can get diane keaton and michael douglas -- this has never happened before. >> no. they've never acted with each other. they both were dieing to do it. and their sensational together. they're just really great. great chemistry. >> give me a little bit about

the story line. >> it's basically about finding a love later on in life. i mean, when we did bucket list and we did the press tour on it, everybody would ask us the question, what's on your bucket list. and when ever they ask jack nicholson, he would say, one more great romance. and that gave me the idea to do a film about two people who find each other later on in life. it's a love story for adults. >> yeah. i'm glad you said that, rob. bucket list did quite well at the box office. >> it did very well, yeah. >> what's happening, or what has to happen in this contemporary moment for a movie starring actors who are chronologically gifted, shall we say. >> very kind of you, tavis. very, very kind. >> how do you make that work in hollywood. the rub is that the adage is that this stuff doesn't make money. >> well, it does. "bucket list" did, as you say, quite well. there's an audience of baby boomers, very large segment of population -- we made the joke

when we screened "bucket list" there's a 100% desire to see with a 40% ability to get to the theater. we're hoping they will get to the theater. if there's something there they like, they will come. >> i'm going to talk to your dad. i'm so honored to have the two of you together here on this couch. what was it like -- i was just stunned -- actually maybe stun is a strong word. i was tickled when i saw that. your father was on television before your family owned a television. >> that's right. >> is that true? >> that is absolutely true. he started in television 1946 '47. we first got a television i think it was '49 or '50 when he was doing "show of shows." admiral broadway review. we used to gather around this little tiny television. it was about that big. >> 10 inches. >> it was a small television. i was like 4 or 5 years old. i was a little kid. he would say to me -- it was on saturday night.

so it was late at night. he would say to me, you know, when we say good night at the end of this show, they don't want us waiving. i can't waive at you like this. but what i'm going to do, i'm going to let you know that i know that you're watching. i'm going to adjust my tie. he would adjust his tie like that. and that meant i love you and it's time to go to sleep. and so he did that every night saturday nights and we watched -- yeah. >> and carol burnett used the ear. >> yeah. >> and what do you make all these years later, carl reiner, that your son has not just followed into your footsteps -- >> he jumped over my footsteps. rob has made -- my favorite movies of all time. "the princess bride" comes on television sometimes, i cannot leave it until it's over. i find myself laughing. the very first movie he ever made -- >> "this is final tap". >> brilliant. every movie he has made "save

one," thank goodness -- >> more than save one -- >> if they're all perfect, they're hurt him. somebody will hurt him. he's too good. he's not perfect. one movie didn't work. i consider him the best director, writer on television on motion pictures today. >> which one is he talking about? >> i don't know. there's a couple stinkers there. we love all our children equally. >> your friend mel brooks was here. >> yes, i know. we watched together. >> thank you for watching. we had a wonderful time talking to him and he absolutely adores you. i mean, when you mention your name to mel brooks, he just lights up like -- >> it's mutual. we love each other. he's my very, very best friend in the world. and for ten years, i have questioned this guy -- 2,000-year-old man, he never knew what i was going to ask him and he never knew what i was going to say. i had to bite my lip not to get

a laughter on the track. >> tell me about "2,000-year-old man" and your recollection of it. >> the beginning was very funny. i didn't know who he was. and there's this guy standing up, working for sid at the time. not working for the show. he's getting $50 a week for sid for jokes. but he's standing up and doing a jewish pirate. he says, i'll never forget the first three lines. he says -- you know what it's costing to buy a yacht these days? he says $3.95 for yard of sale. i can't afford to pillage anymore. and the next ten years i question him, we never put it on record until ten years later. >> yeah. >> still got your friend mel. i assume you miss your friend sid. >> well sid -- how can you not miss the man who made your career for you? i mean, i worked with sid for

seven years, nose to nose and saw the greatest comedian that ever lived. greate esest sketch that ever l. every comedian today owes something to him. >> rob, how does one go -- this is an age-old question, how does one go about trying to find his or her own voice, come into their own talent, when you have this sort of ill luminous -- >> it's very, very difficult. i mean, when i was a little boy, they tell the story because i actually obviously did it and they tell the story that i was about 8 years old and i went to my mother actually and i said to my mother, i want to change my name. and she thought, oh my god, this poor kid, you know, having to live up to carl reiner and living in that shadow. she felt so bad. she says, well, what do you want

to change your name to? i said, carl. i loved him so much and admired him so much and looked up to him and i wanted to be -- i wanted to be like him. and -- but it was not easy. the greatest, funniest people in the world came over to our house, you know. if you think about -- if you think about "the show of shows" and what it has spawned, anything you laughed at in the second half of the 20th century, you can look back to that show. i mean, between sid seizer and mel brooks and carl reiner and neil simon and woody allen and larry and aaron ruben and joe stine and mike stewart, i mean, these are the output of their work. i mean, just between woody allen and neil simon alone and mel brooks, it's outstanding when you think about it. >> i could see you deciding to

run 180 degrees in the other direction because there is so much pressure and expectation. all these people you mentioned are at your kitchen table the other night. these people were in your -- why set yourself up for that kind of pressure? >> well, you know -- >> that's a good question, ta s tavis. i don't know why he did it. all i know is i loved so much what he did. i was so fortunate, when i was 14, 15, 16, when he was doing the dick van dyke show. i know i must have been the pain in the [ bleep ]. when i was off from school in the summertime, i go down to the studios and i would sit there and observe and watch, you know, him working with the other writers and actors and watching the director stage the scenes. it was like a tremendous experience for me. and i always just wanted that. but it was overwhelming. i didn't know how i could quite ever do that. >> there's no question about it. rob reiner is one of the

smartest people i know. and he's been smart since he was a little kid. very serious. he was -- when he was, 3, 4 years old and we would do the "2,000-year-old man" he would sit on the steps and get it. there's a very good brain in there. there's no question that he had to become who he became. >> carl, let me ask you -- >> by the way, his brain mainly is from his mother. no. i said this many times and i really meant it. his mother was an extraordinary o woman. estelle reiner. we raised three great kids. he has two siblings i'm so proud of all my kids, she raised three great kids and one great husband. of course, i was 8 years younger when i married her. and she informed everything i knew about everything, social -- the social -- >> you're starting to answer a question that i want to ask. let me just ask it any way,

which is, how in this industry, which is notorious for what it does to families, how have you maintained this intact, loving family structure? >> well -- >> how did you and your wife do it? >> well, there's one thing that keeps it, the thing that matters most to my wife and i are the kids. the thing that matters -- should matter to everybody more than anything is the children. what you send out the the world, non-toxic people keep this world -- if you can send people out that you are proud to have raised, there's nothing you could have done in movies or anything else in the world, maybe cure every disease in the world, but that's not even -- but sending out like the three kids i have, the kids that -- my grandchildren, i have five grandchildren. they're all part of that thing of sending out wonderful people in the world. they've done it with their kids. my son lucas is doing with his

kids. my daughter is a doctor of philosophy and psycho analyst. >> we're talking about this great father's day conversation. have you ever felt that you were disappointing your father. if you ever felt that, how did you navigate your way that? this is a whole lot of -- >> well, yeah. not that i was disappointing him. but that i -- >> not measuring up? >> yeah. that kind of thing. certainly. i mean, i was always wanting his approval and i think that, you know, i remember very distinctly when i was like 19 years old and i had put on -- i had directed a production of no exit. and -- which is a pretty, you know, adventurous thing to do at 19. richard dreyfuss was in the show. and i remember my father -- the thing that i love about him

aside from a million other things is that he would never b.s. me. he never did. and so i remember him coming back stage and he looked me in the eye and said, that was good. no b.s. and it made me feel really good. and i remember going -- i had not living at home at the time. and i came to see him the next day at his house and we sat back in the backyard and he said, i'm not worried about you. whatever you do, it's going to be okay. and that was a big deal. it was at age 19. it was a very big deal for me to get that. i didn't ask for it, but he went -- i knew it was honest and real because he would never just said. >> by the way, i asked him a question because it was some of the best directing i've ever seen. i said, no exit is about adults. adults. i said, how did you get them to get that performance? he told me something i thought was so brilliant, he said i told

them don't play older people. play yourselves. play your own age. and doing that made it all come to life. if they had put on any kind of character, it would have been false. it was so true. but he knew enough to say, play your own age. they all were honest. >> when you, carl reiner, when you were watching rob play meat head on all in the family, i know -- we know what we were seeing. what were you seeing watching him play this iconic character now? >> well, first of all, it was the best piece of acting i've ever seen. i mean, first he played himself because he had a lot of those feelings about -- you know, he was the liberal in the work of reaction airs. but he was so comfortable in his own skin and the relationship with archie. they did some of the funniest sketches i've ever seen. there was one sketch with shoes they ad libbed. >> it's the one scene that when

anybody comes up to me -- >> i love that scene. >> where everybody -- >> classic scene, yeah. >> what happened in rehearsals when i started putting on my sock and shoe. carol says what are you doing? >> you don't do it that way. we got into this rift. >> which one put the shoe -- >> i put the sock and the shoe -- to this day i still do it. one sock and one shoe and one sock and then one shoe. >> very good logical thinker. suppose you go out and it's raining. at least you can hop around with one foot staying dry. >> what's amazing about this wonderful, familiar yal story here is that the chances are slim that the father ends up doing iconic work in television and that the son does the same thing. i mean, when you look at the list -- i mean, anybody's list of the best tv shows ever done,

both you and your father are on the list. >> yeah. you know what, one year they have the top ten lists for movies. and one year i remember he directed all of me, you know -- that was the year i did spinal tap. we both were on these top ten lists. i thought that was more incredible -- there are no father/son directors that both achieve at that high level. i had this conversation with michael douglas who is a good friend. and we count on one hand the number of people's chose father's achieved a at very, very high level whose children also did well. there's not a long list, you know. >> it's clear how this relationship with the guy next to you has advanced you professionally, personally, spiritually, psychologically. that's obvious. what's the drawback? what's the challenge to being

the son of a guy like this in this town? >> the challenges are early on. it's not now. the challenge is early on when you're just starting out. >> right. >> the classic thing of, you know, the name opens the door, but if you don't deliver the door gets shut very, very quickly. so that part of it is the most difficult part. but once you get your foothold in there, if you can deliver, i mean, look at ken griffey senior and ken griffey jr. if you can hit the ball out of the park, they'll keep you around. it's that kind of thing. >> but there was no worry about him because he is so smart. really is on any subject. now, i was so proud of him, he was sitting with a bunch of reaction air people was it the bill maar show, whatever the subject is, he knows it. and he was pounding away. i'm most proud of you about

that. >> we talked about mom being helping raise you and giving you, you know, your sense of social justice and all that. and it's true. i mean, these things were talked about in the household as a kid growing up, civil rights, the vietnam war, these were things that we talked about. so i was raised in that. i mean, people talk about where they were when kennedy was shot. and i knew where i was, obviously, and i also knew where i was when megaer everies were shot. i wound up making a movie. and it was part of our way of talking. this was an anti--war, mothers together to stop the war. and -- so it was part of part of how we were raised. >> his mother was very left wing

in the '30s. if you with respect a left wing then, you weren't thinking. so civil rights for blacks and whites were a big thing. >> i'm glad you said that, rob. i was going to ask you. those of us who have known you over the last, 20, 25 years, you've been at this a lot longer, we have seen, not just your advocacy, but the results of your advocacy up and down the state of california on any number of propositions, et cetera, et cetera. this kind of social justice work came -- you got it honest. >> it came naturally. and then, to be honest, working on all in the family and seeing norm and seeing how he used his celebrity and his influence. that made me think, there's a way of utilizing your -- for lack of a better term -- celebrity. i don't think it's necessarily you should listen to a celebrity just because he is one. but if you can marshal your celebrity and really steep yourself in whatever issue you're trying to promote, it can

move the ball forward and we've done that. we've done it with early childhood. we did it with proposition 8 and overturning proposition 8 here in california. so you can get things done, but you have to -- you have to know what you're doing, otherwise you're just another celebrity that's mouthing out. >> by the way, lot of people notice what he knows and the depth of his understanding. they wanted him to run for governor a few years ago. >> lot of people were asking, would rob reiner run for governor? >> we had a meeting in my house. there was some serious talk about it. i have three kids. and i basically polled 40% in hi own family. once i realized i couldn't carry my own family, i figured out maybe that wasn't a good idea. >> carl reiner has product. i love this. it's not just that his son rob loves him, we all love him. it's cool when you have two books out. one called "i remember me" that's last year's book with a forward by a great comedian by

billy crystal. and a new book called "i just remembered" with a forward by jerry seinfeld. it must be cool to be regarded by some of these younger cats. >> i respect them more than they respect me. both of these guys billy crystal the other day was doing 700 other sundays. i can't believe what he has in that brain. and of course; seinfeld may be the most original comedian we've ever had. but what's -- what i love about these books is that i finished the first book and i finished it. i should put that down. after i finished the book, another one popped. i said, i just remembered. >> i just remembered. >> by the way, there's a third book in my computer right now called, i had almost forgotten that i remembered something -- any way. i have seven chaptd chapters of

a new book. >> you can co-host. you're welcome any time. billy crystal will be happy that you called him a younger cat. >> okay. i was trying to be charitable. >> very nice of you. >> i let you go, they came out last year. carl reiner did, said i remember me. that's last year's book. he remembered a few more things. there's one out called, i just remembered. >> this is my favorite book, not only has some of the best stories i've ever remembered, it has one story that will not me in not a lot of trouble but i talk about castro cuban castration. lot of people will run at it. most of it is very funny. but also it has 17 -- 190 photos in it. every story has a picture. here is young mel brooks. wherever i open it up, here is

battista. this will get me in trouble. >> my favorite is -- >> oh, this is a book within a book. >> it's my call rimer. >> cart rimer. >> i always hit -- one day i said, i'll leave car. i'll write a romance noefl about myself. it's a three-page romance novel which i'm very proud to say has the longest -- the longest title in the history of -- >> it's the gorgeous photo of you and your wife. >> i do love that. >> you and your wife.

>> love of my life. >> i'm always honored to have you on this program, rob reiner and to bring your daddy is a special treat. congrats on the new movie starring diane keaton and michael douglas. >> i'll bet anybody a dollar to a penny that it's a sensational movie. >> i'm delighted to have you on this program. >> not as delighted as i am to be here. >> everybody is delighted. >> on this note we'll say good night. as always, keep the faith. thanks for watching. >> announcer: for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. >> i am tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with vie owe lin itzkah perlman. we'll see you then.

♪ >> announcer: and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

tonight on "quest" -- she's spent much of the last five decades exploring and protecting the world's oceans. find out why legendary marine biologist sylvia earle thinks we may have only a few years eft to save what she calls "the blue heart of the planet." and it's one of history's most enduring questions -- are we alone? see why a radical new radio telescope being built near mount shasta may be closer than you think to finding the answer. major funding for "quest" is provided by -- the national science foundation. the gordon and betty moore