i'm albert brooks.dians. >> one of the first things i ever saw him do was the school for comedians. >> let's see how these kids are doing. >> he was walking past the spit take class. >> i just walked into the room. now, start to drink. good. now, i speak. guess what? i just heard from a bank and not only don't you have any money, but your sister is dead. that was funny. >> what was special was his singular vision, his style. this was alternative comedy, for sure. >> during the next hour you will see the first in a series of programs entitled "an american family." >> albert had been watching "an american family," which was the first reality show. it was on pbs. they spent a year filming a real family, the loud family. >> you got all the boys, i got all the girls. you can't beat it. >> both of us shared the sense that there was a lie at the heart of this, which is that the camera can be there without changing things. when we did "real life," the movie together, the underlying notion was to poke fun at tha