Playboy Chat: Carl Reiner

[Q] Playboy: From talking with Rob, we get the impression that as a child, he lived completely in awe of you. How did you react to that?

[A] Carl Reiner: I'll tell you a story. When Rob was seven or eight years old, my wife saw him combing his hair in the mirror. He looked so cute, so handsome. And as he was doing this, he announced, "I'm going to be an actor." So he's going on with this and then he says, "And I'm going to change my name." My wife said, "Look at that! He's not going to trade on Daddy's name." So she asked him finally, "What are you going to change your name to?" And he said, "Carl."

[Q] Playboy: Rob does seem to feel, though, that he didn't get much support from you. For instance, he's very conscious of the fact that you didn't think he was particularly funny.

[A] Carl Reiner: I don't know if he holds it against me, but I couldn't defend myself against that. This is an example, though, of how you shouldn't judge your own kids. Parents can be very bad at that. My relationship with Rob was not a joking one. Actually, I did know that Rob had a good sense of humor, because he laughed at the right things. Even as a little kid, he had a strange, wonderful combination of being sullen and surly, but he could laugh even in that mode. He was very shy, though. He was very anxious to stay in the room when my friends were around, but he was afraid to perform for us, because we were so high-powered.

[Q] Playboy: Do you think it was reserve more than anything else?

[A] Carl Reiner: Well, Rob was a good absorber and had a great memory. And it was because of this that Rob discovered Bill Cosby.

[Q] Playboy: How did that happen?

[A] Carl Reiner: When he was about 16, I came home from the Van Dyke show one night about one in the morning. Rob was awake. I said, "What are you doing awake. You have school tomorrow." And he said, "I just saw the greatest comedian on The Tonight Show, a guy named Bill Cosby." And he proceeded to get out of his bed and do Cosby's whole routine for me, the voices, everything. I just got hysterical. So the next day, I went over to the William Morris office and got a tape of the show. I played it for myself and then for Sheldon Leonard, who produced Van Dyke and later I Spy. It was the first time we'd even seen Cosby.

[Q] Playboy: There was always the charge against Rob that he got work only through you in the early days.

[A] Carl Reiner: To be honest, I was sort of saddened that I never really helped in that way. Because I do hear of people's putting their kids in plays and things like that; it's perfectly normal. But I'd never worked with Rob that way.

[Q] Playboy: Rob's first TV writing partner, Steve Martin, became a huge movie star through your films. Do you ever feel guilty about that?

[A] Carl Reiner: Remember, at that time, Rob, with All in the Family, was better known in this country than I had been doing Show of Shows. Very early in his career, in fact, I became Rob Reiner's father. And I didn't mind it one bit. I felt that Rob was going to prevail, because he had worked on his own to become who he was.

Steve was already a big star when we started working together. He was, you know, a commodity, and I directed that commodity. That's a reality Rob had to live with. If I had done anything other than be normal and natural, I would have hurt him; if I had catered to that feeling, done anything about it, it would have been wrong and he would have suffered.

[Q] Playboy: Rob talked about the way you were often "on" when he was a kid, the way you liked to perform. In fact, one gets the sense that his reserve is perhaps a reaction against your outgoing personality.

[A] Carl Reiner: That assessment is probably right. But we are very similar; we have identical senses of humor. Still, we're differently talented.

[Q] Playboy: In what ways?

[A] Carl Reiner: We're both actors, we're both directors, we both write. But he's strong in one area, I'm strong in another. For instance, he has the ability to really be a first-rate director. But I think I was a better writer. I think I was a better stand-up comedian, but he's a better actor. In any event, I'm a lot older than he is; I've got more experience.

[Q] Playboy: Speaking of which, Rob mentions in his Interview that he remained a virgin until he was 20 and was afraid of sex, that it was a subject never talked about at home.

[A] Carl Reiner: I guess the funny thing is, he doesn't remember. Twice, I gave him lectures---once when we were living in New York, and then a few years later out here. That time, the subject came up again because Rob asked me about something he'd heard on the radio about unmarried sex. We're driving, and I started talking about all this stuff: how babies are born. And I decide I'd better show him that this is a serious subject and there's no embarrassment. So I stare right at him and say, "Now, you've got to look in my eyes." And I'll never forget what happened. "Dad," he says. I say, "What?" And he answers, "Dad, can't you keep your eyes on the road?" It was a bigger trauma for me than for him.

[Q] Playboy: All in all, though, it sounds as if you're proud of your son.

[A] Carl Reiner: All three of my kids are sensitive, very human people. I mean, they've suffered---we all suffer---and they've struggled, struggled in the right direction, struggled with life.

You know, I got such a big thrill today. I just opened up the newspaper, and there was a full-page ad for The Sure Thing. And it said on top of the ad, "Rob Reiner's new romantic comedy." It was great, the best, to see that. Rob made that picture better than I ever could have done.