Rob Reiner (Carolla Classics)

Summary

Adam Carolla Show: Rob Reiner (Carolla Classics)

PodcastOne / Carolla Digital | December 20, 2025

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Overview

This special Carolla Classics episode pays tribute to the life and legacy of Rob Reiner, featuring a curated mix of Reiner’s appearances and discussions about his influence as a creator, director, and political commentator. Through classic interviews, segments, and banter, Adam and co-hosts explore Reiner's career—from "All in the Family" to "Spinal Tap" to his relentless questioning of the JFK assassination. The episode’s main themes revolve around authenticity in television, shifts in American pop culture and comedy, and the search for truth in both art and politics.

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Key Segments & Insights

1. The Impact and Irreplaceability of "All in the Family"

(00:50 – 04:37, 55:23 – 59:03)

• Adam on Unfiltered TV Characters:
  Carolla laments that network sitcoms now demand universally “likeable” characters, which would never have allowed an Archie Bunker-type today.

  "Archie Bunker was not likable. He was funny as shit, but he wasn't likable." —Adam Carolla (00:50)

• Reiner on Archie’s Humanity:

  “I thought [Archie] was a human being. And that automatically included being lovable to some degree...I always thought of him as lovable in the sense that his daughter could count on him.” —Rob Reiner (01:34)

• Cultural Shifts:
  Both men agree that TV has regressed, no longer daring to show abrasive or deeply flawed characters, whereas in the past, audiences could laugh at Archie’s buffoonery without being offended.

• Adam on Shows About Real Life:
  He reflects that watching “The Jeffersons,” “Good Times,” and “Sanford and Son” was comforting as a poor kid, while the perfection of “The Brady Bunch” was almost depressing.

  "I liked watching the Jeffersons and Sanford and Sons. It made me feel better about my lot in life versus watching the Partridge Family or the Brady Bunch, which always made me depressed." —Adam Carolla (03:13)

2. The "Blah Blah Blah" Segment – Celebrity Online Rants

(06:10 – 53:50, interspersed throughout)

• Premise:
  The regular Adam Carolla Show game where hosts and guests try to match anonymous inflammatory online rants to celebrities. Rob Reiner is a recurring red herring, playing on his reputation for vocal political opinions.

• Notable Quote:

  “It’s time for Blah, blah Blah, the game where we match the celebrity with their retarded online rant.” —Game Host (06:15)

• Playful banter around the political climate, celebrity activism, and the ease of misattribution in the internet era.

3. Spinal Tap & the Evolution of Improvised Comedy

(29:06 – 31:12, 68:05 – 70:59)

• Origins of Spinal Tap:
  Michael McKean and Rob Reiner recount how the idea for “This Is Spinal Tap” began as a sketch on Reiner’s “The TV Show,” then evolved, pieced together by the improvisational talents of McKean, Harry Shearer, and Christopher Guest.

• Adam on Innovation:

  “Writing a really funny movie is great and a very, very tall order, but I'll give you extra points if it can be innovative.” —Adam Carolla (70:18)

• Spinal Tap was improvisational, shot documentary-style, and all performances were live—an innovative fusion of comedy and cinema that confused initial audiences but became iconic.

• Audience Reception:

  “It baffled a lot of people. Critics really loved the film...But a lot of people just didn’t get it.” —Michael McKean (31:36)

4. Reflecting on Comedy, Creativity & Making It

(21:05 – 28:24, 29:13 – 37:21)

• McKean discusses the struggle and joy of being a creative in the pre-YouTube era—where success was defined more by personal satisfaction than mass exposure.

• Adam reflects on the changes in comedy, the proliferation of outlets, and the shift from local improv to international digital exposure.

• Quote:

  “You guys were in it for the love of the game. Because there wasn’t a lot of game. There was just the love of collaboration.” —Adam Carolla (27:47)

5. Hollywood & Valley Genealogy

(55:23 – 67:17; 83:41 – 84:29, recurring)

• Extended, humorous exploration of the intersection between Adam’s and Rob’s early lives in North Hollywood/Valley Village.
• Revisits the Marshall/Reiner family tree, their old neighborhood, and personal connections—a running inside joke throughout their interactions.

6. Rob Reiner’s Political Voice & "Shock and Awe"

(59:06 – 78:51)

• Film Discussion:
  Reiner discusses his film “Shock and Awe,” about the journalists who questioned the Iraq War intelligence.

• On Media & Government Collusion:

  “The public never really understood that there was no connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda...Here we are, moving towards war, everybody’s kind of drunk the Kool Aid...” —Rob Reiner (59:26)

• Adam’s Take:
  He draws parallels to being sued by patent trolls and realizing the system is rigged in favor of the insiders.

7. “Who Killed JFK?” – Deep Dive Into Conspiracy

(82:33 – 119:31)

• Reiner’s Podcast:
  Discusses his 10-part series with Soledad O’Brien examining JFK’s assassination, timed with the 60th anniversary.

• Rob’s Thesis:

  “It is very, very clear that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone.” —Rob Reiner (84:53)

• Cites new testimony from Secret Service agent Paul Landis about the “magic bullet” and details how evidence contradicts the lone gunman theory. Lays out the positions of four different shooters at Dealey Plaza.

• Covers the labyrinthine cover-up, the still-sealed documents, and why it matters.

  “There are about almost 5,000 documents that are still sealed...But even Biden decided there are going to be almost 5,000 records that are not going to be seen.” —Rob Reiner (95:27)

• Motives:
  The podcast explores the animosity of Cuban exiles, the Mafia, and CIA hardliners after Kennedy’s realpolitik moves post-Bay of Pigs and during the Cuban missile crisis.

• On Secrecy & Misinformation:
  Both hosts emphasize that, in the current digital era, withholding information feeds conspiracy rather than quashing it.

  “We have to get the truth out there. Democracy's based on the public knowing what the truth is about things.” —Rob Reiner (112:49)

• On Personal Risks:

  “The two years after the Warren Commission...18 key witnesses died of either a heart attack or an accident or suicide.” —Rob Reiner (115:58)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Archie Bunker:

  "He couldn't be that big...They would take Carroll O'Connor and they would round off the sharp edges..." —Adam Carolla (02:44)

• On Comedy's Changing Landscape:

  “Back in the day...there was no YouTube and there’s no Funny or Die, there’s no Comedy Central...they had to find a place to go.” —Adam Carolla (25:41)

• On Social Media & Disinformation:

  "It's almost impossible for the American public to figure out what's true and what's not." —Rob Reiner (65:04)

• On Family & Longevity:

  “My dad passed in his...he was 98 years old. And he was sharp, sharp, very sharp. Right up till the end.” —Rob Reiner (107:50)

• On Cover-Ups:

  "What it does take is an organization to cover it up...And they would close ranks like you said." —Rob Reiner (114:02, 115:35)

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Key Timestamps

• All in the Family & TV Authenticity: 00:50 – 04:37
• Spinal Tap Origins & Comedy Discussion: 29:06 – 31:12, 68:05 – 70:59
• Blah Blah Blah/Political Banter Segments: Multiple, e.g. 06:10, 40:57, 47:03, 53:50
• North Hollywood Memories & Family Stories: 55:23 – 67:17, 83:41 – 84:29
• Shock and Awe Film & Political Commentary: 59:06 – 78:51
• "Who Killed JFK" Podcast & JFK Conspiracy Deep Dive: 82:33 – 119:31
• Discussion of Secrecy and Disinformation: 110:10 – 113:20

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Concluding Thoughts

This Carolla Classics episode is a sprawling tribute, capturing Rob Reiner’s humor, intellect, and contrarian spirit. Whether riffing on sitcoms, reminiscing about growing up in North Hollywood, dissecting pop culture, or passionately pursuing the truth about the Kennedy assassination, Reiner remains as sharp and unapologetic as ever. The episode stands as a testament to the role of comedy, creativity, and critical thinking in American public life.

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In memoriam: Rest in peace, Rob and Michelle Reiner.

Transcript

[Adam Carolla]

Foreign.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

Classics. I'm your host, superfan Giovanni. This is the podcast. We play the best moments, highlights and fans like the clips from all 16 years of the Adam Corolla show. We have a companion podcast titled Coral Classics exclusively available through Podcast one Plus. Sign up and get the ad free archives. And if you like the ad free archives of the Adam Carolla show, the Admin Dr. Drew show, or just want exclusive access to the brand new podcast Beat it out, make sure to check out Adam Carolla's substack adamcarolla.substack.com and if you'd like to request a clip, please email us classicsamcarolla.com all right, let's get to clips. Coming up first we have Adam Carolla Show 1448. This one's from 2014. Features Norman Lear, Allison Rosen and Brian Bishop talking about all in the Family.

[Adam Carolla]

All in the Family is one of these shows that I reference all the time in the new Hollywood system where you're attempting to do a sitcom and they go, everyone has to be likable. This guy's not likable. And I go, carroll o' Connor was not likable. Archie Bunker was not likable. He was funny as shit, but he wasn't likable. And I literally had an executive go, oh, listen, we know that him and Meathead argued, but we also knew that if Meathead was ever in the hospital, Archie would be the first one by his bedside. And I said, no, he wouldn't. He didn't even like the guy. And I don't know if today's system is driving you nuts or what was different about the old system that you could do something. There wasn't audience testing.

[Rob Reiner]

I thought he was a human being. And that automatically included being lovable to some degree and to some people and some people not. But I always thought of him as lovable in the sense that his daughter could count on him.

[Adam Carolla]

But do you? Do you? I guess what I'm getting at is I come from a very liberal group and when I was young, we would watch all in the Family and my super liberal mom would look at him and go, what a buffoon. What a cartoon character, what a clown he is. But she wouldn't be offended by him. She looked at him as a buffoon and she would laugh with him because.

[Rob Reiner]

There was something lovable about him.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, but I don't feel like. I don't feel like we could make that sitcom today because we'd have to make him super likable all the time.

[Rob Reiner]

He couldn't be that big. The guys and gals that are doing shows right now, the showrunners, they tell me you couldn't do it today. And they attempt to do some of the things that we did, subject wise.

[Adam Carolla]

And they can't do it.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, so you're right about.

[Adam Carolla]

They would take Carol o' Connor and they would round off the sharp edges and they'd make them just a little more sort of universally friendly. And he would not. He'd be just a big blob.

[Rob Reiner]

You know, Matt and Trey at south park wanted to do Archie and.

[Adam Carolla]

And they did him as a little kid, right? Yeah, but I'm. I'm basically talking about, you know, the Big Three as. As it were, you could do that.

[Joe Coy]

Stuff on Comedy Central or the, you know, know, cable channels.

[Adam Carolla]

So it's weird that we've regressed in a. In a certain way, but you want to talk about shows that hold up. And also, as somebody who came from a poor family that was pretty depressed, I liked watching the Jeffersons and Sanford and Sons. It made me feel better about my lot in life versus watching the Partridge Family or the Brady Bunch, which always made me depressed.

[Rob Reiner]

Well, you may be articulating something we don't. I haven't heard a lot, but there may be a very significant inner truth in that, that an awful lot of Caucasians watched it because it helped them feel better than they had they felt they had any right to feel when they weren't watching it.

[Adam Carolla]

No, I did. Like, I would see them. I'd see Good Times, and I would go, all right, they're a little poorer than we are, and they live in a crappier place than we do. We're poor and we live in a crappier place. But when I would see the Brady Bunch in their big house and their shiny car and everyone intact and happy and together, it would depress me. So in a way, you did a service. And mod depressed me a little bit, too. But then Adrienne Barbeau came down those stairs, and I perked up. How about Thelma in Good Times? Oh, yeah, yeah, she was pretty good. Yeah, Thelma was pretty good, too. But Adrienne Barbeau at 26 coming down those stairs in a tight sweater. Yeah, I woke up in a hurry.

[Rob Reiner]

She's in the car at 26 waiting for you. This show's over.

[Adam Carolla]

That'd be so fun. I had one of my. I think I had one of my earliest erotic dreams about Adrienne Barbeau, which was, we're at a mall and I tried to grab her booby, and she yelled at me. And then I told her we were in a dream. It didn't matter, and she still yelled at me. Next story. So you and this. I didn't know you flew in a B17 Flying Fortress. I did 52 combat missions.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

All right, that was Adam Cole Show 1448. Coming up next, we have Adam Colishow 1639, featuring Rob Huebel, Gina Grad, and Brian Bishop from 2015. It's just the Blah, blah, blah segment. At some point in that game, it almost became a staple to include Rob Reiner as one of the people who wrote this potential inflammatory block that's meant to upset Adam. So it would often lead to either a mention about Rob or a rant about Rob or something about his personal politics, that kind of thing. It's really the only time he came up on the show other than Adam praising All in the Family or other of his works throughout the years. So Adam would praise all of his creative endeavors and then criticize his personal politics, specifically around smoking, which is weird because engineer Anderson, who always butted heads with Adam on Loveline, also had the same exact gripe with Rob Reiner. So we're going to feature a few of these episodes that have the Blah, blah, blah segment where they try to do a red herring. Rob Reiner and I hope you guys enjoy.

[Adam Carolla]

Should we do some. What do we play? Blah, blah blah. Sure, let's play some blah, blah, blah. Let's do that.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Sorry, it's time for Blah, blah Blah, the game where we match the celebrity with their retarded online rant.

[Adam Carolla]

So, Rob. Well, it's right in there. You match a celebrity with the online rant. I got it. I think I know what's going on.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Okay, boss, we got three of these, plus a tiebreaker. All right, Jeb Bush said earlier this week that not only does he want to to obliterate Planned Parenthood, but he is, quote, not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues at all. Ah, yes, women's issues. What a trivial distraction from the real issues facing America. Bush's dismissive women's issues comment wasn't a slip. It was a perfect expression of how the Republican Party views the lives of half of the population. Is it Kathleen Turner, Sarah Silverman, or Rob Reiner?

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, that's tough. Kathleen.

[Joe Coy]

Jeb Bush. Would it be ironic if he's the.

[Michael McKean]

One who wrote it?

[Adam Carolla]

It would be, yeah.

[Joe Coy]

Probably not him, though.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. All right, I'm gonna say Rob Reiner.

[Gina Grad]

He's leaning toward that. I feel like if it was Sarah Silverman, it would have been more word efficient and funnier.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, she usually punches her stuff up a little.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Kathleen Turner, though, that. That. That's a blast from the past.

[Joe Coy]

Is she blogging? She must be.

[Adam Carolla]

She's romancing the stone, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

[Joe Coy]

Sarah Silverman.

[Adam Carolla]

You're going. Sarah Silverman.

[Gina Grad]

I'm going with you. I'm going Rob Reiner.

[Adam Carolla]

Rob Reiner. What are you going with? I'm going to go Sarah Silverman. Sarah Silverman as well. We got two Sarah Silverman's and two Rob Reiners.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

The blog belongs to Kathleen Turner.

[Adam Carolla]

What?

[Joe Coy]

Of course it does.

[Adam Carolla]

She's got to check with me before she starts blogging.

[Gina Grad]

But in other news, Kathleen Turner's still around.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I know.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

I have lived a long time, and I have seen many incredible things. I remember the days when the Ku Klux Klan was very powerful. I remember when there were segregated drinking fountains and bathrooms. I even lived long enough to see a black man elected president twice. Incredibly, he now lives in a house that was built by slaves. I hope to live long enough to see one of the candidates promise an apology for slavery. We cannot erase our history, but we can pledge that hatred will be banished from our great land.

[Adam Carolla]

Who's gonna do the apologizing? Like, we elect a one white guy to do that. So I think that guy have to be Ron Howard. Right? He's the whitest guy on the planet. Is.

[Joe Coy]

He's very young.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, no, I think Jim Gaffigan, the comedian. I think he's the one. I would have Jim Gaffigan. I'd have him just walk up to the BET Awards or I'm not sure.

[Joe Coy]

Source Awards. Work.

[Adam Carolla]

Source Awards.

[Joe Coy]

All right.

[Adam Carolla]

And he'd probably be like, all right, you know, let's wait for the gunfire to settle down. And then. Then he'd take his hat off, and I think he'd have to do that thing where he holds both sides of the frame in front of him. Right. And then Gaff again delivers the speech. Yeah.

[Rob Reiner]

And just says, on behalf of all white people.

[Adam Carolla]

Right, right.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

Sorry. What?

[Adam Carolla]

We did apologize.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Does the blog belong to Norman Lear, Kirk Douglas, or Jimmy Carter?

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, and by the way, let's really explore this two bathroom, two drinking fountain plan. I mean, when you're a big celebrity, you get your own bathroom. You know what I mean? I mean, the worst things that could happen. I'm just saying, would you like your own drinking fountain, Rob?

[Rob Reiner]

It seems like a good idea.

[Adam Carolla]

That's what I'M saying. All right, so on paper.

[Joe Coy]

On paper, yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

All right. Jesus Christ. Who is this? Brian? Go ahead.

[Joe Coy]

I'm gonna rule out Jimmy Carter and say Kirk Douglas.

[Adam Carolla]

Why are you rolling out Jimmy? I don't.

[Joe Coy]

I think, politically doesn't seem like he would ever say something like that. Like we should be apologizing for slavery.

[Adam Carolla]

He had the chance. He was president, huh? Yeah, that's my guess.

[Gina Grad]

That's how I feel. I feel like he would have had the opportunity to do that had he.

[Adam Carolla]

Wanted to do that.

[Joe Coy]

If only one of us could have ever said, oh, I could have.

[Gina Grad]

If only somebody who ran the free world could offer an apology. I'm gonna go Norman Lear on this one. A man whose life David Wild says saved.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes. All right. Feels like Lear to me, too. I know the man.

[Rob Reiner]

Well, I think it's Kirk. Was Kirk Douglas.

[Adam Carolla]

Kirk Douglas. All right.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

The blog belongs to Kirk Douglas.

[Rob Reiner]

Count it. Count it.

[Gina Grad]

I gotta hitch my wagon to another star.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, we're both. Everyone's 02. Rob's got one guess. Kurt. Doug Willis, you got Kurt Douglas. Okay, sorry.

[Michael McKean]

You got.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Yeah, both Rob and Brian have one. If one of them gets this and only one.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, you two need to pick a different answer on this one so we can settle. No, no, no. We have a tiebreaker. I'm fascinated by that cheesecake that just showed up.

[Gina Grad]

There's a whole lot of cheesecake up there.

[Adam Carolla]

We agree on that. It looks nice. Yeah. Sorry. Go ahead.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

To those of you who have asked me for my opinion or expertise, I want to remind you that while I've known that I was trans since I was a small child, learning about the trans community is still very new to me, and I don't have all the answers.

[Adam Carolla]

I'm sorry. Trans am community? I'm a car guy. Big smoking the Bandit fan.

[Michael McKean]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Burt Reynolds at his best. Yeah.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

That said, the one constant I've noticed is how incredibly difficult it is for transgender folks to transition to become their authentic selves and still be healthy and secure emotionally, physically, financially. The list goes on and on. We have to make things easier for the transgender community. Is it Caitlyn Jenner?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Orange is the New Blacks? Laverne Cox or Big Brother contestant Audrey Middleton.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, now this person doesn't give a. They're just colossal blowhards, and they're trying to score some points. Right.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

I think I. I think all three are transgender.

[Joe Coy]

What.

[Adam Carolla]

What do we do, though? Like, I get. No, I feel you. Like, we. Like, maybe I get the ramp we build for the Guy in the wheelchair. But the. What do we do with the transgender? How do we. What do we do? I mean, look, I'd like to help. I just want some marching orders, you know what I mean? Like I. Transgender accessible van or something. Like, I'm not trying to think of like what? Just vans. You think that would do it? Just a bunch of vans. Special parking spaces, specially outfitted vans.

[Rob Reiner]

Trans vans.

[Michael McKean]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Special parking spaces with just a huge question mark on it, you know? Yeah. Because here's the deal. If you were born, you know, if you had 20 years to walk in heels, you can park at the back of the Costco and make it to the front door, no problem. But if you were wearing track spikes 20 minutes ago and now you're in pumps, that's a fucking baton death march. You can, you can't just slip into pumps at age 67 as a former dude and just sashay down that Costco. You're gonna fucking eat shit. You're going to eat shit. I'm not looking for comedy here. This is a real problem. People just. You roll an angle.

[Rob Reiner]

You're saying the practicality of actually walking in shoes.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, I'm saying it's not all laughs, everyone. It's not all. Hold on, Rob Hubel, that is your name? How old are you? 46. 46. You look good. Thank you. You beaten off a lot?

[Rob Reiner]

Beaten off, yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Fantastic. You think that helps me? Yeah. Oh, it's youthful. We gotta get into that. Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. Keeps you young. Oh, wait, you're not eating it. No. Okay. All right, hold on. Sorry. Enjoy your cheesecake. Sorry, where were we? I'm saying, Rob, if you had 20 more years of running around in jeans and tennis shoes. Yeah. And then all of a sudden I put you in a tight form fitting dress and put you in some pumps and told you to get to the back of the Costco and Burbank to the front door on the blacktop in 105 degree weather. How long before you just ate shit? You tear an acl. Yeah.

[Rob Reiner]

You blow your knee out or you.

[Adam Carolla]

Blow your knee out. They probably just find you.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

And find Adam crows picking at your corpse.

[Gina Grad]

Yeah, I've got it.

[Adam Carolla]

What's that?

[Gina Grad]

No parking spaces, no vans moving escalators just stand, look pretty and go right to the.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, but you know what would happen? What happened almost immediately is a bunch of fuck sticks putting on like a sundress going, I'm going to the Costco and your wife be like, what are you putting a sundress On. I want to use.

[Joe Coy]

I'm in a hurry.

[Adam Carolla]

I'm in a hurry. I want to use the mover. I want to use the people mover. And they're like, what? Yeah. Oh, shit. Yeah. Give me my emotional support dog, too. So we need some free samples. Yeah. This is awesome. There'd be dickheads exploiting the system probably, right? You know what I'm saying? Dickheads with dicks and heads. Can I ask. Can I ask a question real quick?

[Rob Reiner]

I'm always curious about this.

[Adam Carolla]

How many people in here have a therapy dog?

[Gina Grad]

Oh, there's one.

[Joe Coy]

The Australian guy.

[Adam Carolla]

Wow. I thought there would be more. I mean, that's a scam, right? Oh, listen, here's the thing about the therapy dog. 100% population at the airport, 0% in the therapist's office. Why is your fucking dog on your lap? Well, that dude with the suede patches is charging you 180 bucks for 50 minutes. Where's the dog then? Shouldn't it be lapping up some of the therapy? Yeah, about the wisdom.

[Joe Coy]

A therapy therapist.

[Adam Carolla]

That's right, dog. All right, so transgendered, what are we going to do? I like the people mover. I like my special parking again. It's hard to get around. Newly in pumps. Yes. Good.

[Rob Reiner]

You know what I mean?

[Adam Carolla]

Good place to start to think of what else we could do. What do we got?

[Joe Coy]

Free cobbling services for the heels that do break. Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Because. Yeah, Jennifer's gonna go through a set of pumps, like, every other week with that. The. He's got a weird gape. He weighs 185 pounds. He's a big man. Yeah. Your dad's gonna have to jump in and see if he can do some cobbler repair, some heel repair, and the. The generous. Yeah. So I think. I think. I think shoes. Free shoe repair.

[Joe Coy]

It's a good start. It's a good start, huh?

[Adam Carolla]

Okay. We could have a group called, like, Hairstylists Without Borders. They could show up and help out, because, again, this is new. This is new. All right, who are the three people?

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Caitlyn Jenner. Orange is the New Blacks. Laverne Cox or Big Brother contestant Audrey Middleton?

[Joe Coy]

I say Kate.

[Adam Carolla]

I'm going Laverne.

[Rob Reiner]

I'm going Caitlyn.

[Gina Grad]

I don't think it's Laverne, because they're talking about newly. Newly. I think she's been doing this for a while. Maybe. I'm gonna go with Caitlin.

[Adam Carolla]

Okay.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

The blog belongs to Caitlyn Jenner. Pushing Bold Bryan and Rob Hubel into the tiebreaker round.

[Adam Carolla]

Tiebreaker all right, tiebreaker champions.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Congratulations to the Huffington Post for 10 years of innovation and success. When the Huffington Post became the first new media source to get a question from the president, people mocked the idea of the Internet handling such an important role. Now we're wondering if there's any role at all left for the old media. Someday soon, the old media will be gone, fully relegated to the dustbin of history. They will take their place next to those poorly choreographed groups of 1950s gas station attendance. I can't wait to read the Huffington Post's story about it.

[Gina Grad]

Arianna Huffington.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Is it Bill Maher, Glenn Beck, or Barack Obama?

[Adam Carolla]

No. Now, this is just Rob and Brian.

[Joe Coy]

That's right, Rob. You have a hunch on this one?

[Rob Reiner]

I was looking at the cheesecake.

[Adam Carolla]

What was the gist of it? It was someone slamming Huffington Post. They were saying the traditional media is going to be out. It's all going to be Internet. Yeah, yeah.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Pay no attention to the sarcastic inflection that I put on.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, pretty good inflection. Well, it's not Barack Obama who is the first person.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

It's either Bill Maher, Glenn Beck, or Barack Obama.

[Rob Reiner]

I feel like it's.

[Joe Coy]

Dawson, you should probably eliminate one of those, because what if we both pick the wrong ones?

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

I'll eliminate Barack Obama.

[Joe Coy]

I was gonna do that.

[Adam Carolla]

I think Rob already did that, but yeah. All right, Glenn Beck.

[Rob Reiner]

It's got to be Bill Maher, right?

[Adam Carolla]

I. You'd think it was Bill Maher, but once in a while we toss these things in. Glenn Beck is doing his own thing, making 50 million bucks a year.

[Joe Coy]

I was going to take Glenn Beck so well.

[Rob Reiner]

There you go.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, Bill Maher, Glenn. Becky. Let's see who the winner is.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

The blog belongs to Glenn Beck.

[Adam Carolla]

What? What?

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

All right, that's adam krillo show 1639. Now we have adam krillo show 1748 with mike mckean, Dr. Bruce, gina grad, and brian bishop. This one's from 20.

[Adam Carolla]

Michael McKeon here. Better call Saul. The name of the show.

[Michael McKean]

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

[Adam Carolla]

What can't Michael McKeon do? I'm a huge fan.

[Michael McKean]

He cannot fly. I or produce children.

[Adam Carolla]

Enjoy almost everything. Oh, I'll just say everything he does. Season two, by the way. February 15th premieres AMC 10 o'. Clock. Maybe you can help us out a little on this one. I got a call from Bob Odenkirk about three months maybe. Maybe. It was about six months ago. He said, hey, I hear you got this Paul Newman documentary. And we got A guy coming in this season, and he's a big race guy, and I just want to get him a copy of it. And his name is Ray. And I said, can you tell me any more about the guy? And he said, no, his name is Ray and he's doing a guest arc or something. Does that sound familiar? I don't want to out the guy. I know people watch.

[Michael McKean]

Well, listen, there's a lot that goes on in that show that I have I'm not party to. You know, I'm. I'm ensconced in my little, you know, aluminum foil world. Right. For the most part. And this season I do come out a little bit more. But, yeah, a lot goes on that. I don't know.

[Adam Carolla]

I was watching a documentary, Brian. I don't know if you saw it. And probably anyone saw it. They've been running. I think it's called Drunk High Dead. And I was very. I found it very fascinating.

[Michael McKean]

I haven't seen it yet.

[Adam Carolla]

It's very interesting and especially if you like comedy and sort of the origins of comedy. And there were some folks there, obviously, that you've worked with. But where did you start and how did you start, and who'd you come up with?

[Michael McKean]

Well, I think a lot of it goes back to my first year in college. Many, many years ago, I met David Lander, who was later my partner on Laverne and Shirley. But in the interim, he and I were very close friends. And in the early 70s, I became part of a group called the Credibility Gap, which was Harry Shearer, David Lander, and Richard Beebe. The late Richard Beebe. And we did satire on the radio. It was Get a news story, Rip it off the. You know, the ticker tape.

[Adam Carolla]

Is this pre Lampoon radio hour?

[Michael McKean]

Yeah, it's right around the same. A little before this was 1970, they actually started credibility gap started in 68, and then they eventually amassed the.

[Adam Carolla]

And this is out of where?

[Michael McKean]

Out of Los Angeles. The first station was krla.

[Rob Reiner]

Wow.

[Michael McKean]

Which was at the time was an AM station. It was at the time at the. At a hotel in Pasadena. Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Weird. And from there you go where?

[Michael McKean]

Well, we took that act when we kept getting fired from the radio stations, and so we kind of took that to the stage and we started working on the stage, opening for rock acts and stuff. Then, you know, the four of us. And then later the three of us, and we opened for John Denver and for Commando, Cody and Richie Havens. And it was just. It was a strange world because a lot of those Audiences, they didn't care to see a lot of sophisticated satire. And sometimes they threw things to let us know that they didn't want it.

[Adam Carolla]

So, yeah, let's see. Richie Haven's famous for Here Comes the Sun cover, let's say Beatles.

[Michael McKean]

And also Albert Brooks opened for him once and did a very funny piece on, I think Albert's first album, about opening for Richie Havens and how that wasn't his finest hour.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Did you.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, Albert Brooks open for Richie? Yeah. How could anybody open? I mean, I get it if you're a rock band and you have a lesser known rock band open for you, but if your place that serves fondue and the opening act is gonna be Thai food or churros or something, it's probably gonna not work real well with that crowd.

[Michael McKean]

Absolute.

[Adam Carolla]

Person I talked to, I remember having a long conversation with a guy who was in a improv troupe called the Frayed Knots, and he had to go to the Coach house and open for Pat Travers. And it'd be like, we need a location. Your mom's cunt. It's like, okay, okay. An activity trying to get out.

[Joe Coy]

It's like, because Pat Traverse.

[Adam Carolla]

Nobody wants to see that. It is weird, right?

[Michael McKean]

That's such a strange world. It really is. The only. The only if you have. If there's a music act, no matter what the music act is something that is even just nominally a music act, opening for them. Makes sense, right? But it's not always great sense.

[Adam Carolla]

No.

[Michael McKean]

You know, I used to. I used to live right near the. The Fillmore east in New York during when that was a thing. And you would go, you would see some very peculiar pairings. I saw Tiny Tim opened for the Doors.

[Adam Carolla]

Wow.

[Michael McKean]

Now, at the time, Tiny Tim hadn't been on TV or anything. He was just kind of New York's dirty little secret.

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Michael McKean]

He was a hilarious act, but a lot of people just kind of got up in arms and they just. What?

[Adam Carolla]

What? Why?

[Michael McKean]

What are you doing to us? Where's Jim Morrison?

[Adam Carolla]

So you. I mean, now you can just. There's so many outlets for what you do or what you.

[Michael McKean]

I thought you meant in my home.

[Adam Carolla]

So many GFI ones. You put the ground fault interrupt USB.

[Michael McKean]

Has change that's just.

[Adam Carolla]

And then there's 240. We can get the quick charge going on the Tesla.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

That's what I'm saying.

[Adam Carolla]

There's so many outlets. What I'm saying is back in the day, there was all this talent, you know, we've had. Fred Willard was in here not too long ago. And you'd see all these guys back in the day, even Bill Murray and all the guys, the Gilda Radners and all these. But they had to find a place to go because There was no YouTube and there's no funny or dying. There's no Comedy Central, there's no anything. There's pretty much Saturday Night Live and that didn't even exist.

[Michael McKean]

75. Then they started.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. And nobody was really a stand up. And stand up was sort of the gig. But everyone else did improvisational, group theater, parody, blah, blah, blah. And so there was no. They couldn't really do stand up. So all these.

[Michael McKean]

They were local. They were local. San Francisco had the committee.

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Michael McKean]

Chicago had Second City, obviously, and still do. And there was a second City in Toronto. LA had Groundlings. But before the Groundlings, there was the premise, which was.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, and the freight knots.

[Michael McKean]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Were killed at the Coach House in 1979, tragically. But before that, they were one of the premier improv comics in their pre Pat Travers days.

[Michael McKean]

Yes, of course.

[Adam Carolla]

Pat Travers said, boom, boom, out go your lights. That was his one hit. Yeah.

[Rob Reiner]

So.

[Adam Carolla]

So were you able to make a living? I mean, I know Laverne and Shirley came around and there was a paycheck, but before that, again, not a stand up, no snl, no Funny or Die. Like hard to make a living back then.

[Michael McKean]

Yeah, yeah. It really was the credibility gap. We did, you know, these gigs and everything, but they didn't pay much. So we also did commercials for. For various things. We did commercial for a local Toyota dealership, Jack Poet Toyota. We did a couple of those. We did one for Head Shampoo, which doesn't even exist anymore, for the Emergent Shoulder Shampoo. I know we were all head oriented and a lot of them for Atlantic Records. We had a friend over at Atlantic Records who was. And he gave us these spots and, you know, we kept it alive, kept it going.

[Adam Carolla]

Do you feel? And maybe, maybe don't let me put words in your mouth, but you guys were in it for the love of the game. Because there wasn't a lot of game. There was just the love of collaboration. I mean, I remember those days at the Groundlings and Acme Theater and stuff where you would just collaborate. You did it just because that's what you did. But there was never any end game. Like, we're gonna shoot this thing. We're gonna get a bunch of viral downloads. We're gonna get it up on YouTube. You just did it. And now I wonder. There's so Many people that are in it, but I'm not sure if they're in it for the reasons you were in it because you weren't being paid initially.

[Michael McKean]

Not so much. We were in it to end the Vietnam War and it worked. As you noticed, you know, 75 was all done, right? That was because of us.

[Joe Coy]

Nice job.

[Michael McKean]

Satire. Thank you very much.

[Adam Carolla]

Well done.

[Michael McKean]

We don't get the recognition I think we deserve, but. No, no, it's true.

[Adam Carolla]

We.

[Michael McKean]

We didn't. We weren't an improvisational group. Credibility gap, we would write. But, you know, for example, the day that Nixon resigned in 74, we had a sketch on its feet that night at what is now the improv. At the time was called the Pitchell Players, which it was at the interim between the Ash Grove and the Improv.

[Adam Carolla]

So did you grow up out here?

[Michael McKean]

No, no, no, no. I was already grown up when I came here. I grew up back east in Long island in New York City.

[Adam Carolla]

And one of my favorite movies of all time, Spinal Tap. Where did that come from? Or where were you when you. Or. And. Or Harry or. And. Or whoever thought about it?

[Michael McKean]

Well, this was in. In the late 70s. Rob Reiner had a. A pilot. He and his partner Phil Mishkin and some other. Actually, Phil was just kind of peripherally involved. But Rob sold this pilot. He had just left all in the Family and he sold a pilot or he was going to make a pilot. The premise was it's a guy sitting there at home with his remote just going through a day of television. That way you could parody everything that's on tv. And it was called the TV show. And the last sketch or the next to last sketch in the piece was. Do you remember Midnight Special with Wolfman Jack?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Michael McKean]

Well, it was that.

[Adam Carolla]

There was a bunch of those shows that just come on Friday night or Saturday night and they play acts, you know, they'd have Love and Spoonful come in there or whoever and they. Sometimes they do it live, sometimes they lip sync or whatever.

[Michael McKean]

It was usually live, actually. And yeah, if you had Paul Schaefer on here to talk about that stuff, because he's one of those guys who memorize. He remembers everything he ever saw or heard and can, you know, repeat it. It's amazing. But anyway, we had the sketch, this idea and I wasn't involved with the writing of the show, but Harry was a producer on the show. Chris Guest was a writer on the show. And we. Chris and I had always done these characters and they said, well, how about those guys put a band Together, the original band was myself, Harry, Chris Loudon Wainwright on keyboards and Russ Kunkel on the drums. Oh, really unseen was. Was.

[Adam Carolla]

Shoot.

[Michael McKean]

Great bass player.

[Adam Carolla]

Call Schaefer.

[Michael McKean]

Yeah, Sklar Lee Sklar, a great bass player. He actually did all the real bass playing because Harry was just kind of picking up the bass at the time. And we did this kind of, you know, psychedelic performance and video.

[Adam Carolla]

Did Spinal Tap have to steep for a while in terms of the appreciation of the audience? Because I remember. What year did it come out?

[Michael McKean]

1984.

[Adam Carolla]

And I remember in my little circle, people are like, you gotta see this. But that was in my little circle of those guys who are into that stuff. But when it initially came out, it was.

[Michael McKean]

It baffled a lot of people.

[Adam Carolla]

It was more appreciated two decades later or a decade later.

[Michael McKean]

Critics. We were on more 10 best lists than anybody that year. Because critics really loved the film because they knew. They knew it was about movies, right? To. In a certain state. It was. It was a documentary. It was a fake documentary about the way people make real documentaries. And they just love that kind of, you know, double Thump. And. But a lot of people just didn't get it. When we previewed the film, we showed it to preview audiences, they were really in the dark because, I mean, they had.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

They.

[Joe Coy]

They were like, who's this band?

[Michael McKean]

Yeah, they kind of thought they recognized Meathead from All in the Family, but. But what the hell is he doing there?

[Adam Carolla]

I.

[Michael McKean]

Why didn't they make him. We used to get the. We got these cards, you know, we showed it in Denver. No, in San Francisco and in Dallas or someplace or Austin or someplace. And the cards were amazing. The cards were like, why didn't you make a movie about a good band? Why does the camera move around like that? Who are these people? And one of the. There's a thing. There's a blank on preview cards that says, in what way is this movie like other movies you have enjoyed? And would you. Would you rec. How would you recommend this to your friends? Blah, blah, blah. So on that line, some person had written, D O A. No, no, sorry. Excuse me. DNA. We said DNA. DNA does not apply. How much do I like this movie? Does not apply. Didn't like it.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, it is. It's one of the movies. I never once. If I ever stumble into it, I never switch it off because there's always the next scene of Artie fucking needing you to kick your ass.

[Michael McKean]

Have you fallen into the seven hour godf hole? Now that that's on.

[Joe Coy]

I watched four hours of it.

[Michael McKean]

I Mean, it's like, oh, this I'll just watch into.

[Joe Coy]

Oh, my God.

[Rob Reiner]

That's a new scene. That's a new scene.

[Michael McKean]

Amazing. Yeah, it's just amazing.

[Adam Carolla]

We won't rest until we never stop resting. That's exactly it. Creative. I mean, with all the shows and all.

[Rob Reiner]

Everyone.

[Adam Carolla]

I mean, it's like, you know, you go right from Breaking Bad to Better Call Saul. So everyone goes, have you seen all the break. You gotta sit down. What you need to do is ignore your children, ignore your job, and ignore your faith, and just lock yourself in a room with some Kleenex and watch all. And then there's Better Call Saul. And it's like everyone's doing this binge watching and stuff, but they were probably not building as many bridges and skyscrapers like.

[Gina Grad]

It's true.

[Joe Coy]

If we think about it, a lot fewer bridges have gone up.

[Adam Carolla]

The guys who built the Golden Gate Bridge did not binge watch Better Call Saul. That's right. So it's weird, but it's. It's like there used to be this. I mean, you know, I don't know. Bruce Springsteen had a song 12 years ago.

[Michael McKean]

57 channels and nothing on.

[Adam Carolla]

There you go. And now he must have got the basic package. Now it's 574 and everything's on.

[Michael McKean]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

And it's just not enough. And then you have to get in these arguments where people are like, are you watching this Making of a Murder thing? No, I'm not. You need. What do you mean? I just watched 77 hours of the Godfather. Well, knock it off.

[Joe Coy]

Put that aside.

[Adam Carolla]

My dog died of exposure. The kids are emaciated, They've been left out of school. But now you better watch this.

[Michael McKean]

Well, I do like the fact that that Better Call Saul is. Is a weekly show, and you wait a year and you can. You can binge it. You can. You can. You know, or if you're overseas, you can watch on Netflix, like, now. Ish. But I. I like the idea that we're on every week for 10 weeks.

[Adam Carolla]

Is the plan, or is there a plan for you coming up in terms of more theatrical stuff, more comedy, more serious roles.

[Michael McKean]

You know, I never plan. You know, I think that life gives us too many interesting corners to go around, and you really never know what's around that corner. Right now I'm writing a film with my daughter. It's an idea I had a long time ago, and it's finally someone in the family who likes to work so well.

[Adam Carolla]

The rest are binge watching.

[Michael McKean]

Yes. And she and I, she, you know, she gets after me. Let's work. Let's go sit down. Go, go. And we've been having a great time doing that. And you know, I'm going to go off to New York. My wife is doing a show at the Public called Southern Comfort, which she's been kind of workshopping for five years or so. And so that's going to be kind of exciting. I'll be her fancy man. Won't be working, but I'll be.

[Adam Carolla]

Do you like or has it attributed. I mean, you don't seem burnt out on the business and I guess it's. You don't seem burnt out because you've been doing a thousand different things for a long period of time. Is that the way you like it? Because I feel like when you've done that same gig kind of thing, there's a burnout factor.

[Michael McKean]

Well, I go back and forth between tv, mainly TV and theatrical, and I've been working on, you know, the last 10, 11 years. I've been doing a lot of work in New York and elsewhere in London and Chicago and you know, Williamstown, New York and Williamstown, Massachusetts and you know, really interesting places and la. So I get a chance to, to be a stage actor too. And it's. That's something. That's what I assumed I would always be doing when I was a kid and wanted to be an actor. I assumed I would just live at my parents house and get on the Long Island Railroad and go in and do a show in New York and then come on back, you know, and we all grow up. But still I love doing that as much as I love doing anything else. I love working on tv. I love this, this gig with Odenkirk and Vince and Peter and that bunch and Jonathan Banks and Ray Seehorn. It's just Michael Mando. It's just a great bunch of people.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, go ahead.

[Gina Grad]

Well, it's, it's such an incredible show and it's so funny, but not overly so, you know, in that way. And that character of yours, Chuck McGill is one of the weirdest, most fascinating characters I think in any TV show because he's a lawyer with like an allergy to electricity. And I know you're probably not gonna tell us, but does that get resolved either way in the upcoming season?

[Michael McKean]

No, I think they're really approaching it very realistically. If a guy is cut off from the world that he saw himself as an important part. I'm sure there's at least one conjunction missing from that setup. But he Wants to get back into it. He's trying to climb back into it. That's all I'll really tell you about that.

[Adam Carolla]

But too many outlets. By the way, as we spoke to earlier, when you're allergic to electricity. All right, let's do Better call Saul. Season two is going to premiere February 15th, so we all. I can't wait for that. 10:00 clock AMC. I'll tell you what, we'll do a little news, Michael. Hang out, chime in, crack wise first. Lifelock, baby. Oh, identity theft. Well, we talked about the good things. You know, all the YouTubes and the funnier dives and the podcasts and all the different outlets now. But there's some bad things out there. That's like getting your identity stolen. So, good news. You can shop in your bathrobe in your living room. I bought a bathrobe online. That's how lazy I am. It's really. That's ultimate and lazy, right?

[Michael McKean]

Buying a bathrobe, something to keep you in the house.

[Adam Carolla]

Not leaving the house to buy a bathrobe. The only calories my dad would burn back in the day is bathrobe shopping. You know, kicking ties. He called it kicking sashes. But nope, I bought this. Oh, my God. I did the triple lazy. I had my assistant buy me a bathroom on Trifecta. All right, so that's good news. That's a first world activity right there. But probably not something they'd make like one of those vice docs out of.

[Rob Reiner]

Probably.

[Joe Coy]

Probably not.

[Adam Carolla]

Probably not. But bad news. And they could make a doc out of this. Stealing your identity. That happens. Well, that's all right.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

Those Adam Krullishow 1748. Coming up next, we have Adam Krill Show 1773, featuring Bill Engel, Joe Coy, Gina Grad, and Brian Bishop from 2016.

[Adam Carolla]

Let's do a little blah, blah, blah, shall we?

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

It's time for blah blah blah, the game where we match the celebrity with their online rant. Let's play. I certainly disagreed with President Reagan's politics and he with mine. But those opinions were expressed in a series of personal letters and conversations, not in the playground antics that passes for political discourse today. But back to Mrs. Reagan. I liked her from the first time I danced with her 40 years ago. Before that, when it meeting me, she smiled. I thought her charming graces, forever warm and interested, fully able to resonate to a partisan but empathetic source with which she was not necessarily familiar. Too many words, perhaps, when all I mean to say is that I cared very much for the first lady, is it Kirk Douglas, Carl Reiner, or Norman Lear?

[Adam Carolla]

Wow, Very interesting. Carl Reiner.

[Gina Grad]

I think you're right.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Group.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, you say Reiner, someone who.

[Joe Coy]

Would have corresponded with Reagan through letters.

[Rob Reiner]

Mm.

[Gina Grad]

Right.

[Adam Carolla]

Also, this is kind of falling a little under the heading of you went to the same high school as Tom Brady, but I'm not sure how many times Tom Brady's brought up the fact that he went to the same high school as Paul Bryant. Probably baker's dozen.

[Joe Coy]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

[Adam Carolla]

Maybe done May 13th.

[Joe Coy]

Yeah. I mean, since high school.

[Michael McKean]

Yeah.

[Joe Coy]

Pratt, Probably.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. So I think the correspondent regularly meant I sent her a couple of letters.

[Gina Grad]

She sent me an autographed picture once.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. You can correspond with God or Elvis if you like, as long as it's just a one way set of tracks to leave in town that you can talk to God and Elvis on the same day, but it's not quite corresponding. I'm gonna go with Norman Lear on this one. So what do we got here?

[Gina Grad]

I think Joe and I are both for Carl Reiner on this one.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Joe Coy]

God damn. I feel like Kirk Douglas may have known she was an actress, right?

[Adam Carolla]

Yep.

[Joe Coy]

So maybe the first time he danced with her was 40 years ago. So they met in 76 when they were. She was first lady of California. I feel like he may have known her before then. So I'm gonna say Lear.

[Adam Carolla]

Norman Lear.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

The blog belongs to Norman Lear.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. All right. So me and bald up 1 8. Wow.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

A crime against humanity has been committed against the people of Flint, making them refugees in their own homes. Tell me honestly, if you were living in Flint right now, can I say this?

[Adam Carolla]

If I ever have to become a refugee in my own home is the way the preferred modality. If I go outside and see a bunch of people carrying mattresses, I'm going, where are you going? And they're going, we're fleeing. I'll go, oh, I'm going to flee. But I'm going to do it from my sofa.

[Gina Grad]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Inward fleeing.

[Joe Coy]

I directv. So I'm going to seek refuge here.

[Michael McKean]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

And don't ask to crash on the futon, by the way. I'm just going to go ahead and board up the door. But, you know, as far as being a refugee goes, I'm going with my own home.

[Rob Reiner]

Yep.

[Adam Carolla]

I have it right up there with house arrest. You know, in terms of.

[Gina Grad]

They always sound pretty.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Would you like to be raped in this cement locker over here, or would you like to just kind of chillax on your own sofa.

[Joe Coy]

Are you talking raped every day or raped once in a while?

[Adam Carolla]

Either way. On sofa.

[Joe Coy]

Either way sofa.

[Adam Carolla]

Sorry, stupid question.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

If you were living in Flint right now and you learned that your children had been drinking lead filled water for two years and then you discovered that the governor knew this and the state lied about it, tell me how fast would your head be spinning? Would your children now poisoned. With your children now poisoned and with the poisoning continuing, is the word non violence dominating your thoughts right now? Are you absolutely stunningly amazed how peaceful the people in Flint have remained? Are you curious how much longer that can last? I hope it does. Is it Michael Moore, Montel Williams or Neil Young?

[Adam Carolla]

Boy, this is tough. It's a really tough one. First off, I. I can't say that I wish that my son had lead poisoning, but I would like something to explain his lack of performance at the academic level. Okay. Paint chips and it's much anything's better than just being dumb.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, you know what I mean?

[Adam Carolla]

You're lazy. I'd rather that he, you know, he nibbled on the door jamb a little bit.

[Joe Coy]

Finally an answer.

[Adam Carolla]

Now we got something. Now you can look at people and go, eh, he drank the water. Yeah, I took him to a few. He drank some of the water. Lynette chases him around the house and begs him to do his homework projects every single night while he simply throws a Nerf ball against the wall that bounces back to him endlessly. And then Lynette screams at him again to take. Do your project. Take it seriously. So between hands, just a dusting of low self. A dusting of retardation from lead poisoning. At least I could then explain that away. And then also probably get him out of some of this homework. Yeah, that's going on as well. Okay. Boy, this is tough. Yeah, I do it all the time. I go, you put Michael Moore on there. You did it. I know why you did it. You want me to bite on Michael Moore? Because it seems so Michael Moore, but I'm not gonna do it. And then turns out being Michael Moore, I'm going with Montel because there was some physical violence in there. And I don't feel like Neil or Michaels ever got into the physicality part of the stick it to the man.

[Joe Coy]

Yeah, there's some real platitudes in there. There's the head spinning and the crime against humanity. I mean real broad stuff. So I'm going to eliminate Neil Young. So I think he's a better writer than that. So I'm going to Go Montel.

[Gina Grad]

Yeah, I don't want to pile on here, but I did physically write down the word Montel as Mike was saying this because it just. It does not feel like you had.

[Adam Carolla]

Montel before Montel was mentioned.

[Gina Grad]

No, no, she did before you mentioned it.

[Adam Carolla]

Okay, good.

[Gina Grad]

During the game. So I'm going to. I'm going to say Montel because I.

[Adam Carolla]

Would have screamed you're a goddamn liar. Yes. I'm going to say Montel because it's Flint.

[Gina Grad]

Is he from Flip?

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

No, the blog belongs to Michael Moore.

[Adam Carolla]

I was gonna say Michael Moore. That's Lynch's kids picture went up and I was like, this is definitely something Montel wanted to talk about. That's what he does.

[Gina Grad]

Everybody went Montel.

[Adam Carolla]

All right.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Brian and Ace are tied for the lead going into round three. We do have a tiebreaker.

[Rob Reiner]

Okay.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

It takes a lot of courage to take on a system that is almost broken. But Bernie is a real baby, baby boomer. One that remembers the positive values of the 60s and hasn't forgotten the terrible wrong of Vietnam. And he's doing it as a senior citizen.

[Adam Carolla]

Why?

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

I'm sure that he wants to go down fighting for what he thinks is right. He's done that his whole career. With that attitude, he might just go up. Eight years ago, many felt that a black man, especially one with the middle name Hussein, could never get elected president. He won twice with the majority of votes. And so if a guy from Brooklyn can get elected in Vermont as an independent for over 30 years, then why can't he get elected President of the United States? Is it Doors drummer John Densmore?

[Adam Carolla]

Deep Pull?

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, or Police drummer Stuart Copeland?

[Adam Carolla]

Man, this is tough. I'm gonna say Police. I do love to hear Hillary speak on race because I love the idea that she's gonna right this ship. She's gonna right the slave ship. We've had a black president for. We voted a guy in overwhelmingly now, two times. But don't worry. The super rich, rich, middle aged white broad's gonna come in and fix it for us. It's weird that you don't. It's sort of. Again, it's kind of. It's a lot of hubris, but it's sort of embarrassing. Like we've had this black president for a long time and things have gotten worse. Even though they haven't gotten worse. You've just made them sound like they've gotten worse. But you're gonna fix it now. Hillary.

[Joe Coy]

Yeah, I haven't heard Hillary talk to us. Is that her thing, like, I'm gonna fit. Like a weird path to take if it's.

[Adam Carolla]

It depends who she's in front of, but. Yeah, that's. That's him. Bernie's gonna fix it too, by the way, because he said something that just pissed me off.

[Gina Grad]

I know what it is.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Gina Grad]

When I heard it, I knew then.

[Adam Carolla]

We'll get into it in the news. Let's see. All right. This is tough. Almost impossible. Is Copeland from here or is he from the uk?

[Joe Coy]

I think he's American.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't know. I don't. I don't know.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Police American.

[Adam Carolla]

Okay. The only uk Er. From the Police. Interesting. And then does it make it a UK band? Because the one guy. So they're an international band.

[Joe Coy]

International band.

[Adam Carolla]

I know, but if you gotta pick, like, we're doing that thing we talk about, like, with the. Do the hall of Fame, like, what. What jersey is a guy wearing when he gets inducted into the hall of Fame?

[Joe Coy]

You know, down to the third summers.

[Adam Carolla]

English, too.

[Rob Reiner]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

English man. There you go.

[Joe Coy]

British band.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, so, boy, you're gonna love how I got my answer. Okay, let's see. I don't know any of the drummers. I just know that Copeland has been in the. The news a lot. Has he? Yeah, he's just. This is like the third time I've heard his name come up.

[Rob Reiner]

And so I just.

[Adam Carolla]

I'm pretty sure he's.

[Rob Reiner]

I.

[Adam Carolla]

Maybe he's brewing something and he's wanting. He wants to be relevant. So that's the only reason why I'm picking Copeland. Mm. Well, let's face it. One of these guys made the statement, and then lynch picked two other drummers from the same era to confuse the S out of us. So now who was the first guy to make the statement? I'm gonna go with Densmore or two other. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Give me the three names again. One more time.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

We got John Densmore.

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Nick Mason or Stuart Copeland.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, the confusion is Nick Mason looks like. What's his name from the Doors? He looks like the lead guy from the Doors. Doesn't he look like Jim Morrison? No, sorry, not. I mean, the keyboard. I won't think of Zarek. Yeah, or that. I mean. All right, I'm gonna go with. I don't care. I'm going with Mason just because it's insane. Oh, no way.

[Joe Coy]

I can rule him out. Cause he's British. I say Copel.

[Gina Grad]

I say Densmore. Because the outfit Biggie supports Bernie.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a good one. Did you put one in? Yeah, I said, Copeland, we have a three way tie.

[Gina Grad]

God damn it.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

The blog belongs to John Densmore.

[Gina Grad]

Oh, thank God.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

So everybody put Joe Coy in on this last.

[Gina Grad]

I just assumed it wasn't me.

[Adam Carolla]

Pretty much stupid either. Three choices.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

You'll have to pick differently. Here we go.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, I need a good ray man. Zarek and what's his name?

[Gina Grad]

Robbie Krieger.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Nick Mason.

[Adam Carolla]

Nick Mason.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

He's a big car guy, by the way.

[Adam Carolla]

1 oh, Nick Mason.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

He's got quite a collection out there.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, Gary will work on that. But Here we go.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

40 million Americans have student debt. Together, they owe more than a trillion dollars, an amount that has doubled since the great recession. Americans now have more student loan debt than a debt from credit cards, car loans, and home equity lines of credit. As I've traveled the country, I've met people with interest rates as high as 11, 12, and 13%.

[Adam Carolla]

Traveled the country. I hate that douchebag. In my travels, the douchiest comment is, as I travel, I speak to people. Like, I see the cab drivers, I see the guys who work behind the counter at the Denny's or the Starbucks. I talk, oh, thank you, man of the people. Don't you hate these ass wipes, by the way? Everyone travels. Everyone, you know, travels to some degree. And everyone interacts with everyone. Because when you get a cab driver and he goes, where to? You don't go. You know, you tell the guy at the airport where you're going. And then when you check in a hotel, you talk to some, you know, the person behind the counter has business. How's it going over? So don't give me that traveling around. Bring it to the people. I hate it.

[Joe Coy]

It's insulting to present it as noble. Like, I talk to these people, it's like, well, how great.

[Adam Carolla]

He's untouchable. Thank you, your highness. Yeah. Do you let them touch the hem of your garment? All right, go ahead.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

We have a student debt crisis, and we need to solve it now.

[Adam Carolla]

Not this one.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

It is outrageous that young people are being asked to pay interest rates that are so much higher than interest rates to buy a house, a car, or just about anything else. Your education is an investment in your future. It should help you get ahead. Right now, it's doing the opposite. Is it Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, or Al Franken?

[Adam Carolla]

Oh. Ooh. All right, we all have to pick one that's not like the other. So, Brian, I'll let you go first. And Joe, you Go second, and I will take.

[Joe Coy]

Joe's not going.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, sorry, Gina. Gina, you go now. Gina, you go second, and I'll keep the. I'll mop up with the sloppy thirds.

[Joe Coy]

I'll take Al Franken.

[Gina Grad]

Oh, that's what I was gonna take. We've heard it so many times, I think I'd be a fool not to take Bernie.

[Adam Carolla]

Ooh, I was gonna take both those. Well, that'll leave me with Hillary Clinton.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

The blog belongs to Hillary Clinton, and.

[Adam Carolla]

You couldn't do it in a more noble fashion.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Until next time, keep your fingers on your keyboards and your heads up your asses so we can play another round.

[Adam Carolla]

Of blah, blah, blah.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

All right, that was adam Krilla Show 1773 for the next episode. In light of the sad news about Rob Reiner and Michelle Singer Reiner and their untimely deaths, it felt appropriate, as we always do when a guest passes away, to air their only appearances on the Adam Carilla Show. And Rob finally appeared on the show. We're gonna be playing both of Rob Reiner's appearances on the Adam Carolla Show. He first appeared in 2018 on an episode with Adam Dirtz, and they returned during the COVID era via Zoom remotely, talking about the JFK assassination. Here's Rob's first appearance on the podcast. This one's from 2018. That's episode 2365, featuring Adam Duritz, who's also in studio along with Gina Grad and Brian Bishop. Hope you guys enjoy.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

It's time to check Adam's voicemail.

[Adam Carolla]

Hey, Ace, man, I just got out of a baseball game, and there was a kid in the row behind me, one seat over, had his bare feet on top of the seat next to me, parents sitting right next to him. Don't say a goddamn word to him. And then the ninth inning, instead of putting his feet up, he starts kicking my seat. This is the world we're living in.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Love the show.

[Adam Carolla]

Ace, man.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

You can leave us a message at 888-634-1744.

[Adam Carolla]

Rob Reiner and Studio. We're all such huge fans of all his movies, of course. Just to refresh, you Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, Princess Bride, and Spinal Death, which is somehow. Comedies fall off a little bit over time. Sometimes it's actually better as you get smarter, as you get more references, you know, like when I first saw it, I grew up in North Hollywood. It's like when they went, boston's not a big college town. I just took them at their word Because I didn't know anyone who went to Boston.

[Rob Reiner]

There's a fine line between stupid and clever.

[Adam Carolla]

That's right. I was stupid. Rob the new movie. So I have local news for you because I grew up, my house is in North Hollywood. My grandparents house on Wilkinson street and my mom's house on Houston Street. And then later my dad's house on Hartsook and on Sego Street.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, we lived on Hesby street, which was right near that. Right in that area.

[Adam Carolla]

I remember as a kid, I went to Colfax elementary. And your daughter, who I just found out earlier today, was adopted daughter. Tracy.

[Rob Reiner]

Tracy. Tracy, yes. I was your Penny's daughter. Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Penny's daughter went to Colfax Elementary.

[Rob Reiner]

Right. Did she go with you?

[Adam Carolla]

She was there. We're the same age.

[Rob Reiner]

You're the same age. So then I. Then you were born in 1964.

[Adam Carolla]

That is correct.

[Rob Reiner]

Wow.

[Adam Carolla]

And we were.

[Rob Reiner]

You look so much younger.

[Adam Carolla]

I know. Well, you know, when you're not enjoying yourself and you're not getting laid and you're indoors a lot, you don't age.

[Rob Reiner]

It's a monk's existence.

[Adam Carolla]

So I remember Tracy and I remember where you guys lived. You lived on the corner. Had like a big house with ivy and stuff, like all sort of in the front. And then I remember thinking, God, is that Meathead and Penny Marshalls? Like, because between all in the Family and Laverne and Shirley and like, happy days and stuff, like, those were the.

[Rob Reiner]

Craziest salad days, you know? I don't know if Penny was doing Laverne and Shirley when we lived there. We moved to Encino, I think, and maybe at the last year, but we. That was like a big mansion. We spent like $90,000 for that house.

[Adam Carolla]

Crazy. And it was like a big double lot. And yes, I remember. Well, I gotta check what year Laverne and Shirley hit, but we were all massive all in the Family fans. My family. It's like the one show we all watched together, and everyone loved it. And I loved your character and the Meathead and Archie. It was all so good. And it's the example of the show that everyone goes, could you do that show today? And I could never really understand it because I would always use that as an example when I was trying to do a TV show where it's like, we want you to be nice. And it's like, well, how would it be if Archie was nice to Meathead? And somebody actually said, like, an executive at cbs, I was arguing with them about, like, somebody needs to be the heavy. We can't have a villain. We need a Bond villain. We got someone to fight against.

[Rob Reiner]

Well, you have that show. That show is called the Trump Administration.

[Adam Carolla]

We are there.

[Rob Reiner]

We're in that show. It's a reality show that is very frightening.

[Adam Carolla]

It's kind of. It's interesting that we need that dynamic. But at a certain point, one of the executives at CBS said, oh, yeah, Meathead and Archie would argue, but you knew that if Meathead was in the hospital, Archie'd be the first one by his bedside. And I said, I had no fucking idea. I think Archie would chills the champagne. Like, no, I did not. I didn't know that. Nobody knew that. Nobody thought. Where'd you come up with that revisionist history?

[Rob Reiner]

I like.

[Adam Carolla]

They spun it their own. Their own way.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Shock and Awe. This is the new film directed by Rob and starring Rob. Very good. I just watched it before I came in here. It's a story I didn't know about. I think people got the idea of, you know, with the Bush lied people died and the weapons of mass destruction and all that kind of stuff. But I didn't know about this one publication.

[Rob Reiner]

Right, right. Night Ritter. I mean, they got it all right. There were these four journalists from Knight Ritter, and you know, they were facing tremendous headwinds because 911 had happened. People were wrapped up in patriotism. The Bush administration had decided they were going to go to a war in Iraq even before 9 11. And these guys were trying to dig out and find out what the truth was. They got it all right, but nobody paid attention to them. And so the public never really understood that there were. There was no connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. There was no way that these aluminum tubes that they found could have been used to enrich uranium. And there was no evidence that there was any weapons of mass destruction. So here we are moving towards war. Everybody's kind of drunk the Kool Aid, and these four journalists are basically, you know, banging their heads against the wall trying to get out the truth out. And it never came out.

[Adam Carolla]

Rumsfeld, who was, you know, they were inner splicing actual footage of him being on what's his name's dad. He passed away. Oh, Russell like Russard show.

[Rob Reiner]

And he's like, you never seen that was Cheney.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, sorry, Cheney. Cheney seemed very defeated. Like, well, what do you got? And he's like, well, we got aluminum tubes. Like he ran out of his own steam. Like he wanted here enrich this or some ingots of that. But it was like, we Got tubes.

[Rob Reiner]

The weird thing was, is that the report on the aluminum tubes came out that day or the day before in the New York Times. And the reason it came out is because it was fed by the Bush administration to the New York Times. So it looked like there was Cheney basically. Well, there's this report in the New York Times. I'm not really supposed to talk about this because, but since they came out with it, I can say. And so basically it was like this kind of circular information cycle where they just fed things and then they regurgitated them.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, it was a very, you know, it's a very timely film and it gives you a real good idea of. Sometimes you think it's like if you ever get sued and you ever get sued by patentroll, like I've been sued. It's a rude awakening when you kind of find out that the guy that's suing you, the fake company that's suing you, the patent trolls, the judge and the politicians are on their side, right? Like you think, oh, that politician and that judge is gonna protect me from this guy who's trying to basically fleece me and stop my livelihood. And it's like, oh no, they go to the same country club, they all are on the same side. And you kind of get that idea with the government sometimes.

[Rob Reiner]

That's the real problem right now. I mean, I mean, if you think it was bad and tough for those journalists to try to break through with the truth, think about what it's like for journalists now when you have 40% of the country being told just lie after lie after lie through Fox News and Breitbart and Sinclair and Alex Jones with all these conspiracy theories. So mainstream media is, it's almost impossible to penetrate. This is the first time in American history point where you have essentially state run media backing up the President of the United States. Very tough, very tough for the public to get the truth.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, it's a weird thing in a way. We thought that technology, the Internet, whatever would answer every bet would solve every bet. In a way. It's like you remember when you were young, sitting around and you'd go like, I remember one time I was with Kimmel, we were backstage, we were in my dressing room, I think we were doing the man show. And he said, like you were doing.

[Rob Reiner]

The man show, not the man thing.

[Adam Carolla]

They were doing the man thing and the show. And I said, we were talking about Steve Yeager, the old catcher, catcher for the Dodgers. And I said, oh, that guy had some pop in his bat and he said he didn't hit that many home runs. And I said I thought he was the home run guy for. And I said, oh, but he hit more than I think it was 15 or 18 home runs a year. And he said, no, he didn't. And I bet him golf clubs on it. And we didn't have a phone that.

[Rob Reiner]

Could solve it immediately.

[Adam Carolla]

Immediately. And if somebody said, well, what if there's something the size of a pack of cigarettes? It was a magical genie and you could just solve every argument, you'd go, all right, well, there'll be no more arguments then because we have the answer.

[Rob Reiner]

Right.

[Adam Carolla]

I didn't know there'd be more arguments with because.

[Rob Reiner]

Because, you know, when it first, you know, the Internet first started proliferating, they called it the information superhighway and that the idea was that you're going to get all this information. What they didn't tell you is that they could also use it for propaganda and that they could be weaponized, that social media could be weaponized and you could get tons of disinformation and that's what you've got. Now every single administration uses propaganda, everyone to sell either policy or rationale to go to war. But this is the first time you've got an administration with state run propaganda backing them up. So if you're the president and you've got media constantly telling the public this is true, it's almost impossible for the American public to figure out what's true and what's not.

[Adam Carolla]

Do you ever think about, I mean, that's just probably stale question with you, but you know, you've always been politically motivated. Is there any thoughts. And you seem to be more motivated, if maybe the wrong word as you get older. Is it thoughts of running? Thoughts of because.

[Rob Reiner]

No. I mean, I did think of it seriously at one point to run against Arnold Schwarzenegger when he ran the second time for governor and there was a big article and Maureen Dowd said, you know, the Terminator versus the meathead, you know, and that kind of thing. But I went, I talked with my family and there's three, we have three kids and I basically polled 40% in my own family. So I figured if I can't carry my family, I shouldn't do it. But I find out over the years I can probably get more done outside of elected office.

[Adam Carolla]

I think that's a fair point. The. So just to settle this. So Tracy was Penny's.

[Gina Grad]

That's what's important.

[Rob Reiner]

We're doing genealogy here. Tracy's daughter Tracy Is Tracy is Penny's.

[Adam Carolla]

Daughter from a previous relation? From a previous marriage, but when she was young. 19. 20, right?

[Rob Reiner]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

And then you met Penny.

[Rob Reiner]

When I met Penny, I was, I think, 22. Penny was maybe 25 or 6, something like that.

[Adam Carolla]

And you guys ended up in what is now Valley Village because people pay that kind of money.

[Rob Reiner]

Is that what they call it? Valley Dance?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. They don't want the word North Hollywood.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

On their. They don't want to be associated with Sherman Way and, you know, and a Pep Boys. So that's where you guys end up. She goes to my school, which I lived across the street from Colfax. I guess Laverne and Shirley starts maybe when she's in the sixth grade or the seventh grade, I think.

[Rob Reiner]

Well, Laverne Shirley, I think started in 1975. If I'm not 76 through 83, you can look it up right away. I would have lost. Hold on 76.

[Adam Carolla]

In keeping with our new tradition. Liar. And you can't convince me otherwise. I know what I know.

[Gina Grad]

Fake news.

[Adam Carolla]

Fake news.

[Rob Reiner]

So.

[Adam Carolla]

So you guys, somewhere around the sixth grade or after sixth grade, take it over to Encino, right?

[Rob Reiner]

We go. We go to Encino, and we live there for a few years, and then we split up.

[Adam Carolla]

You and. And what do you.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Are you.

[Adam Carolla]

Do you keep up with Tracy? How does that work?

[Rob Reiner]

I talked to Tracy once a while. I haven't talked to her in a long, long time, but oddly enough, her children. Tracy's children went to school with some of my children.

[Adam Carolla]

Wow. That's Hollywood.

[Rob Reiner]

How weird is that? That's good. You like it?

[Adam Carolla]

No, it's so. It's so Hollywood.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Joe Coy]

And you look familiar.

[Adam Carolla]

Christmas. Just because all the. When you guys did. I have a Rob Reiner checklist here that I'm just trying to get to Spinal Tap. When you're doing all that filming, was that A and M Records that, like, the Chaplin soundstage there?

[Rob Reiner]

We did some. I don't think. I don't know if we did that there, because it was. We were on the road. I mean, it was a documentary.

[Adam Carolla]

But when you were. Yeah, but when you were, like, home basing it, like when they were loading in and stuff.

[Rob Reiner]

We didn't have home base. There was no home base. We was running Gun. It was, you know, it was, you know, guerrilla filmmaking. We were running all over the. We did shoot at some venues, you know, some. Some arenas and stuff like that.

[Adam Carolla]

Who. And whose idea was Spinal Tap?

[Rob Reiner]

All right, so here's how it came about. I did A variety show in 1978, I think it was called the TV shows satire of different things on tables, like SCTV, but before SCTV. And one of the things we did was a takeoff of Midnight Special where I play Wolfman Jack. And we introduced Spinal Tap for the first time on American television. I. I introduced him as World, you know, England's loudest band, right? And we had Russ Kunkel play the drums, who played with Jackson Brown and Linda Ronstadt and Loud. And Rainwright III was our keyboard player, and that was our band. And Harry and Chris and Michael started improvising in those characters while we were doing this. And I thought, you know, this. Maybe we could do something. So now time goes by and Harry and I have an idea to do a movie about road. About roadies, essentially, the backstage thing of it. And then Meatloaf came out with a movie called Roadie, right? And I said, okay, well, that's done. Meanwhile, Chris and. And. And Michael had done this little video about these two guys who meet in a. In a motel. And they vaguely remember having played in a band together, right? But they can remember because they're older. And so we then got back together and I said, what? Well, let's maybe we do something with these characters. And so we decided to, you know, we went to a company, they were going to give us money, but we couldn't figure out how to write a screenplay because it was going to be, you know, improvised, was going to be like a documentary. So I went to the guy who owned the company, I said, give me the money you were going to give us for the screenplay. I'll make you a little bit of the movie. You can see what it's like. We did that. He looked at it, he says, I know, Good. I hate this thing. So then we went and tried, you know, took years. We tried to, you know, set it up. So we finally got. We finally got it going, I gotta.

[Adam Carolla]

Say, you know, in. In. In the comedy realm. But maybe in any filmmaking, it's kind of like. It's why I like the Blues Brothers so much. It's like, not only is it great, but there's an innovation to it. You know, writing a really funny movie is. Is great in a very, very tall order, but I'll give you extra points if it can be innovative.

[Rob Reiner]

Well, it was improvised. The whole movie was improvised.

[Adam Carolla]

Improvised, but just the. It's a sort of template.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Doing that kind of mockumentary was. Was very interesting.

[Rob Reiner]

And also those guys played. They played their own instruments, and we recorded everything Live. It was all live. It was not like overdubbed or, you know, we went in a studio and did. No, it was all done right there live.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't know why. And also start thinking about Penny Marshall. And I started thinking about Garry Marshall. And then I started thinking about Lost in America.

[Rob Reiner]

And that was a great scene.

[Adam Carolla]

Desert Inn has.

[Rob Reiner]

I like when desert in has heart. The Desert Inn has heart that has.

[Adam Carolla]

It in as schmoes that blow in to watch Wayne Newton. I like Wayne Newton.

[Rob Reiner]

I like Wayne. Yeah. Albert Brooks.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, that goddamn scene.

[Rob Reiner]

Albert and I were like roommates.

[Joe Coy]

We.

[Rob Reiner]

We went to high school together. We were, you know, best. He was one of the best men at my wedding. And yeah, Albert is a good friend.

[Adam Carolla]

I lost in America and defending your life. I just love, love those films.

[Rob Reiner]

Did you see, did you see Real Life? Did you ever see his film?

[Adam Carolla]

Yes, I've seen them all.

[Rob Reiner]

That's a great film. That was like way earlier than, you know, Kardashians or, you know, satire of the Loud family. I mean, it was like the first reality.

[Adam Carolla]

Did you know you were, you know, did you know there was something there when you, when you met Albert Brooks?

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You knew right away. He's like. He was. He was like a prodigy. He was the only guy who could make re. Seasoned professionals laugh. I mean, he. My father, Mel Brooks, he could make at 16 years old. He would put my father into. Into convulsions. He was laughing so hard at stuff that my dad did that he did.

[Adam Carolla]

The. The Einstein's right.

[Rob Reiner]

That's his. That's his real name. Now take this for instance. Here's his father, Harry Einstein, who was a radio comedian, played park your carcass. He worked with Al Jolson and with Eddie Kanter.

[Adam Carolla]

All right.

[Rob Reiner]

He had four sons. Harry Einstein had four sons, and Albert was the last one born.

[Adam Carolla]

So Super Dave is one of them.

[Rob Reiner]

Oh, that. Yeah. Bob Einstein is older then there's Cliff, and Charles Einstein was the oldest. So if you're Harry Einstein, it obviously crosses your mind. You know, I can't name my kid Albert. That would be Darrow. But he had four, three other sons to think about it and maybe this might be. And he gives Albert that name, sticks him with that name.

[Adam Carolla]

Wow. One of the brothers is Dalian Associates. Am I making that?

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, that's Cliff.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, that's one of the big ad agencies, Cord. And that's why his movies, he's always an ad takes place over there. Yes.

[Joe Coy]

I could ask dozens and dozens of questions for Rob. I can Ask you about one of my, I think my favorite movie of yours, which is Stand By Me. You did two things in that movie that were really, really, really difficult. You cast four really good young actors, which is hard to do. You see, so many movies with young actors aren't up to the task. And you also adapted a Stephen King novel or novella, whatever it was, which at that point hadn't been done really well too many times. Maybe once or twice. Can you talk about just the casting for a second? How did you find the four kids all went on to success in varying degrees.

[Rob Reiner]

You, you, you audition. We had hundreds and hundreds of kids come in and you got to find just the right kids. Kids.

[Adam Carolla]

Them.

[Rob Reiner]

And a lot of these kids didn't have a lot of experience. So I basically, I did like acting classes with them for like two weeks. And, you know, just once they were cast. Yeah, once they were the cast. So that by the time we did the, you know, the movie, they were like a unit. They were a real tight unit.

[Joe Coy]

It's a great.

[Rob Reiner]

And you know, we've done At Castle, we've done like seven Stephen King movies, but most of the ones we've done are more character driven. They're not the supernatural horror movies. I mean, Shawshank Redemption is, you know, you wouldn't be a clay. You know, it's about characters. Yeah. It's not like a traditional Stephen King movie. We did, you know, Green Mile and Dolores Claiborne, they're different. They're character driven.

[Adam Carolla]

The, the, the fat kid isn't even fat by today's standards.

[Rob Reiner]

He's not fat by any standard.

[Joe Coy]

He's an autonomous today.

[Adam Carolla]

No, not today by today's standards. Like, the husky kid isn't even really husky. Go to a Walmart, you'll find many kids and employees.

[Joe Coy]

And we talk all the time about the kids who went from, you know, cute little kid to monster as adults. Went the other way.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, yeah.

[Michael McKean]

No.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, yeah. Jerry o'. Connell, he's. He's a hunk.

[Adam Carolla]

He's a hunk.

[Rob Reiner]

He's a hunk.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes, he is. He's no.

[Rob Reiner]

Oh, God.

[Adam Carolla]

Johnny Whitaker.

[Joe Coy]

Well put.

[Rob Reiner]

He's no Johnny Whitaker. Johnny Whitaker, Family affair.

[Adam Carolla]

He was the cutest redhead in the world. Turned to a monster.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah. What about that kid Mason? Mason Reese, that's right. What happened to him?

[Adam Carolla]

We should, we should, Chris. We should chronicle the ones that went from fugly to hunky and then they're very few. You're gonna have. Well, look, you guys, you only know the modern day Clint Howard. You don't remember the gentle Ben Clint Howard, right. Show headed. A little blonde kid hung around the bed.

[Rob Reiner]

Ronnie, Howard's brother hung out on a fanboat.

[Adam Carolla]

That was as cute a kid as there was. He wandered the Everglades with a bear.

[Joe Coy]

Modern example. And Chris can find a side by side. But the kid who played Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter series was a weird looking kid with teeth everywhere. And he was played as a joke. He's an Adonis. He's carved out of granite these days.

[Gina Grad]

Take it from Brian.

[Joe Coy]

Good looking man.

[Adam Carolla]

At some point we'll weave a chicken in the mix. We're sounding pretty gay about now. Although maybe that'd be too mean. The movie, very good. It is shock and awe. Rob is in it. He's great in it. He directs it as well. Lots of big name Woody Harrelson. James Marsden's in it. Tommy Lee Jones. And it is in theaters. It is coming up this Friday, July 13th in a limited release. But we'll get it wider when you guys go out and see it and enjoy it. Shock and AWMovie.com is where you should go. Am I missing anything, Rob?

[Rob Reiner]

No. I mean we're also going to be on Amazon. You can see it on Amazon on the 13th as well.

[Gina Grad]

That's actually.

[Rob Reiner]

You can watch it on DirecTV too.

[Gina Grad]

That's really good to know because what one thing I was thinking was, is as amazing as the movie was and I learned so much and I was ashamed that I didn't know it. You're going to want to back up and replay the Jessica Biel dinner scene multiple times so you can get caught up and coached up on the history that you thought you knew, but you didn't know.

[Rob Reiner]

Right. And it's interesting you mentioned that because every filmmaker tries to figure out ways to get exposition into a movie. So we had this idea where because these two guys did meet, you know, the, the journalist and his girlfriend was played by James Marsden and Jessica Biel. They did meet during the course of this. And we said, we'll have the first date. And she says, tell me what you did to prepare for the first date. So what she did to prepare was to read all the articles he had written. And so she regurgitates the history of Iraq and how you know, what was going on before that. And so we get all the information out in a very cute and nice way.

[Adam Carolla]

And Marsden I was talking about before you walked in looked exactly like the guy he didn't play, which is I saw at the end of the movie when you're showing the actual clips of the guys walking by, like, oh, my God, Marsden looked just. Just like his character. And then I was told, no, that was not. Not the one he played. Yeah, but who cares? He didn't look like you.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, that guy. That's Jonathan Lande. Woody played him, but it does look like James.

[Adam Carolla]

Now.

[Joe Coy]

Did you look at Koolaid?

[Rob Reiner]

I can't do it now. I can't switch now. Face replacement.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, I'm trying to think. Any more trivia from the Valley? That's the kid from Harry Potter.

[Rob Reiner]

Wait a minute. Seriously?

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Gina Grad]

That's James Marsden.

[Rob Reiner]

How dare you? Wow. You know something? Here's the funny thing.

[Adam Carolla]

Find me the best and worst at Johnny Whitaker.

[Rob Reiner]

You see that? You see that guy's torso? Yeah. Did you see it?

[Gina Grad]

Yeah.

[Rob Reiner]

If I took my shirt off right now, you would say you couldn't tell us apart.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, really?

[Rob Reiner]

You say that's exactly that guy.

[Adam Carolla]

Be like Marsden and the guy he could have played.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, yeah, look.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

I believe you.

[Adam Carolla]

North Hollywood, old school near. My grandparents lived on Wilkinson, so they're about a block to, like, the next block over from where you guys lived over there in, like, Hesby or Addison or whatever the hell.

[Rob Reiner]

Where were you born? Where were you born?

[Adam Carolla]

North Hollywood.

[Rob Reiner]

You were born in North.

[Adam Carolla]

On Houston and. Yeah, Houston Street.

[Rob Reiner]

You mean Valley Village.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Rob Reiner]

That's what you meant to say.

[Gina Grad]

Rob would take his kids by your house as a cautionary.

[Adam Carolla]

I know I have a very east Coasty kind of thing. I think it's my deviated septum or attitude or something. But I was a North Hollywood guy. My grandfather lived where you guys live. When they open that Der Wiener Schnitzel there in, like, 1975. My grandfather, who was a Hungarian Jew, I remember he would walk up to it. It's like, opening in two weeks, and he saw Derwiner schnitzel, and it was like, finally, finally decent schnitzel in this godforsaken valley. And they were selling corn dogs and chili fries.

[Rob Reiner]

He was devastated. He must have been.

[Adam Carolla]

He was never the same. All right, Rob Reiner, the movie Shock and Awe. Go out and see it on the 13 third or also.

[Rob Reiner]

Yay. Oh, there it is.

[Adam Carolla]

Important.

[Rob Reiner]

Johnny Whitaker.

[Adam Carolla]

Johnny Whitaker in theaters on the 13th. And also we said Amazon and On Demand as well. Adam Duritz here, Counting Crows. We'll take a quick break. We'll be back with Adam right after this.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

All right, that's Adam Carillo show. 2365. Rob Reiner's first appearance on the podcast. Coming up next, we have his final appearance. This one's from 2023. And this portion is just Adam and Rob. You hear Chris Lacks Amana on mic for Adam Carillo show. 3637 Rob Reiner exhibit Tammy Pettigrew. Rob proved to be a fantastic guest. I hope you enjoy.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

The Adam Carolla show presents Rob Reiner's birthday cocktail party for March 6th. Let's see who's invited. Let's welcome Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet. The guy responsible for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo, the French playwright and novelist best known for his large nose. Cyrano de Bergerac is here. The founder of Target Corporation, George Dayton just joined the party. Who's on first? Well, it's Lou Costello. Johnny Carson's sidekick, Ed McMahon has joined the party. Economist Alan Greenspan is here.

[Adam Carolla]

Here.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

Let's welcome stuntman Hal Needham from Pink Floyd. Let's welcome guitarist David Gilmore, comedian DL Hughley. Shaquille o' Neal just walked in. Tyler, the creator is here. And the newly convicted founder of cryptocurrency ftx, Sam Bankman Fried. Rob Reiner is on the Atlanta Adam Carolla show.

[Adam Carolla]

Always good to see you, my friend.

[Rob Reiner]

To see you. I'm in great company.

[Adam Carolla]

It sounds like certainly an eclectic group. And so, well, I mean, the only.

[Rob Reiner]

One that there was a, you know, Cyrano de Bergerac, I think he was a fictional character. I think that's a play by Edmund Rust and I could be wrong. But you know, I don't mind sharing a birthday with a fictional character.

[Adam Carolla]

I thought he was a fictional character too, until I saw that Steve Martin movie.

[Game Host / Segment Announcer]

I thought he was a fictional character as well. But I trust this website, so maybe I trust a little too much.

[Rob Reiner]

Maybe too much.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, Rob is doing a podcast. It's a 10 parter with Soledad O', Brien, who I've interviewed on the show before. Who killed JFK? It's new. It's on iHeart podcast series and it's out today. As you hear this, it's the 60th anniversary of JFK's assassination. So I want to get into that and see if there's more we can learn about it. I do want to say on a sidebar note that I have been watching the Partridge Family reruns pretty religiously these days. And two nights ago, Rob popped up as Laurie's boyfriend. Snake the biker.

[Rob Reiner]

Yes. Yes. And didn't you think you knew that about me?

[Adam Carolla]

No, I did not because I think most people picked up with you at all in the family, but they didn't realize the kind of range you had by playing Snake the Bike.

[Rob Reiner]

I was on Early Hillbillies. I was on Gomer Pyle. I was on that Girl. I did lots of different shows before.

[Adam Carolla]

I did all the Family, and I went to Colfax Elementary. I'm the same age as your stepdaughter, Tracy.

[Rob Reiner]

That's right. Wow. Colfax. Yes. North Hollywood.

[Michael McKean]

Right.

[Adam Carolla]

Tracy was a classmate of mine at Colfax elementary, and I even. I even sort of remember the house you guys used to live in back in what is now called Valley Village.

[Rob Reiner]

Yes. We lived on Hesby Street.

[Adam Carolla]

Hesby street. On the corner, I believe.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah. I don't know if it was exactly on the corner. Yeah, it might have been. It was between Riverside and Magnolia, I believe.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Oh, I thought it was between Laurel. No.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, it was between Laurel.

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, it was off Laurel Canyon.

[Adam Carolla]

Right. So that's my whole family live there. My grandparents, my mom.

[Joe Coy]

Either way, you've been stalking Rob Reiner.

[Adam Carolla]

For a long time. Yeah. So, just to show we go way back, this documentary series podcast. There's more and more coming out about JFK and assassination. And I think when you talk to a lot of people, they seem to be more suspicious now than they ever were. Should we be?

[Rob Reiner]

Well, yes. I mean, the strange thing about it is it's suspicious 60 years ago, and drips and drabs of information has leaked out over the past 60 years. And if you haven't been paying attention, if, you know, I'm, like, obsessed with this. I was 16 years old when it happened. I remember exactly where I was. It was traumatic. And I remember watching live when Lee Harvey Oswald was killed. The man who was accused of killing the president was killed by Jack Ruby on live television. We all saw that happen. The whole thing was very traumatic. So I've been kind of, you know, following it and trying to pick up pieces of it. But it has dribbled out over the years, and when you start to put it all together, it's very, very clear that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone. It's very, very clear.

[Adam Carolla]

I think. I think RFK Jr. Has some thoughts about this as well. That would probably be in line with. With what a lot of.

[Rob Reiner]

A lot of people do. I mean, all you have to do is. Is look at the evidence. And even recently, in the last month or so, a Secret Service agent named Paul Landis who was in the trail car, he was on the running board of the trail car when the When Kennedy was, was shot and he, I talked with him on a podcast and you can listen to it, you'll hear about it. He said that the bullet hit Kennedy in the head and the brain matter splattered back. He was about 15ft behind. And all the blame, that brain matter came back and it was splattered right towards him. And the big revelation that he made was that they raced to Parkland Hospital and when they were taking Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy out of the car, the back of the limousine was blood stained like crazy. And he looked down and he saw this bullet resting on the back seat, on the upper part of the back seat. And he picked it up because he thought, you know, it's a piece of evidence, you know, somebody will take it or whatever. And he didn't know what to do with it. He put it in his pocket. He went into the, to the emergency room with, with everybody else and he took this bullet out and he put it on the gurney where, where Kennedy was being worked on because he thought this would be part of the evidence. Now, he didn't say anything about this for many years. He was traumatized by the whole thing. He was never investigated. He was never questioned by the Warren Commission. They never asked him what he saw or what, or any of the Secret Service agents for that matter. And when he saw a picture of this bullet, which is, by the way, you can see the bullet, it's in the archives. It's in, it's a piece of evidence. It's labeled 3 9, 9. And it's a bullet that is virtually pristine. It looks like it was never fired. But Paul Landis recognized when he picked, he says the tip of it had striations on it, which means it was fired, it did come out of a gun. And, but there it is. And when he saw that picture, and this is only recently, he said, that's the bullet. That's my bullet. That's the bullet I saw. And so then he started talking about what happened and what now, what is the significance of this bullet? It's huge. It's basically the whole shooting match. I, you know, hate to use that, you know, that little thing, shoot match, but I mean, it's the whole deal in that the entire Kennedy assassination theory is based on this one bullet that came from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository that was supposedly shot by Lee Harvey Oswald. This is called the single bullet theory, the magic bullet. And ostensibly what this bullet was supposed to do was come from the sixth floor. Enter Kennedy's back because there's a. In the autopsy, you see a hole right in his back, which. About 6, 8 inches below his neck. It goes in the back. According to the theory which was developed by Arlen Specter, who became a senator from Pennsylvania. He was just a lawyer at the time. The bullet goes in Kennedy's back, 6 to 8 inches below his neck.

[Adam Carolla]

Neck.

[Rob Reiner]

And then, according to the theory, it travels up and then exits his throat. Once it exits his throat, it makes a turn and then goes into Connolly's back. It then exits Connally's back. It goes into Connolly's wrist, breaking a couple of bones. It then turns again and winds up in Connolly's thigh. Governor Connolly, who was sitting in front of President Kennedy. So that bullet is supposed to have done all those things. And they have. That bullet they say was found on a stretcher in Parkland, on Governor Connally. Stretcher. That bullet is entered into evidence. There's no way, first of all, that a bullet that broke bones in both Kennedy and Connolly's body could be pristine like that. That's number one. Number two, it doesn't enter a guy's back and then go up and come out his throat is ridiculous. But the big coup de grace is the fact that Paul Land has found the bullet in the back seat of the car. So it's impossible for the bullet to have gone through Kennedy and Connally and then bounced back and wound up in the backseat. It blows the single bullet theory completely apart. And once that happens, it portends that there was more than just one shooter, because every single doctor at Parkland Hospital said that the bullet that entered Kennedy's neck and the one that went in his head were both shot from the front. And so we know that those bullets that killed Kennedy didn't come from. From behind, which is where they said Oswald was positioned.

[Adam Carolla]

I could make your case in a much more succinct fashion. I would say, listen to me, everybody. I could give you a lot of documents, I could show you a lot of archival footage. But here's a subject that Tucker Carlson and Rob Reiner both agree on. Need I say more? They don't agree on anything, but they do agree on this. And that's really about all you need to hear, because it must be true if you two both have landed in the same place. And RFK Jr. I don't know. We could get RFK Jr. Rob Reiner and Tucker Carlson on many of the same pages. But there is one thing they agree on that panel, and that is this. And that's true. That's compelling evidence.

[Rob Reiner]

I agree with Tucker on more than just one thing, but this thing we do agree on.

[Adam Carolla]

So then who. What's behind this? And then who is responsible for it? And then are we talking grassy knoll stuff or where's the second shooter?

[Rob Reiner]

Okay, first of all, you really need to listen to the podcast because we lay it out completely, and it's not simple what the act of the assassination is. Simple is very simple. But how we got to that point is complicated, and you have to listen to it to understand how it all happened. But based on all the forensic evidence and everything that we've studied in terms of who we know was in Dallas that day, we've identified four shooters, four people, four assassins who were present in Dallas on that day. We know they were there, and we name them in the podcast, and we also name the positions they were in. We don't know which of them was in which position, but we do name the position. The positions. I can lay it out for you. The sixth floor of the School Book Depository was one of the positions, what we know as the grassy knoll, which is on the north side of Dealey Plaza. That was another position. But there was also another position directly behind the president, across the street, Houston street, that's the Dall Tex building. And then the. What we believe is the, the kill shot, the shot that eventually killed the president came from the south knoll, and that's on the opposite side of where the grassy knoll is. And for years, I was trying to understand this. I've been to the. The Dealey Plaza many, many times, looked at it over and over, and it wasn't until I talked to a fellow named Tosh Plumlee, who we also interview in the, in the, in the podcast. Tosh was a CIA operative who was a pilot who that day flew to Dallas. E. Howard Hunt, who was a member of the CIA. You heard that name from Watergate. You know that, that E. Howard Hunt was the head of the plumbers that broke into Watergate. He flew E. Howard Hunt and Johnny Roselli, who was a mobster who was connected to, you know, the Italian mafia. He flew those two guys to Dallas that day and then was given the assignment to go to the South Knoll with a walkie talkie to see if he saw anything unusual. He didn't know what was going on. He was on a need to know basis. And that's, that's all he was told to do. When the shooting started, he was mortified. He couldn't believe what was happening. And he Said one of the shots came from the area where he was, which was the south knoll. And when you look at it and you study where Kennedy was positioned that time, it's the only place that makes sense where Kennedy would have been hit on the right side of his head. And a big hole was blown out the backside of his skull, which is what every single doctor in Parkland Hospital said.

[Adam Carolla]

What do they do? I always get a little suspicious when they seal records and then they go, we'll open them in 50 years. And then 50 years comes and goes and they don't open them. And then they go, we'll open them in 100 years. We just have to wait till everyone's dead who could have possibly been involved with this. And it's like, well, what's in those records? And then why would everyone have to be dead? And then what is indicting about those records? And why we kicking the can down the road on the sealed records? And are they still sealed?

[Rob Reiner]

Well, there are about almost 5,000 documents that are still sealed. Documents have been released over the years in drips and drabs. There was a law that was passed, the Assassination Records act, that required that 25 years from that point, all the records would be released. And that was supposed to be in 1917, excuse me, 2017. And some records. Trump just said, I'm not going to release these records. Biden released some of the records. These records have dribbled out over the years. But even Biden decided there are going to be almost 5,000 records that are not going to be seen. Now, certain things have been revealed over the course of the years, and only people who are paying attention and really looking at what's in those records can kind of understand it. The first thing we found out is that in the Warren Commission, they said the CIA had no connection with Lee Harvey Oswald. They didn't really know who, you know, he was a lone, you know, assassin. In the records that are released a while ago, there was a 201 file opened on, on Lee Harvey Oswald. And there are thousands of pages about the CIA's connection tracking Oswald. They knew everything about it from the time he went to Russia, from the time he came back, from the time he got his job at the Book Depository. They know everything about him. Another piece of information came out, and this, you know, you got to get in the weeds for all this to kind of understand and put it together. But it came out that during the 70s they did another investigation on Kennedy. They opened, they reopened the investigation and that committee, the House Select Committee on Assassinations, found that it was a conspiracy. So that goes in in opposition to what the Warren Commission said, which was it was a lone gunman. But what came out after that investigation is that there was a man assigned to that investigation named George Johanides. Nobody's ever heard that name. I guarantee you you've never heard of that name. George Johanides was a CIA agent, an ex CIA agent who oversaw the program that developed people like Lee Harvey Oswald. He knew Lee Harvey Oswald. He knew there was that Lee Harvey Oswald was part of a program that was designed to create assets for the CIA. He was the gatekeeper to that investigation and the liaison to the CIA. So we talked to the guy who was the counsel to the CIA, Robert Blakey, and we, and when he found that out, because he gave, he gave the report that, that it was a conspiracy, but he didn't know who did it. They were trying to get information from the CIA. They never got it. And the reason they didn't got it, didn't get it is because the guy who was knew about it was standing right. He says, if I had known then what I know now, I would have put that guy on the stand. He was the answer to so many of our questions. So that came out in the, in the report, I mean, in the release of records. So we don't know what's in the last 5,000. But I guarantee you, if you look at the 60 years and all the information that's come out and you start to put it together, it's very, very clear what happened that day.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, what would Trump first and then Biden second say if you just confronted them and said, why after 60 years are these things still sealed?

[Rob Reiner]

Well, it's, it's, the CIA has asked for them to be sealed. The CIA, they talk about, you know, methods and, you know, you know, methods and all this stuff and they don't want to reveal sources and methods. You know, that's the thing you always hear. But these people are all dead, right? You know, they've been dead for a long time. So I mean, what are they hiding? I mean, what is, what is there to be hide? The only thing they're hiding and there's not going to be a smoking gun in there that says this guy talked to this guy and this guy, you know, that could be like that. But there'll be more information about the CIA's involvement is my guess.

[Adam Carolla]

So, you know, I think we can all reasonably say, look, there's more here than the lone gunman the disgruntled American who decided to kill the President of the United States. Okay, There's a lot more meat on the bone, and that's pretty much established. Some people are 100%, some people are 65%. But I think everyone reasonably knows that it wasn't as originally portrayed.

[Rob Reiner]

So then the next question, just before you get the question, just so you know, now where we sit now, about 61% of Americans think it was a conspiracy. When the Warren Commission first came out, virtually everybody bought the Warren Commission, that it was a lone gunman. Then when people started questioning Mark Lane's book, Rush to Judgment came out. Mort Saul, people started questioning all this. Dick Gregory went on Geraldo, and they show the Zapruder film for the first time. It all of a sudden slipped up to about 80, 81% believed it was a conspiracy. Where we sit right now, it's about 61%.

[Adam Carolla]

Wow. Dick Gregory goes on Geraldo. Yeah, that's crazy. But now then, my next question is always motivation. Okay, so now he was assassinated, and it wasn't just a. A lone wolf, crazed man and a lot of CIA stuff going around. So then what was in it for them? Or what's in it for anybody to have him go?

[Rob Reiner]

Right? And the way we present the podcast, we talk about it as the greatest murder mystery in the history of America, which it is, you know, has been solved. And so how do you solve a murder mystery? The first thing you do is who has the motive. You look at suspects. Who are the people who are most motivated to do what they did? Then you look at the forensics, and we do all of those things in the course of the. Of the podcast. So as far as motive is concerned, there are three groups of people that are completely motivated. One is, you've got the Cuban exiles. These are people that fled Cuba in 1959 when Castro took over and kicked out Batista, who was running Castro, I mean, running Cuba. These people fled to. To the shores of America, Miami and New Orleans, for the most part. And they wanted their country back. They wanted to. They. They started organizing and a very famous invasion in 1961 called the Bay of Pigs. The Bay of Pigs was an operation that was the Cuban exiles trained by the CIA to go back into Cuba and take it. Take it back from Castro. The problem was the CIA who had orchestrated this. This attack that was developed under the Eisenhower Nixon administration, was inherited by Kennedy. He was only in office for two, three months when this happened. So he went along with it because he was, you know, wanted to prove his bona fides as an anti communist cold warrior, tough on communism guy. And so it went through. The CIA and the military assumed that once the invasion was made, Kennedy would send air support. He would send planes to help them out and take Cuba back. Kennedy prior to this said, I'm, I don't want any fingerprints on this. I don't want American fingerprints on this. If it looks like the Cubans are going back to take their own country, fine, but I'm not going to send air support. So he didn't. And those Cuban exiles got slaughtered on the beaches in Cuba. So the Cuban exiles were furious, furious at Kennedy for not helping them take back Cuba. That's Number one. Number two, you've got the mobile, the mafia. Now in 1950, before 1959, in the takeover of Castro, the Mafia was sitting pretty in Cuba. They had casinos, they had hotels, they were running drugs and prostitution. It was a gold mine for them. And all of a sudden they're thrown out, they lose everything. And they are upset about that. And then they become even more upset when Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General, John's brother, starts going after the mob and putting them in jail and prosecuting them. Famous story about how he prosecuted Marcello, Carlos Marcello, who is the mob boss in New Orleans. He couldn't figure out a way to get him. He decided, what am I going to do? I'm going to deport it, I'm going to kick him out of the country. He sends somebody down to New Orleans, he picks up Marcello, he flies him into Guatemala, he drops him in the, in the jungle there and he leaves them there. And then two months later he gets flown back. So you've got the mob, that's number two. Then the third is the CIA. They, the hardliners, hardliners in the sea. Not all the members of the CIA, because it ultimately becomes a rogue operation. The hardliners in the CIA and the military think Kennedy is going weak on communism. Not only did he not back them up on the Bay of Pigs, but then the biggie comes up. The Cuban missile crisis, 1962. And they discovered that there are atomic weapons, military atomic missiles 90 miles away in Cuba that the Russians put there after the Bay of Pigs. Kennedy finds this out and all the hardliners in his, in his administration saying now's the time, attack, attack Cuba and do this. Kennedy is frightened that it's going to cause a nuclear disaster. World War Three, hundreds of millions of people are going to die. And what does he do? He starts back channeling with Khrushchev, sending letters back and forth. They cut a deal. Khrushchev takes the Cuban. The missiles out of Cuba. Kennedy takes the missiles out of Turkey, which we had missiles in Turkey. They agree and they make peace. The hardliners are furious at this because they think Kennedy is now gone soft on communism. And then they find out he's back channeling to Castro to try to make peace with Castro. So you have those three elements together are the ones with the biggest motives.

[Adam Carolla]

So what part? And just a sidebar, because you seem like you have a photographic memory.

[Rob Reiner]

Rob, I don't have a photographic memory. What I do is I've had 60 years of thinking about this for a long, long, long time. And it's taken all these years to put all these pieces together.

[Adam Carolla]

But everybody who is accused of having a photographic memory always says, I don't have a photographic memory. And then they just prattle off a thousand dates, names and times. And I go, maybe you do, but not to do with the Kennedy assassination. But as you were naming all these names and all these dates and all these times, I was thinking about Carl Reiner. Your dad, right?

[Rob Reiner]

Yes, yes.

[Adam Carolla]

And there was a doc, you know, a few years ago about him. I don't know, how old is he now?

[Rob Reiner]

No, he passed away.

[Adam Carolla]

Sorry.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, that's okay. He passed away in 20. 20.

[Adam Carolla]

Okay. I remember seeing the doc going, how are these guys so sharp, so deep into their life? Is it all genetics? I mean, your dad passed in his.

[Rob Reiner]

He was 98. He was 98 years old. And he was sharp, sharp, very sharp. Right up till the end.

[Adam Carolla]

That's what I'm saying. And I think that's a sort of genetic blessing you can have. But also it's a workout. He was up on his feet. He was thinking, he was writing, he was creating, he was making jokes. And I know you have his genetics, but I also think you have his sort of work ethic, which is. It's a kind of. If you do 30 pushups every day, then when are you gonna knock? Not be able to do 30 push ups? You know, just get up every day and work that brain out.

[Rob Reiner]

So my friend, I have a friend, you know, friend, Nick Pileggi. Nick Pileggi is a great writer. He wrote New York Guy, Goodfellas. Yeah. And, you know, he's written stuff, a lot of great stuff over the years. Wise guys. He's 91 now and he does 600 sit ups every day.

[Adam Carolla]

Wow. Wow. Every day. It's incredible. So anyway, that's a Tip of the cap to you. I think you have the genetics, but I also think working the brain out on a daily basis, not necessarily doing the sit ups, but doing the sort of mental sit ups every day. Just.

[Rob Reiner]

Well, I do the crossword puzzle every day. I do sudoku. I do spelling bee. I do all these things. I don't know if it helps. It's fun. I enjoy doing it.

[Adam Carolla]

I can tell. Look, I mean, you're not old, you're not young, but, you know, you're, you're on the older side of young.

[Rob Reiner]

I'm a, I'm a middle aged old person.

[Adam Carolla]

That's right.

[Rob Reiner]

And this is the way I thought about it. When I turned 60, it was very depressing for me because I thought, wait a minute, I'm now a very, very, very young old person. Because, you know, if you lift a 90, that, you know, so now I'm a middle aged. Middle aged old person.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Well, it's funny. You can, you can keep the middle age moniker going for a long time, but if you really do the middle age math when you're 16, no one's making it to a buck 20. You're not at the middle.

[Rob Reiner]

No, no, but, no, but I'm saying at 76, I'm a middle aged old.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes, I completely. No, no, I get you. I'm saying personally, yeah, middle age stops about. That stops about 42. Then you're getting into the second part. Statistics are an old person.

[Rob Reiner]

No, I'm an old person. There's no question about it. But I'm a middle age old.

[Adam Carolla]

But you're working, you're working it because.

[Joe Coy]

You'Re sharing this docu series like you should be the guy that. And we're happy that you're the one doing it.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah. Well, it's me. It's actually me and Solo that o', Brien, the two of us are presenting it together.

[Joe Coy]

I have a question for both of you. So do you think it generally helps or hurts the American public to keep documents like this sealed? Because, like, for instance, that the Nashville shooter manifesto was leaked yesterday and everybody's freaking out about that and that was kept secret from the public as well.

[Adam Carolla]

So do.

[Joe Coy]

Is it, does it help or hurt?

[Adam Carolla]

I think if you.

[Rob Reiner]

Go ahead, go ahead. Okay.

[Adam Carolla]

I think if you went back 50 years before everyone had iPhone and Twitter and can communicate and all this stuff, maybe you could do this kind of stuff 50 years ago, kind of keep a lid on things. Senator so and so's gay, but nobody knows, you know, so this guy's In a wheelchair, but nobody knows he's in a wheelchair. You know, this guy has a couple of mistresses, but nobody knows. You can't do it now. So we're in the come clean, ring doorbell phase of life, which is you gotta just put it out there. Because the problem is if you look no further than the Pelosi. Nancy Pelosi's husband.

[Joe Coy]

Yeah.

[Rob Reiner]

He got hit in the head with a hammer.

[Adam Carolla]

He got hit in the head. Hammer. And then there was like, where's the footage? And then this news guy got fired because he said something. And then everyone started to get suspicious. What's going on? And it doesn't seem like anything was going on, but you wish a guy.

[Rob Reiner]

Broke into his house and hit him with a hammer.

[Adam Carolla]

But they sat on some of the information and they argued about letting out other pieces of information. And it got all the tinfoil hat. People on the right all riled up to think something was going on. So we're now at the phase we're thinking something is going on is worse, and now everything just needs to be pushed out there.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, I think you're right. And I think the problem we have is, you know, we're in an age of, you know, incredible disinformation. And because of social media. I was just at this conference where all these experts in AI were talking about what can be done and how you can affect disinformation, how easy it is to push things out that are not true, and they don't have a solution as to how to rein that in. I mean, it seems like it's proliferating and getting out there. I agree with you, Adam.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

You.

[Rob Reiner]

We have to get the truth out there. There will be no democracy unless it's based on some level. We all have to agree that two plus two is four.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Rob Reiner]

If we don't, then we can't have a discussion about anything. And so right now, you've got so much information flying out there on. On social media, and a lot of it, it's not true. And it's hard to check what is true. But I agree with you. We. We have to get truth out. Democracy's based on the public knowing what the truth is about things.

[Adam Carolla]

Agreed. So in our last few minutes, where predictions and what? So when you say the CIA, there's a. There's kind of two CIAs. There's the rank and file, street soldier type people that it's never them. FBI, same thing. Then there's the top of the top who like to keep their hands a little clean. And then there's plausible deniability and then there's a kind of a lower tier shadow kind of level that is kind of doing what they're doing. And maybe the top knows what they're doing, but they're just sort of playing dumb. They're doing the dirty work. And the rank and file people don't know anything about this, but it's close.

[Rob Reiner]

To what actually happened. And I, I talked with a, an ex CIA agent who's also on the show and he said it has all the earmarks of a rogue operation. In other words, there are people who are attached, connected in some way who decide to do this on their own. And it doesn't take many people to do it. What it does take is an organization to cover it up. But if you know that it can be traced back to the CIA in some way, that they'll close ranks and make sure that nobody knows about it. And he told me about operations that they have conducted over the years. And that's all came out, by the way, in the 70s during the church committee hearings. Frank, Frank Church from Idaho, Senator had these hearings and it came out that the CIA had done all these extra judicial killings. The Lumumba, Trujillo, a number of dictators around the world. And so we know that they have the capability of doing it. We've seen now plans that would have been released. You can read a, read them. Operation Northwoods and Operations the Rifle shows how they do it. And all it takes is two or three people to say, you know, we're going to do this. And, and they do it and then, and there's no accountability, there's no tracing back, there's no, you know, there's no way to trace it back to any kind of official plan.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, and they would close ranks like you said. So even if the very top of the top wasn't aware of it, once they are and it's happened, they protect their own.

[Rob Reiner]

That's right.

[Adam Carolla]

And not a lot of whistleblowing going on back then. But maybe there was. Is there any case of, you hear about whistleblowers now? Could you blow a whistle back then without being killed?

[Rob Reiner]

No. And that's the, that's the, another part of it. We didn't get into it because a lot of people got killed. The two years after the Warren Commission, the two years, excuse me, after Kennedy was assassinated, 18 key witnesses died of either a heart attack or an accident or suicide. And we know a lot of them that, that wound up dead. So Johnny Roselli was one there's another guy named George the Morningschild. There's a whole bunch of them that got killed. And you know, it is dangerous, you know, and there are people that wouldn't talk, you know, people that would, you know, wouldn't talk to us or nervous about talking to us, that did talk to us. We didn't put them all in there because, you know, they're worried. You know, one guy was worried who was running a, an operation, an anti Castro operation out of, out of Miami. And he knew Lee Harvey Oswald, he was the same guy was handling him, was handling Lee Harvey Oswald. And when he talked about it, he went to this commission in the 70s and somebody shot him in the head. You know, I mean, he didn't die, but he got shot in the head. You know, I mean, so things like that happened a lot. So it was scary. You know, my wife, when I got involved in doing this and she's as, she's as committed to me this as I am, but she said, are you worried that something's going to happen to you that you bring all this stuff up? I said, I don't know. But I mean, you know, you gotta, you gotta pursue the truth. And like I say in the, in the podcast, we can handle the truth.

[Adam Carolla]

Last question. Oliver Stone's RFK or jfk.

[Rob Reiner]

You mean jfk.

[Adam Carolla]

Sorry. Yeah, yeah, I've never, I've never watched a movie. But when you watch it now, if you watched it tonight, would you go, oh, they got that right. Or they completely screwed the pooch on that one?

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah, well, he laid out a very broad scenario, I mean, through the kitchen sink at it. And he didn't say specifically how it was done. It was all about the trial that Jim Garrison does, you know, down in New Orleans. But the general idea of rogue elements of all of those motives, all of those groups that have motives. He did talk about that and some of it, you know, is very accurate. Listen, his movie gave birth to the Assassination Records Review Board.

[Adam Carolla]

Wow.

[Rob Reiner]

Which started review of all the documents and they were responsible for getting a lot of these documents released. And by the way, that's when the Records act came out and said within 25 years all these documents have to come up. That was a result of Oliver's movie.

[Adam Carolla]

The podcast is called who killed JFK? It's a 10 parter. Soledad O' Brien is very, very decorated journalist, is also involved. And Rob, who seems to just be an encyclopedia of this subject. So I recommend it highly. You can find it wherever you listen to finer podcasts. It's a new iHeart podcast series, and it is out as you hear this. Rob, always great catching up with you.

[Rob Reiner]

Yeah. Thanks, Adam. Thanks for having me.

[Adam Carolla]

If you see Tracy, tell her give her my love.

[Rob Reiner]

Okay?

[Adam Carolla]

Okay. And we'll hope to have you on as soon as you have anything you want to talk about.

[Rob Reiner]

Okay, thanks. Thank you so much.

[Adam Carolla]

Take care, Rob. Okay. All right. All right.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

That's Adam. Cool show 3637 with Rob Reiner. That does it for today's Pearl Classics. Until next time, mahalo and get it on. Rest in peace, Rob and Michelle.

[Adam Carolla]

Sam.