Albert Brooks Recalls His Comedian Father's Death Onstage: 'They Took Him Backstage and Cut Him Open with a Pen Knife'

Albert Brooks is looking back at his comedian father’s death.

At the HBO and Max Emmy Nominee Celebration on Sunday, Aug. 11, the actor, 77, recalled the night that his dad Harry Einstein died after performing stand-up routine at Lucille Ball’s induction into the Frairs Club in 1958.

“Then he sat down at the desk and he died,” director Rob Reiner added. “Just died like that."

“And people say, ‘Why don't you do stand up?’” Brooks joked.

Talking about his Emmy-nominated documentary, Albert Brooks: Defending My Life, the comedian said the aftermath of his father’s death actually became a joke he has told throughout his career. 

“So there was a very famous singer named Tony Martin — older generation, but he had the number one song in the country at that time — and Milton Berle was there when my father dropped his head,” he explained. “It was at the Beverly Hilton. They said, ‘Is there a doctor in the house?’ A third of the audience came up and they took him backstage and they literally cut them open with a pen knife and tried to [save him]. Nothing worked.”

He continued: “But Milton Berle was still Mr. Show Business, and the audience was sitting there stunned, and Milton Berle was going, ‘What do we do?’ He said to Tony Martin, ‘Get up there, sing your hit.’ And Tony Martin got up and he sang and his hit was called, ‘There's No Tomorrow.’”

Brooks couldn’t help but point out the irony of that song playing as his dad died, noting that comedy followed his father everywhere. 

Later, once again on the topic of their comedian parents, Reiner and Brooks discussed how their friendship began — with a lie.

“We were introducing ourselves in a drama class, and I'm in the front and Rob's in the back,” Brooks remembered. “I came up to him after the class, and three weeks earlier I went to see his father at the Paley Center. And I didn't know what to say to him. I said, ‘Sir, you're from New York?’ [He said] ‘Yeah.’ ‘Well, welcome to LA. You want to be in show business?’ I said, ‘Well, I know Carl Reiner.’”

“And he said, ‘I do, too. He's my dad,’” he concluded as the two burst out in laughter.

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Reiner said that he and Brooks “became friends right away,” later moving into a house together. Their friendship was unique as they did nearly everything together, they said.

“We had two entrances, his was downstairs  — it was like a duplex — and I had one upstairs,” Reiner shared. “I had a phone up there, he had his own phone. And, sometimes, whenever I brought a girl over there and we'd be finished, I'd hear the phone ring in the room. And he'd say, ‘Are you done?’ And I'd say, ‘Yeah.’ He'd say, ‘You want to get something to eat?’ That's the kind of relationship we had.”