Jerry Seinfeld Says ‘Seinfeld’ Would ‘Have Never Happened’ Without Rob Reiner

Jerry Seinfeld remembered Rob Reiner on Monday night, crediting the filmmaker with the success of his hit comedy Seinfeld.

“Next to Larry David and George Shapiro, Rob Reiner had the biggest influence on my career,” Seinfeld wrote on Instagram. “Our show would have never happened without him. He saw something no one else could. When nobody at the network liked the early episodes, he saved us from cancellation.”

He continued, “That I was working with Carl Reiner’s son, who happened to be one of the kindest people in show business, seemed unreal. I was naive at the time to how much his passion for us meant. Rob and Michele married right as our show was starting and they became an imprint for me of how it’s supposed to work, each one broadening the other. Their death, together, is impossibly sad.

Seinfeld, which aired on NBC from 1989 until 1998, was produced by Reiner’s company Castle Rock Entertainment. In 2016, Reiner discussed the inception of the series in an interview with Howard Stern and remembered helping to save the show from early cancellation.

He recalled Seinfeld and David coming in to pitch Seinfeld. “We knew they were two funny guys,” Reiner told Stern. “That wasn’t the issue.” He added that the network was uncertain what the show was going to be.

“We knew we had a great show and they wanted to take it off the air,” Reiner said. “They said, ‘We can’t have this show. Because what is this show? It’s just people sitting around talking.’ Remember, they called it the ‘show about nothing.’”

Reiner went into NBC and had a “screaming, crazy thing” with executive Brandon Tartikoff. “I begged him,” Reiner said. “I said, ‘Please, I promise you there’ll be stories. You can’t take this show off the air. It’s going to be one of the great shows you’ve ever had.’”

Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead in their home in Los Angeles on Sunday. Shortly after, their son Nick Reiner was arrested for allegedly killing his parents. Much of Hollywood has paid tribute to the beloved filmmaker since.

From Rolling Stone US.