“I’m still adding it up. That was a rough time,” McKean admitted to Page Six earlier this week.
The beloved director and his wife, producer and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, were murdered in their Los Angeles home last December.
According to Page Six, McKean was first introduced to Rob Reiner back in 1969 by his future Laverne & Shirley co-star, David Lander. They became fast friends.
“He was a great guy to hang out with, he was an amazing guy, and he was always ready to laugh, and he was always ready to eat,” McKean, 78, told Page Six.
McKean also fondly recalled when the Stand By Me director once called him “a genius.”
“It was because I brought a five-pound bag of pistachios to a meeting,” McKean told the outlet through a chuckle. “He was a beautiful guy.”
The Better Call Saul actor also gushed about Reiner’s late wife, Michele Singer Reiner.
“His wife was remarkable and very efficient and very disciplined as far as the projects we worked on,” McKean said.
Of course, Reiner and McKean famously collaborated in 1984’s rock mockumentary classic, This is Spinal Tap. Reiner pulled double duty, directing and acting in the role of a filmmaker making a documentary about a flailing heavy metal band, fronted by McKean’s David St. Hubbins.
The two got the band back together, so to speak, in the belated 2025 sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.
At this year’s Academy Awards, McKean paid tribute to Reiner alongside other collaborators like Billy Crystal and Kathy Bates, who won an Oscar for her performance in the Reiner-directed Misery (1990).
omg this tribute to Rob and Michele Reiner at the Oscars was so touching, with all of Rob’s former movie casts appearing on stage to honor him pic.twitter.com/uNvPUab27c
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) March 16, 2026
During the emotional moment, McKean stood next to his Spinal Tap co-star, Christopher Guest.