If you're lucky, your coworkers become your friends. But if you're truly fortunate, those friends become like family, and they stay in your heart long after you leave the office.

Carl Reiner was a man of many talents, though he was reluctant to come to terms with all of them. When called a "Renaissance Man" during an interview with The Evening Sun. "You really can't call me that," said Reiner. "I'd have to paint, sing, and crack my knuckles to be truly Renaissance."

Perhaps Reiner's hesitancy stemmed from insecurity, which developed during the beginning of his career, when he was a writer for Your Show of Shows.

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"Things really got started for me with the Sid Caesar show of Show of Shows," said the writer. "Ever since then, I have had a fear of people not showing up. "One time, we were out promoting the show and they had us up on a stage in a parking lot in San Antonio, Texas. No one was there, and even the parking lot attendant was looking the other way. I kept shouting 'show time, everybody!' into the mic, and I got nothing but an echo."

Of course, Reiner was able to secure some individual success when he created The Dick Van Dyke Show. Not only did the series earn Reiner the respect of viewers and critics everywhere, but it also brought him closer to the cast of the series.

"If I were a dirty old man, Mary Tyler Moore would be my girlfriend, but I'm not, so she's sort of my daughter," said Reiner. "I'm just crazy about the girl."

Reiner was also close friends with series star Dick Van Dyke, and the two men remained close until the end of his life. The two also collaborated once more on the later series, The New Dick Van Dyke Show.

It's comforting to know that The Dick Van Dyke Show didn't just bring Reiner fame and fortune; it also brought him friendship.