Conan O’Brien Speaks Out About His Friend Rob Reiner’s Death

Conan O’Brien is finally ready to discuss Rob and Michele Reiner‘s deaths … opening up about the tragedy in a new interview released Friday.

The comedian talked about his relationship with the late director and his wife in a piece published by The New Yorker … revealing he and his wife became increasingly close to the Reiners over time.

O’Brien says the two were lovely people … and, finding out the Reiners were dead just hours after he bid them good night left him in shock for a long time afterward.

Conan went on to laud Reiner for his professional accomplishments … especially his unprecedented run of successful films he helmed during the 1980s and ’90s.

Reiner could’ve just made “Spinal Tap” and been considered a legend, Conan says … the fact that he made anything else so remarkable was just icing on the cake.

We broke the story … Rob, Michele and their son Nick Reiner — who was arrested for their murders — attended a Christmas party at Conan’s residence hours before the two were brutally stabbed to death, and Rob and Nick had gotten into a very loud argument at the party.

Nick is set to finally be arraigned Monday … though, as we broke down in our documentary “TMZ Investigates: The Reiner Murders: What Really Happened” — available to stream on Hulu — a change in Nick’s schizoaffective disorder medication may have contributed to the outburst and his parents’ deaths.