Rob Reiner- Nomi's Pics

 Naomi Weisman is a Canadian-Australian and mother of three, who loves to Ramble with her dog, cook for family and friends, and laugh whenever possible.

I feel like I grew up with Rob Reiner.

When I was very young, my parents owned a comedy album called The 2000 Year Old Man by Carl Reiner (Rob's dad) and Mel Brooks. They would put it on the hi-fi, and we would all sit together, listening and laughing until our sides hurt. That album was part of the soundtrack of my childhood—communal, absurd, and joyful.

A few years later, when I tried to share the album with friends, I was surprised to find it didn’t land the same way. It was my first lesson in how humour can be deeply personal—and how the things that shape us early often stay with us for life.

We weren’t allowed much television growing up, but there were exceptions—usually shows my mother loved. All in the Family was one of them. Beneath its laugh track, it was a sharp, left-leaning social commentary disguised as comedy. The dynamic between Archie Bunker—rigid, reactionary, and deeply flawed—and his progressive son-in-law, “Meathead,” was both hilarious and unsettling.

That was where I first came to know Rob Reiner.

Because I already loved his father’s humour, and because Rob was part of the laughter in our living room, it felt inevitable that I would follow his work. And I did.

To this day, films like This is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, Stand By Me, and When Harry Met Sally are movies I can—and do—watch over and over again. They make me laugh. They make me feel warm. And somehow, without being preachy, they make me think.

Rob Reiner always had an instinct for what makes us feel good without ever underestimating us. His films were filled with kindness, creativity, and an abiding belief in connection—between friends, lovers, families, and even generations.

So the news of his and his wife Michele’s tragic deaths hits like a gut punch.

It feels personal not because I knew him, but because his work was part of the fabric of my generation: helping us laugh, helping us question, helping us see ourselves and each other with empathy and humour. His voice was generous, his perspective expansive, and his contributions to how we relate to one another—through laughter and social commentary—are profound.

In response, I’ve started watching all of my favourite Rob Reiner movies as a sort of tribute to him. One after another, revisiting the stories that shaped so much of how I think about friendship, love, and the human condition. It’s my way of honouring not just what he gave us, but what those films gave me.

Rob Reiner’s legacy will live on in the films that continue to make us laugh, feel, and reflect—and in the ways they became part of our lives.

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