The ‘Saturday Night Live’ Community Mourns The Passing Of Rob Reiner, The Show’s Third-Ever Host
On October 25, 1975, sitcom star Rob Reiner hosted the fledgling variety show Saturday Night, appearing in some memorable sketches with soon-to-be superstar John Belushi. Now, both of their memories are cornerstones of the Saturday Night Live empire.
Yesterday afternoon, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a medical aid call at the residence of Reiner and his wife Michele Singer, whom they found dead at the scene, each with multiple stab wounds. Law enforcement officials quickly detained and booked the couple’s son, screenwriter Nick Reiner, on suspicion of murder in connection with his parents’ deaths. Now, the entire world of American entertainment mourns the tragic passing of an artistic giant, with fans of all of Reiner’s contributions to the American comedy canon offering their condolences to the family.
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The Saturday Night Live family and fandom is among the mourners in the wake of this tragedy as comedians and comedy fans honor Reiner's contributions to the first-ever season of SNL:
When Reiner hosted Saturday Night just two weeks after its much-dramatized first episode, his biggest claim to fame was playing Mike "Meathead" Stivic on the seminal sitcom All in the Family. Reiner's then-wife, Laverne & Shirley star Penny Marshall, joined him as a guest in what would later be appreciated as one of the first fully-formed episodes of Lorne Michaels' late-night show, stealing sketches with his performances and delivering one of the more memorable monologues of those early hosting gigs.
In the Saturday Night Live subreddit, fans reacted with shock to the news of Reiner and Singer's violent passing. “Rob's directing run from This Is Spinal Tap to A Few Good Men is literally flawless. So many classic films, each a completely different genre and style,” one SNL fan wrote, “This is absolutely horrible news, especially hearing that it was apparently done by his own son. RIP to him and his wife.”
"Larry David and Billy Crystal were on the scene," another user wrote of the reports that Reiner's famous friends and neighbors came to check on him following the heinous event, “This is insane, like a bad dream.”
One more said simply, “Terrible terrible news.”
At the time of writing, Saturday Night Live and Michaels have yet to make a statement on the passing of one of the show's foundational hosts.
