Yo La Tengo Pay Tribute to Rob Reiner With Spinal Tap Cover

There has been a wave of mourning and remembrance following the deaths of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele, who were killed at their Los Angeles home on Sunday. Among those paying tribute was Yo La Tengo, who honored the actor and director on Monday night during their annual Hanukkah run of shows.

After performing a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Heroin” alongside Doug Martsch of Built to Spill, Ira Kaplan spoke directly to the audience at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom. “As if that wasn’t ragged enough, this will be the most ragged one of all,” he said. “Because we’re gonna salute a Jewish songwriter we were not expecting to be saluting this Hanukkah, and we certainly weren’t expecting to be memorializing him. So we’re gonna try to do a song and see how this goes.”

The group followed through by launching into “Gimme Some Money,” a song from Reiner’s 1984 satirical rock mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, which marked his directorial debut. The track was originally released by the fictional band under their earlier name, the Thamesmen.

In the days since Reiner’s passing, friends and longtime collaborators have shared their own reflections. Harry Shearer, who co created, co wrote, and starred in This Is Spinal Tap alongside Reiner and later reunited with him for the sequel, posted a tribute on social media. “Rob was a friend and collaborator through much of my life,” he said. “He was funny, he was smart, he was a mensch. When he came to see the comedy act I was in, and, later, the musical comedy I had co written, his laugh was uproarious and audible around the block.”

Jerry Seinfeld also shared his memories, crediting Reiner as a key figure behind the success of Seinfeld. “Next to Larry David and George Shapiro, Rob Reiner had the biggest influence on my career,” he wrote on Instagram. “Our show would have never happened without him. He saw something no one else could. When nobody at the network liked the early episodes, he saved us from cancellation….Rob and Michele married right as our show was starting and they became an imprint for me of how it’s supposed to work, each one broadening the other. Their death, together, is impossibly sad.”