Here’s How Golden Globes Host Nikki Glaser Paid Subtle Tribute to Rob Reiner

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Golden Globes host Nikki Glaser paid tribute to Rob Reiner at the end of the ceremony.
She’d previously teased her plans to honor him ahead of the event.

The 2026 Golden Globe Awards were a spirited affair, celebrating the year’s biggest achievers in film and television. On the silver screen side, the night’s big winners were Hamnet, One Battle After Another‘s stars, and Sinners, while television honored The Pitt, Adolescence, and the cast of Hacks.

Though the Golden Globes did not feature an in memoriam session, host Nikki Glaser did find a way to subtly pay tribute to one of the year’s biggest losses: Rob Reiner.

Yes, the comedian quietly honored the acclaimed star and auteur — who had himself been nominated at the show nine times for his work as an actor on All in the Family and as director of Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, and The American President — in the final moments of the show.

After the final award was delivered, Glaser retook the stage to issue a final sendoff wearing a ballcap with a Spinal Tap emblem on it, similar to one recently worn by Reiner at an event celebrating his 1984 musical comedy classic, and said, “This one went to 11,” as a nod to the phrase popularized by the movie, “up to eleven.”

Glaser previously teased her plans to pay tribute to Reiner during the show in an interview with USA Today, saying, “I knew him, but not really well, and it’s delicate because we don’t have an in memoriam, so there’s not a whole section set aside to honor everyone we’ve lost. But I have something planned that I’m going to do in my own way to just acknowledge him and celebrate him in my own way — not linger on it too much because I think that’s what we’ve been doing for the past few weeks, but obviously … I just thought, ‘If something happened to me, and Rob Reiner was hosting a show, given our relationship, how would I want him to handle it?’ And I think I’ve landed on something that I feel he would do for me, too.”

Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, died in their home in December after being murdered in a stabbing incident that shocked the nation. Their son, Nick Reiner, has been charged with the crimes.