Grief doesn’t usually come with a punchline. But for one Jamison family, laughter has become the whole point, writes Marcella Baiett for CBS News.

As Father’s Day approaches this Sunday, the Rosenthal family, made up of Robin and her two children, Sam and Emma, is once again proving that humor and heartbreak can share the same room. Or, in their case, the same gravesite.

Mark Rosenthal, husband and father, died suddenly of a heart attack in 2010. What could have stayed a private sorrow instead became something the family chose not only to share, but to laugh through.

Taking up TikTok at Sam’s suggestion during the COVID-19 pandemic, the trio first went viral with a 2021 video showing the family eating a Father’s Day lunch at Mark’s grave.

In the video, when Sam asks, “Where’s Dad?” Robin responds with a deadpan “Down there, in the ground,” before tossing a French fry on the headstone and quipping, “Here Mark, have a fry.”

Their breakout moment has since amassed the Rosenthals nearly 3 million followers across TikTok and Instagram, and the accolades have followed.

Last month, the family won a Webby Award for Social Impact. They’ve also launched a podcast, Laughs After Loss, extending their message beyond the screen.

But for the Rosenthals, the followers and trophies are almost beside the point. What keeps them posting is the connection: the strangers in their DMs who say they’ve lost someone too, and that watching the Rosenthals makes grief feel a little less lonely.

This year, the family plans to celebrate Father’s Day with their annual picnic at Mark’s grave, a tradition they have come to look forward to.

Of the unlikely career her family’s grief has become, Robin said, “It makes me continue to want to do this because people get such joy out of my craziness.”

Learn more about the Rosenthals and the Bucks County family’s journey to internet fame in CBS News.

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