HICKORY, N.C. — WCNC Charlotte did an exclusive interview with a comedian whose family has been hit hard by COVID-19.
You may recognize Jon Reep from his big win on the NBC show Last Comic Standing in 2007.
However, now he’s speaking out about a serious matter. The Hickory native says he, his mother, his brother, and his father have all tested positive for the virus.
Within the past few days, his elderly father was rushed to the hospital and is now in stable condition.
It was just last month that Reep says he was telling COVID-19 jokes as part of his stand-up routine, but now he’s seeing firsthand why it’s no laughing matter.
It’s been more than a decade since Jon Reep took the national comedy scene by storm, but these days laughs are as important as ever.
“Crazy ride that every comedian is on right now,” said Reep.
Reep has also been in commercials, TV shows, and movies. Last month, he took his stand up routine to Florida.
“I ended up doing some COVID related jokes, and I was very proud of myself that it worked,” said Reep. “Then, I just moved on.”
He moved on from the jokes, but not from COVID 19. In fact, Reep tells WCNC Charlotte he tested positive for the virus on July 3rd.
“I was in the fetal position with a very high temperature,” said Reep who had a 100.8 temperature. “Every muscle in my body was sore, I had a bad headache.”
Then days later, Reep says his mother and brother also tested positive. On Sunday, his 76-year-old father tested positive too.
“He had a temperature of 103 and he got rushed to a hospital,” said Reep.
His father is now in stable condition in the ICU in Morganton.
“It is scary though because it does kill a lot of people in his age group,” said Reep.
Reep says his father’s been in a nursing home and hasn’t left except for a recent surgery unrelated to COVID 19.
“That’s the only two places he could have gotten it,” said Reep.
The rest of Reep’s immediate family lives together and he believes they likely got the virus from the same source. Reep tells WCNC Charlotte he shared a meal with a friend last month who later tested positive.
“It’s a little bit of victim shaming,” Reep said as he laughed. “But if I had to guess it would have come from there.”
Reep says his mother and brother are not showing any symptoms now and he’s mainly recovered too.
“I feel great, the only thing that’s lacking now is a little bit of taste,” said Reep.
Now, Reep has a message for anyone who is not taking the virus seriously.
“It’s real,” he said.
He is also selling a special mask to keep a sense of humor even in hard times.
“I sell on my own website, it’s a mask of my own face,” said Reep.
Reep says his father is also battling a urinary tract infection at the same time as COVID 19, but his fever has come down and Reep is hoping that’s a sign he’s improving.