Wednesday, November 14, 2007

No More Bleeping Burgers

'Last comic' winner is a country boy
Tuesday, November 13, 2007

By EVELYN SHIH
STAFF WRITER

The last comic standing. Courtesy of Jonreep.com.
The winner of this year's "Last Comic Standing" reality stand-up competition, Jon Reep, has made a career of bringing the simple humor of small-town life to a national audience. Onstage, he exudes the flavor of his hometown, Hickory, N.C.. He walks the walk and talks the talk.

"Some of the funniest stories come from small towns and boredom," said Reep. "To me, some of the most creative people in the world come out of small towns, because you have to learn how to entertain yourself with nothing else but your car, beer, dogs, truck."

But on the phone, Reep sounds a lot less Hickory and a lot more Los Angeles. He even loses much of the North Carolina twang -- that is, except when the topic turns back to Hickory.

This may be because he is now a seven-year resident of the City of Angels. As an emerging comic who's been in commercials, a sitcom and the upcoming "Harold & Kumar" adventure, Reep lives close to work when he's not on tour.

Redneck in Hollywood

Now when he goes home to Hickory, he's in for some good-humored joshing. "They'll say things like 'Oh, here comes Hollywood! Look, he's got a fancy new watch on,' " said Reep. But back in L.A., "They say, 'Oh, here comes Redneck! Better hide your pets, he's going to try to lick them!' I'm always stuck in the middle and trying to bring the two closer together because they're really not that different."
FAST FACTS

WHAT: Stand-up comedy
WHEN: 8 p.m. Wednesday.
WHERE: bergenPAC, 30 N. Van Brunt St., Englewood. 201-227-1030 or bergenpac.org.
HOW MUCH: $25 to $65.
Wednesday night, he will be neither in Hickory nor Los Angeles. Reep and four other comics, the top five contestants in "Last Comic," will take the mike at bergenPAC in Englewood. It's the latest stop on their nationwide post-show tour. For 20 minutes each, they will do bits from their old routines -- with new material thrown in for good measure.

Reep didn't always find 20 minutes a long time. As a touring stand-up comic, he regularly headlined venues and did full hour shows. But after the steady gruel of doing four-minute stand-alone bits for "Last Comic," 20 minutes seems downright luxurious.

"What [stinks] is that you really can't do a lot of improvisation," said Reep. "On a show like that, you're married to the four minutes you told them you would do."

Despite the high pressure of jockeying for laughs on prime time, Reep managed to enjoy himself in the challenges. His favorite was one in which the comics dressed as jesters and competed for audience favor at a Medieval Times in California.

"No one else liked it because of the funny costumes we had to wear," said Reep. "But I didn't mind it. I thought that was unique because they forced us to write stuff within that time frame and speak in Old English accents."

He ended up winning the challenge on the strength of three sets he wrote in a day and a half. "You think it's a long time ... but not really," he said.

Reep is replenishing his long-term store of jokes and bits, working on new material on the tour bus. "I pretty much expired everything I had on that show, because I had to perform the most," he said. "I'm the one who got rid of all my crap!"

No need to keep it clean

Fortunately, the tour circuit is more forgiving than a reality show. "Some people like comics to do the greatest hits of jokes, kind of like a band would," said Reep. "I try to give people a little taste of what they haven't seen before and a little taste of a favorite."

Another advantage of being on tour is the relative freedom of language.

"We don't have to worry about FCC bleeping us or anything," said Reep. Not that he was dying to swear during the competition -- "I'm not really that dirty to begin with," he claimed.

But all the comics were forbidden to use brand names in their bits. "You couldn't go up there and say 'Burger King.' You had to say something like 'Burger Hut.'

"Now I can say 'Burger King' all I want," said Reep with a chuckle.

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.

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