Bless His Heart: Jon Reep Brings The Laughs To Charlotte

The Ginger Beard Man Kills at The Comedy Zone

Born and raised in Hickory, NC, stand-up comedian Jon Reep returned to Charlotte for a three-night stand right before Christmas bringing us the best in Redneck comedy and downhome humor. His famous line, “Hey, That Thing Got a Hemi?” made him a mainstay of the Dodge Ram advertising campaign in 2004 and led him to land a recurring role as Officer Gerald Bob in the ABC sitcom Rodney. In 2007, Jon won the fifth season of Last Comic Standing, and ever since it’s been one heck of a redneck ride. Since then, Jon has done television, film, albums, podcasts, and his stand-up routines. His latest comedy special Ginger Beard Man is streaming on Amazon Prime and he even has his own line of hot sauce.

His latest tour landed him back in the Queen City for five shows over three days at The Comedy Zone. If you haven’t been to The Comedy Zone, I highly recommend checking out their calendar which features both local and national comics as well as special guest appearances. The club is nestled in the basement at the Avid Xchange Music Factory with convenient parking adjacent to the club entrance and offers a great mix of cocktails and beverages as well as plenty of delicious food options. The service is fast and friendly and there really isn’t a bad seat in the house with tables set up on two levels offering direct views of the stage. It makes for a great date night, girl’s night out, or even a solo adventure and it’s one of the few places I can drag my husband along without complaint and that’s saying a lot.

Opening up the show and also serving as our emcee for the evening was comedian, actor, writer, filmmaker, and bird watcher(although that last one may not be pertinent to this review) Jason Allen King. King is based in Charlotte and has been a staple of the local comedy scene winning numerous accolades such as being voted Best Charlotte Comedian in 2021. He’s also the host of The Comedy Zone podcast and has been involved in feature films and commercials as a writer and producer. His set was short but packed a punch with lots of laughs. Focusing on topics that the audience could relate to like family and relationships, King’s routine was spot on. I definitely recommend checking him out. You can keep up with his upcoming shows and everything he has going on here.

Next up was Raleigh, NC comedian Brent Blakeney who has been working with Jon since 2015 as a featured opener. Back in 2018, Brent was the winner of Kenan Thompson’s “Road To NYC” which earned him a spot performing at the iconic Caroline’s in New York. His first televised comedy show appeared on Circle Network’s “Stand Up Nashville!” in 2020 and he shows no signs of slowing things down. From the time he stepped onto the stage, the laughs were coming hard and fast from the audience. At six feet seven inches tall, he was quite the contrast to the smaller stature of King and joked about it as he took his spot at the microphone. Blakeney’s routine was polished and ran the gamut from joking about his girlfriend to the Joe Exotic phenomenon to billboards in the south. Some of his best jokes were poking fun at the political climate we’re all subjected to with some Biden/Trump doozies. I can’t wait until the presidential campaign heats up because I’m sure there will be plenty of material for Brent to pick up on. He definitely is deserving of a featured spot and I hope to catch more of him the next time he stops in Charlotte.

Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me. I’m the Ginger Beard Man!

Here comes Jon Reep, jogging out to the stage from side to side, waving and pointing at the crowd and we are officially underway here at The Comedy Zone. The first thing he does is acknowledge the crowd and thank Charlotte for another sold-out show. We started laughing as he said wait don’t look behind you because this was the early show and although it was a good size crowd, it was far from sold-out like his later show would be. It’s a great way to start off because you have to like someone who can poke fun at themselves. Seriously though, what’s not to like about Jon? He is unpretentious in his red Santa’s Pub tee-shirt and jeans looking like the guy next door and while some may try and break away from his redneck persona, Reep embraces it and runs with it.

He joked about what it was like having a Southern accent and living in Los Angeles and how all the parts he was getting were for yep, you guessed it, the redneck character. We got a little lesson on all the Southern expressions like “Bless Your Heart” and even a little about Gastonia (if you know you know and that’s all I’m going to say about that). Jon is definitely a prop comic but he doesn’t stay centered in one spot on the stage either, interacting with the fans up front and calling on a few out in the audience at times as well as using a lot of body language to convey the humor in various situations. In fact, one look at his facial expressions as he discussed different scenarios was enough to make you bust out.

Jon talked about the Carolina Panthers and the horrific season they had. He even joked about firing the owner and wouldn’t you know it, about a week later a group of fans actually petitioned the NFL to do just that. I’m not saying they were all Jon Reep fans, but you never know. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Jon Reep show without a little shout-out to Dodge and the Hemi commercials that made him famous. So, he ran us through each of them and gave us his best “Hey, that thing got a Hemi?” as he told us a real-life story about yelling that at a stranger on the road.

It was a great show and a wonderful way to spend a Saturday evening. As the crowd filed out, Jon was there to shake hands with everyone as they made their way out of the club.

If you have the chance to catch Jon’s act live, do it! It’s a guaranteed good time.