Whether they like it or not, some actors will always be synonymous with a single character, regardless of the length of their Internet Movie Database profile.
Comedian Jon Reep has been entertaining audiences since 1995 with his stand-up routine, TV roles and movie appearances, but is most famous as That-Thing-Got-a-Hemi-Guy from the Dodge commercials.
"I've done three different specials on Comedy Central. I won 'Last Comic Standing.' I was in a sitcom for two seasons with Rodney Carrington called ‘Rodney.' I was in a movie, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. I was in all these things, but the one thing I still get recognized for is the Hemi commercials," Reep said.
Unlike JJ "DY-NO-MITE" Walker of "Goodtimes" fame, the 39-year-old Hickory, N.C. native embraces his character role.
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"The fact that someone recognizes me for something that I've done, I don't look at that as a negative at all," he said. "I can't tell people not to talk about the commercials, or that I'm tired of talking about the commercials because that's part of my past. I was just happy I did a Dodge commercial and not a hemorrhoid commercial."
Coming from a small industrial town, Reep's exposure to stand-up comedy was limited. Reep credits his father, whom he described as "the class clown in his day," for giving him an early knack for making people laugh.
"Growing up in a small town, you don't think that stand-up comedy is a real job," he said. "It wasn't a realistic thing for me. It was just something where people would say to me, ‘Hey, you should be a comedian,' and I was just like, ‘Yeah, whatever.'"
His first experience with stand-up comedy came at a club in Raleigh, N.C. during his time at North Carolina State University. His open-mic sets — which are centered around his country upbringing — became popular, but he still didn't see the gigs amounting to anything.
"I was sort of doing it as a single man just trying to get the attention of the ladies," he said. "I just wanted to be funny for like five to 10 to 15 minutes, and then move on."
But people liked his sets, so he started booking shows around the country. More than 10 years later, Reep is still getting laughs with stories of his dad and Hickory, N.C.
"If you go see Lynyrd Skynyrd and they don't play "Free Bird," people are gonna get pissed off," he said. "I gotta do the greatest hits."
