Jon Reep followed his lineage and took home the title of class clown in school.
He said his older brother took the title before him, and his father was "Most Witty" before that.
"Which is not fair. Because he's not witty -- he's just goofy. It's this weird sort of passing-the-torch thing I guess," Reep said during a phone interview in advance of this weekend's shows in Ogden.
Comedy was always in his blood -- even if it took a while to get onstage. A combination of nerves and being naive stopped him from finding his calling. He said he never knew that comedy clubs existed outside Los Angeles and New York City until he went to North Carolina State University.
Reep enrolled in the theater program because he thought he could skate through college in an easy program. But he found that he craved the laughter -- as he spent time watching other comics in the local clubs and just itching to get onstage.
"Everyone was telling me I should do it and now I have a chance to do it -- and fail at it. So it was scary for me," Reep said of his reluctance to go onstage.
It wasn't until he got led away by security officers that he lost the fear factor.
"I didn't really try (stand-up) until a couple of years later, when I got kicked out of a Carolina Panthers football game for dancing with the mascot in the end zone," Reep said.
"It was because of this event that gave me the courage to try stand-up. Because at the end of that day, I was making 75,000 people laugh and I never said a word."
His style has changed over time. He started by using dancing as a way of comic relief onstage. He opened the show with goofy dancing, ventured back to it halfway through, and finally closed the set with another musical number.
"So about every 15 minutes, you got some dancing," Reep said. "You live, you learn and the more you do it, the better you get."
He decided to try different styles, as well as including a story about his dad unsuccessfully trying to fix a pool liner. What he found was that the audience remembered that joke after the show. As a result, he has become a bit of a storyteller, with funny bits about his family -- plus more infamous dad stories.
"As long as I have a dad, even when he dies, I will have a supply of stories," Reep said.
'Last Comic Standing'
Reep spent the next 10 years turning out a solid career. He became a commercial icon with Dodge trucks as the "Hemi Guy" and had a recurring role on the television show "Rodney."
That's when his manager approached him about competing on NBC's "Last Comic Standing," a comic reality show competition. Reep said he was leery about the idea.
"I just didn't like comedy as a competition," Reep said. "It looks weird when you look all cocky and look straight into the camera and say 'Please vote for me.' I didn't like it for that reason."
What ultimately made him change his mind is that he noticed comics on the show whom he had never heard of were getting more exposure than he was.
He joined the 2007 season of the show and beat out his own expectations by becoming a finalist.
"I figured that once I got into the top five, that I had a good shot," Reep said. "Because that's when the world gets to vote. No one votes more than the South."
Reep took home the crown and the money. Now, he said, he reaps the rewards with his busy tour schedule.
"Now, doing stand-up would even be more fun," Reep said.
"Because now people will be coming to see me and not just go to the club to see a comedian."
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