Daniel Jean, a man using comedy to make the best of tragic times

BY JANIECE CAMPBELL

Unless you live under a rock, there’s no escaping the constant updates of the Coronavirus. At nearly every hour, there are headlines about new cases confirmed or the fatality rates rising. With all of the devastating news happening around the world right now, it’s common to feel anxiety, fear and unhappiness.

Amid all of the darkness though, there are some who choose to be a light.

One of those people is Daniel Jean.

A New York native of Haitian descent, Daniel Jean is a part of many who will not let the virus be a burden on their mental health. Instead, he uses comedy as an outlet to spread joy and put smiles on faces.

He is an entertainer, influencer and radio host at Shade 45. With nearly 600K followers on Instagram, Jean uses his platform to create original pranks and skits on current trends. He says that within all the seriousness of preventing COVID-19, we should still be promoting laughter.

“The media is stressing us all out with the coronavirus. We’re seeing a lot of negative news. But when you log onto social media, it’s non-stop with the jokes and entertainment. Even though it’s a serious thing, at least it makes the day go by faster.”

Jean recently received viral success through a 10-minute interactive skit uploaded to YouTube. In the skit, men in protective suits jokingly move a coughing man aboard the subway. They believe the man has the virus and begin spraying him with disinfectant while using wipes to clean the train. The skit shows live reactions and amusement of unknowing passengers. Some of the men in suits spray under the passengers’ feet, while another displays a huge rip in the suit’s backside.

“A lot of my videos are over the top, so I wanted to go viral doing something positive,” says Jean.

 The skit was an attempt to highlight the recent efforts that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) had been doing to keep the subway systems clean. Along with making people smile, his goal was to utilize a significant organization like MTA to educate people on what’s going on worldwide.

“All of my friends and family have felt terrible recently and rightfully so about the recent Coronavirus scare,” he says. “With all of the grim news going on about the infection, I wanted to be one of the few and the original to use their platform to not only encourage but to bring joy and laughter to people who are suffering from the aftermath of the effects of the illness.”

Now, where does the wild idea for a group of people to hop on a train in makeshift hazmat suits spraying Lysol come from? Jean says, “a lot of them come off the top of my head. I’ll think of a situation and just do it. Someone may come to me and say, ‘I have a school bus, what can we do with that?’ I’ll think of an idea. ‘What can we do with this hearse? I’ll come up with another idea.”

Among all the cheerfulness, he continues to remind followers that the virus is not something to play with. For those longing to go outside and revert back to normal everyday life, Daniel Jean reminds them: “Please stay home, watch TV, read a book, or watch motivational things. Your safety should come first.”