Jester¶
Jester is the devout desk clerk of the team's hotel in Marblehead, a church member and selectman who owns a bag of crystal marbles and feeds Arnold, and who ends infected and killed while driving the stolen FBI car.
| Type | NPC |
| Aliases | J. Evans ("businessman"); desk clerk; front desk man; "Toothbrush Man" (Jester's cry to Huell) |
| Affiliation | Sons of Adam; Marblehead Board of Selectmen |
| Status | Dead (Summer Service 06) |
| Played by | Andre |
| First appearance | Summer Service 01 |
Description¶
Jester wears a name tag reading "Jester" and has a Crypt Keeper haircut (Summer Service 01); by the cold open of Summer Service 03 his shoulder-length hair is ratty. He is rude ("do I look like a convenience store?") and very devout; Amos Shaw calls him "a little intense." In Summer Service 04 he looks like Jesse Ventura without the glow or joy, dour enough to "take a bone away from a dog," and wears a suit about thirty years out of date (Summer Service 04).
History¶
The Summer Service¶
At the front desk he serves fish breakfast at 6 a.m. and refuses Huell Kendrick a toothbrush: "bed-and-breakfast, not a bed-and-toothbrush." The Biz finds an open bag on his desk holding about a dozen crystal marbles, warmer than glass and hard enough to blunt a steel knife, and steals one. Kurt overhears Jester arguing in the back room about "weather," "quarantine" and "unbeliever." At the end of the session Jester is frantically searching his desk and ignores the team; Huell's later taunt about the marble suggests he was looking for the one the Biz took (Summer Service 01). See Crystal marbles.
In the cold open of Summer Service 03, he carries a tray to a chained house at night and talks to "Arnold" as a sick friend; see Arnold Weathers. Later Huell sees him looking haunted; he gives Huell an appraising nod and goes into the back room (Summer Service 03).
Jester has told the team he sits on the town council, so the selectmen treat the meeting as one he arranged. At six o'clock he waits impatiently in the lobby in a suit about thirty years out of date and leads the team there. He sits at the plaque "J. Evans, businessman." He warns the team not to leave "whatever that is" (the Davy Crockett warhead) in a room; Kurt says it is laundry, and Jester points to the washing machine. At the meeting the mayor remarks that Jester should have talked to the board first so it was not taken by surprise, and Jester sinks down in his chair; the chief of police glares at him (Summer Service 04). See Chief of Police.
During the siege night he is absent from the desk after a phone call; McManley notes he "practically ran out the door," and Kurt says "he's definitely involved" (Summer Service 05).
In the arc finale, the team spots their FBI car near the back of the convoy on the flooded freeway, crawling along with one man at the wheel until it sticks in a water-filled dip and falls behind. The driver gets out to hunt through the car and its trunk for something to wedge under the wheels, and as the team pulls up behind him he turns out to be Jester, now worm-infected. When a bump sends Huell's flashlight blast wide and sets one of the FBI car's tires on fire, he screams "It's you, Toothbrush Man!", dives through the window of the team's car and sinks his teeth into Huell's neck. Andrew swerves to scrape him off against the stuck car, Huell leans out to help, Jester's body slams into its windshield and is dragged away, and Andrew backs over him. He dies, blood, bile and worms gushing from his mouth (Summer Service 06). See Flooded freeway and marsh and Worm bags.
Relationships¶
Jester and Huell dislike each other over the toothbrush; as the fight begins Zack (as Huell) says "Guess what? We took your marble" (Summer Service 06).
Memorable quotes¶
Quote
"Not a bed-and-toothbrush." Andre (as Jester) (Summer Service 01)
Quote
"It's you, Toothbrush Man!" Andre (as Jester) (Summer Service 06)
Trivia¶
- In Radford Horror 08 the team checks into the Ram and Arms Inn and meets an unnamed, very old man at the front desk with a Crypt Keeper haircut who announces a hot fish breakfast at 6 a.m. Summer Service 01 gives the clerk the same haircut and breakfast and the name tag "Jester", and Summer Service 03 notes that he and the priest keep an unusual youthful vigor "despite their age"; the episodes strongly imply that the clerk of Radford Horror 08 is the same man, but never state it outright. See Ram and Arms Inn.
- "J. Evans" comes from his seat plaque at the selectmen's meeting; the episodes do not explain the difference from "Jester".
- At the table, Ezra calls the crushed Jester "Pretzel Man."