Comedian began chronicling his COVID-19 ‘journey’ online. He died two days later

Joe Luna, an East L.A. comedian who called himself Joe El Cholo onstage, just wanted his friends and family to understand the dangers of COVID-19.

“When I would hear people talk about what COVID did to them, I always thought to myself, man, you know what, I doubted it was that bad,” he says in a 35-minute video posted Nov. 21 to his Instagram, revealing his own ongoing battle with the coronavirus.

“I’ll tell you guys right now, I’ve been put in a fight,” Luna says in the video, which he intended to be the first in a series chronicling his journey with the illness. “I’ve been fighting for my life.”

Two days later, he died at age 38 in a Los Angeles hospital after his condition worsened, KTTV reported.

“It was like his lungs were hurting more than we all felt before,” said his son, Jose Talavera, who also tested positive for COVID-19, according to the station.

Luna admitted in his Instagram video that his risk factors for the virus were serious.

“Not only did I test positive for COVID, I have pneumonia,” he said. “I’m a double amputee and I’m a diabetic, so I’m dealing with a lot.”

“This COVID shit is no joke,” Luna continued, talking about his repeat hospitalizations. “Everything just got to me. It was just horrible.”

In the video, Luna said he suspected he caught COVID-19 from visiting his mother-in-law, who didn’t realize she had coronavirus, not from performing as a comedian or going out.

Luna said he saw many people not wearing face masks around Los Angeles.

“Are we that irresponsible not to even care about our kids, our grandma and grandpa?” Luna said.

At one point, Luna’s mother interrupted the video with a call about a friend’s upcoming birthday.

“He invited me to his birthday party,” Luna replied. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Luna said in the video that he wanted to document his coronavirus journey for his family, several of whom also have had COVID-19, and his fans.

“I’m going to show you guys my journey through my good and bad times because it’s all about showing my people out there, if you think that COVID is a joke, if you think this won’t be you...then trust me, it hits everybody differently,” Luna said.

Choking up at times, the comedian talked candidly about his fears for himself and his family, financial pressures and other challenges of fighting the illness.

“It’s very scary, guys, you know, out there,” Luna says. “Take care of yourselves. Wear your mask. It doesn’t make you look stupid if you wear your mask. If anything, it makes you look concerned. It makes you know that, ‘hey, I’m not trying to go through that.’”

A “mask mandatory” open viewing and comedy show will be held for Luna from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday outside a Los Angeles funeral home, a post on his Instagram says.

“For his funeral, he doesn’t want anyone crying so we’re going to put together a show because that’s what he would have wanted. He wanted people to be laughing and having fun,” Talavera said, KTTV reported.

More than 63 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 1.4 million deaths as of Nov. 30, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 13 million confirmed cases with more than 267,000 deaths.

This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Comedian began chronicling his COVID-19 ‘journey’ online. He died two days later."