JD Harmeyer Teared Up Over Being Separated From Jon Hein and Ronnie Mund During Quarantine

Stern Show staffer also reveals he stopped cutting his fingernails during the pandemic

July 27, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has affected Stern Show staffers in a variety of ways. Will Murray, for example, was forced to overcome COVID-19 himself while Sal Governale watched his parents battle the disease. On Monday, JD Harmeyer revealed his struggle has been altogether different.

“I heard you’re starting to crack emotionally,” Howard told him. “I heard you started tearing up over how much you missed your best friend Jon Hein.”

“I don’t know, I guess,” JD responded. “I was thinking the other day and it hit me that it’s been awhile. So, yeah, I haven’t seen him in person in forever and I like seeing him. I like seeing Ronnie [Mund], you know. Those two I like being around, so yeah.”

“And you started to cry?” Co-host Robin Quivers asked in disbelief.

“Uhh, yeah,” JD said.

JD claimed to enjoy working alongside nearly every staffer, but when Howard asked him to name a third co-worker he missed JD wouldn’t do it. “I named two because I didn’t want to start anything, you know? If I went to a third person, it would’ve started a whole thing. I don’t want to start any drama,” he said.

Howard and Robin pressed him, but he couldn’t make up his mind. “Will is up there. Richard Christy is up there. Sal is up there. You know, other people,” JD said.

Later, the staffer shared his thoughts on the passing of Regis Philbin. “He made me laugh all the time. He was so, like, positive and upbeat in the morning,” he said. “And I like when he referred to himself in the third person. That made me laugh, too.”

That’s not the only eulogizing JD did on Monday, either. He also told Howard and listeners what he planned to say at Hein’s funeral, should the staffer pass away any time soon. “I would probably just cry the whole time and I don’t know if I’d be able to get it out, but, yeah, I’d just talk about how he’s a good man and he made me laugh,” JD said, explaining he’d also bring up their favorite Monty Python sketch as an inside joke.

Howard was touched by the comradery on display. “If Jon Hein needed your kidney, would you give it to him?” he asked.

“Yeah, if I was like the last option or something. If I was like the emergency option, sure,” JD said.

Jon eventually chimed in himself. “This has taken a morbid turn,” he said, though he admitted he’d love to have his friend JD eulogize him at his funeral. “I’m really touched by what JD had to say, honestly.”

At one point, Howard revealed JD’s quarantine woes weren’t limited to emotional breakdowns. The staffer has also largely stopped cutting his fingernails.

“I do let them grow a little bit, but, yeah, when I cut my nails I’m always afraid of getting them too close because it hurts,” JD said.

Robin was taken aback. “We have hit on something here again. JD never learned grooming. He can’t handle the tools that come with it because he didn’t do that as a child,” she said, adding, “If you just pick it up and do it, you sort of get the hang of a nail clipper.”

“Well, yeah, I have, but it’s my own—it’s my style,” JD concluded.