Joe, also known as "Vest", is a minor character from the 2023 horror-comedy film Cocaine Bear. He was a member of the Duchamps, a gang of delinquents who committed petty crimes in the town of Ellijay, Georgia. During the events of the film, the Duchamps - Ponytail, Vest and Stache - ran afoul of Daveed, a fixer for drug kingpin Syd White. They attempted to mug Daveed in the restroom of the ranger station at Chattahoochee–Oconee National Forest, only for him to fight back and thoroughly pummel them all by himself. Daveed and his partner Eddie then forced the hoodlums to take them to Blood Mountain where a shipment of cocaine had recently been dropped off. Stache takes Daveed out into the forest while Ponytail and Vest remain at the ranger station.
Death[]
Ranger Liz arrives back at the station following her encounter with the Cocaine Bear. There, she finds Ponytail and Vest in the process of robbing the place, but their attention turns towards a thudding at the door. Liz expects it is the bear, though she never explicitly says as much. Ponytail and Vest meanwhile believe that Daveed has come back to kill them. Liz tells Ponytail to stand by the door and open it when she gives the word. After readying her gun, she tells Ponytail to open the door. Ponytail does so and is surprised to see a black bear sitting on the porch. Having psyched herself up for this situation, Liz reacts by pulling the trigger on her gun, accidentally blasting a hole through Ponytail's head while failing to hit the bear.
Vest shuts the door again, but the Cocaine Bear is still nearby. Liz points out dust falling down from the chimney into the fireplace, indicating that the bear is on the roof. The two remain as silent as possible, hoping that the bear will leave. Unfortunately for Vest, he is positioned by the door and the bear's paw smashes through the small window. The scene cuts away before Vest is killed.
A short time later, a pair of paramedics arrive at the ranger station. They struggle to get in due to Ponytail's dead body blocking the door, but eventually get inside and see that the office is wrecked, with one corpse on the floor and Ranger Liz injured and unable to move. One of the paramedics, Tom, walks over to a supply closet where he sees blood seeping out from under the door. He opens the door to find the brutalized remains of Vest: his decapitated head as well as his legs and a heap of intestinal tract. Over in the far corner is the bear, eating whatever parts of Vest weren't seen on the floor.