My next guest,
you know him from Trolls World Tour,
he's got a new Quibi show
called Nice One
and of course his great podcast,
Getting Better.
Please welcome Ron Funches.
Ron, how are you?
I'm good, Moses.
How are you?
What a great conversation you just had.
Yeah, Roy's the best, right?
Honestly, the first comedian I ever met.
That's a good first.
Some people get really bad firsts.
I think the first one I met
was a guy named Chicago Steve Barkley
and his invite to me
was to do cruise ships
so that was I only had to
work three months a year.
He was doing great,
Chicago Steve Barkley was doing great
till just this year.
Everybody knows Chicago Steve.
Would you have fun on a cruise ship?
I can't imagine 'cause you
wanna leave after the show.
Yeah.
I feel you feel
the same way about it.
I don't wanna be here.
Yeah I like attention
when I choose to have it
and then I'd like it to be over
so I would hate it
people coming over to me
thinking that I wanna
drink or hang out, you know
or continue to tell jokes.
No.
Right,
or just find a bathroom
that's not in the small room
and then I just wanna (mumbles)
I wanna be like, let's take a photo.
Mm-hm.
First off, I know a lot of people
that have had a lot of
birthdays in quarantine
but not a lot of people
are getting married.
You just got married so congratulations.
Thank you so much, yeah, it was beautiful.
What was it like, getting married
with the new Covid restrictions?
Sort of a smaller thing.
How was that for you?
I mean, it was different.
Of course we wanted to
have a bigger wedding
and this being my second marriage,
was something I never
thought that I would do.
Pretty much after my first marriage,
I thought I was scared straight
and that I would not have it happen again.
Second marriage of the lockdown.
You've been moving quick.
Yeah, well you know, yeah.
(Ron laughs)
You've been dating a lot.
Against the CDC advice.
You've been dating a lot.
People are lonely.
Yeah.
It's hard pickers out there.
(Ron laughs)
Was there a part of you
that like, this is kinda nice
and you don't have to worry
about the two sides of the family
the stress of what everyone's eating.
Yeah.
You could just be
with your closest friends
and your son.
Oh, absolutely.
You know I wanted to be able to just
scream it from the mountain top
and have everyone be there
but it actually was really nice
to be like, oh this is just for us,
we love each other, it's very low key
and chill and it was a great excuse
not to invite any racist family members.
Yeah.
That is great,
to not have to deal with
the family dynamics.
Mm-hm.
Yeah.
I wonder how long
I'm with someone that I for sure
wanna marry.
I wonder how long I could
push the Covid excuse
to not do a full wedding.
To be like, you know I
just don't feel safe.
It's 2227.
No, I think just get it done now.
It's cheaper
and people get excited about it.
You get to wear a fun mask.
So it looks like you're getting
married in Mortal Kombat.
[Moses] Yeah (laughs)
There's a lot of positives.
You're about to fight your wife.
Mm-hm.
Yeah, you had a great suit,
that definitely
Clearly till death
do us part. (laughs)
Yeah.
And then you fight.
Fatality.
Venue's gotta be cheap right now.
Mm-hm.
You could have any
venue you want.
I would just find a venue
and it was kinda like the opposite
of my first wedding
which was like a lot of
problem circumstances
that kinda showcased we were pretending
we were solid when we were not
and this one was just like,
hey, we just love each other,
let's go get married,
we'll come home,
take some pictures,
order some food,
watch 90-Day Fiance.
Do you think part of having a huge wedding
helps in the temptingness to get divorced,
'cause I always think about this,
you have such a big party
and you speak in such
sure terms at the wedding.
Mm-hm.
At the moment, I knew,
then everyone gets up that ever met you
that if you have a bad
day in the marriage,
Oh, gotta get divorced,
told all those people
how great everything was.
Yeah, now it was a secret.
So I could just be like, you know what?
Nobody knows.
No harm, no foul.
Let's just get (laughs)
Yeah (laughs)
Never happened.
Like a lot of these
quarantine content shows,
no one's gonna remember the time.
This is the time you wanna
take some wild swings.
Yeah, I think it was the
best decision I've made
in a long long time.
That's great
and your locked down with
someone that you love.
Lot of people don't have that.
Yeah, no, it's very nice.
That's why I tell her, like
after we got engaged in
November before it,
I think I was 85% sure then
but since the quarantine, I'm 100% sure
because you are someone
that I can locked in a room
with for 24 a day and
we don't hate each other
and we just continue to have fun
and laugh
Yeah.
That's really beautiful.
I feel exactly the same way.
It's a very challenging time for us
but it brought me closer to her
and it made me
Yeah.
more sure.
You need that sometimes,
especially if you come from,
I know we don't have
super similar backgrounds
Bit similar
but we come from
But similar in ways
and I think sometimes, you're like,
well of course you like me now,
things are going great
like
Yeah.
(Ron laughs)
Yeah, this is where I'm
at my peak mental health
right now but this is not always,
that's what I wanted to talk to you about
'cause we do have a similar background,
didn't grow up with,
any money, well below the poverty line,
other things happened,
don't wanna put 'em on a blast
but really rough things
and all this, everyone's like,
this is the worst year.
It's still not as bad
[Ron] Mm-hm
As our childhood.
It still feels like
Yeah.
It gets worse than this
That makes you feel
strong but then also makes you feel sad.
(both laugh)
Was feeling great about it
This isn't the worst
I've been through.
(both laugh)
You're right, it's really not
something to brag about.
(Ron laughs)
I was feeling good
until you said that.
I was like,
well yeah, that's super sad
Oh, I've thought about it
Yeah, you're like, oh
I've been thought worse
and you're like (gasps)
I've been through worse (laughs)
No one should have been
through worse than this.
This should be everyone's worst year.
Yeah
and yet it's not
Yeah.
(Ron laughs)
It is weird because part of it feels like
oh, I'm prepared for this
and it almost feels like
all that stuff happened
for a reason.
In a quasi way of like,
Mm-hm
oh yeah,
that prepared me for this.
Mm-hm.
I could live
without any money, I could, you know,
eat from the garbage
Mm-mm
and scam people and all this.
I'm not scamming people.
No but I understand that,
I mean, that's kinda just been my mindset
in working in entertainment
and where I've done acting
and been on set
and see a lot people take
things very seriously
and as if it was the end of the world
and my background,
my childhood could at least let me go like
well, you know,
oh the worst thing you can do is fire me
until we know and like
take the part away? Okay.
Right.
I've been through much worse than that
so that has been helpful
and I think people have
been through trauma.
Either they get triggered
by these types of things
but a lot of the times, like you said,
you know what to do.
For my friends that needed it,
even if I didn't need it,
I'd go like, hey, I know
these are the services
you need to start going in applying for
'cause there's gonna be backlog of people
rushing to go get 'em.
You know, I was telling all
my friends that kind of stuff.
That's like, apply for a
loan, apply for a food stamps,
and apply for everything.
Don't have any type of pride
that stops you from getting the help
even before.
Don't wait until you really really need it
to go get it, you know?
Exactly,
It's like we're paying
into the system anyways.
It's our tax money even though
the government makes you
feel like it's this huge favor,
it's this huge handout.
Even getting those 1200 dollar checks out,
was like, we send you checks every April,
every April, it's not a problem,
it's very discrete,
how come it's this huge
deal with the government?
I just don't know how we
would get that to you.
Yeah.
Yeah, no, that's one
of the biggest tricks,
make like asking for what it owed
and what belongs to you is
some type of charity, you know.
Yeah.
Food stamps have gotten a little better,
the gotten a little more discrete.
I don't know when you were on food stamps,
whereas I was on a bit of silver paper.
Mm-hm.
Individual things
you had to rip out in front
of everyone in the store.
No, I been through both sides.
I remember the paper
and then I remember having
those little credit cards
that made you feel like,
you know, you had some
cashier that would put it up
and make sure that it was showcased
to the world.
Yeah.
Lot of times,
people would just be discrete, you know
and when you even go, they'd be like,
debit or credit, you pass the car,
then the mean ones go,
oh, EBT, you know
but the cool ones
Right.
They don't say anything
The nod.
Yeah.
Well, there is a
way to tell, 'cause they
do look like debit cards.
There's a very easy way to tell
because the EBT card, food stamp cards
never work.
(Ron laughs)
They make sure they didn't
have you put it in, it
immediately goes off.
Its black liquorice on the back,
those little magnetic strips.
(Ron laughs)
never work.
They had to turn a key.
Did you ever see a key
in a register before?
Mm-hm.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Like a missile strike.
Two managers had to turn a key.
(Ron laughs)
So you could eat.
Then we had to bomb another
family in a 3rd world country
if you really want this milk.
Yeah and you did
and you did.
Yeah, I just don't understand why
so much money is going their way
and it's pulling teeth
and it has to be the
most embarrassing thing
when it comes the other way.
'Cause this is what we pay you for,
we pay you for these services
so that you can take
care of us in the rare
case that there's am emergency.
Yeah, well I think that's one of the,
unfortunately, necessary things
that has been going on,
is people understanding that,
they felt safe that they
think they're in place
aren't necessarily true
and you have to protect yourself
and protect your family
and I think that'S a lesson.
Yeah.
It taught very quickly to people of color,
that is a lesson that
al people need to know.
Yeah, people need new stuff right now.
We're getting to a point, I get March,
was like there's enough shows out
but now we're at a point where it's like,
all of the movie industry is shut down
because they're slowly coming back
but we need new stuff
and no one's gonna go back
and watch a season of Lilyhammer.
(Ron chuckles)
So it's like,
well, yeah, do an out of focus Zoom show.
It's at least something new,
you're at least trying.
Yeah, someone trying,
until you can get better,
I been doing a lot of things on Twitch,
just like what I was saying.
I'm trying to continue
to build an audience
and build a community
and if I can't go out and do shows,
and like the things that I love doing,
then staying and home
and playing video games,
if I can invite people who are like,
oh yeah, I wanna play a
couple rounds with you
and we sit around and chat
and they ask me about my projects
and then the next thing I know,
they're buying a shirt
or they're downloading Quibi,
to watch my show
and I realize like, oh,
there's a value to this
in many forms you know,
people are hanging out here
because they like me
or why would they even be here?
Right.
And B, I get to build this community
and just actually talk to people
and hang out and play games
and do the things I like
even on my Twitter and Instagram
and you say or do the wrong thing,
I get a text from my manager,
being like, what did you do?
Nobody's watching my Twitch, currently
so I guess I shouldn't promote it.
(Ron laughs)
No?
I been watching it,
you've been playing Call of Duty.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I know, it gives me a
play to talk mad trash
and so I don't
want too many people to
To children
Find out, oh yeah.
The children
They sharp.
They sharp for comedy, you know.
Mm-hm.
Talking trash to children.
Do you go in on the kids
or you like, yeah whatever kid
and you say, I'll stay out of it?
It depends on how they are.
If they come at me toxic,
if they're very homophobic
or if they're very, you know, racist,
then I just get on them the whole game
but in my way, you know,
where I just try to reason with them
and ask them, you know,
what's going on in your life?
What made you act this way?
Yeah.
You know and they don't,
they're not usually ready to handle that.
(Ron laughs)
No, just as someone
give them a bit of compassion,
they're like, no one's ever asked me
about my feelings before.
Mm-hm.
Or they're weeping on the other line.
So what's the show you're doing Saturday?
Are you gonna have some audience
or is it all like this
where it's all digital?
Am I still frozen for you?
Are you, okay.
I don't know.
Now I'm back.
Look at that.
Okay.
Of all the people, you've
had the best setup so far.
You've had the best.
Oh, I been working,
I got a ring light,
I got a good microphone,
so thank you for saying that,
I appreciate that.
Yeah, it shows.
It's like a video game toy
but you're lit like a beauty blogger.
(Ron laughs)
They can see you Saturday,
that's coming up in a couple of days.
Mm-hm.
Buy tickets for that show,
sounds like you're doing it right.
You got 10 people, it's all safe
and then the podcast, Getting Better.
Highly recommend that.
Yeah, it's my favorite
thing to do right now.
You know, just providing affirmations
and positivity
which can be sorely needed
and sometimes, you know I get it,
I get into some, however
I'm feeling, you know.
I think just last week,
I was feeling very down
about losing Chadwick
and all the things that have been going on
in Wisconsin and so sometimes,
it's positive but I might be yelling
and stuff as well
so (laughs)
Yeah but that's very refreshing.
That's what we need.
Thank you so much.
Ron Funches, everyone.
Thank you.
Thank you.
