Bad Dates with Jameela Jamil - Speed Dates: Traitors Special! (w/ Ron Funches)

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

On an all-new Speed Dates episode, host Joel Kim Booster sits down with his good friend and recent Traitors Season 4 alum Ron Funches (Harley Quinn, Loot, Inside Out 2) to talk about everything that went down at the castle! They’ll discuss the roundtables, the betrayals, the strategy, the secret traitor, was Michael Rapaport really like that (yes), and go deep on Ron’s autism diagnosis. Plus: we hear all about Ron’s new relationship with a British lady who thinks Snoopy might be Japanese.   Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video clips and full episodes.  Merch available at SiriusXMStore.com/BadDates.   Joel Kim Booster: Scrubs Season 10, Psychosexual, Fire Island, Loot Season 3 Ron Funches: RonFunches.com for tickets and tour dates, The Traitors Season 4, Loot Season 3 Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of Bad Dates ad-free. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Bad dates Speed dates. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Bad Dates podcast, Speed Dating Edition. For those of you who are just tuning in for the very first time, Bad Dates is a podcast where normally I invite a whole panel of guests on to talk about their bad dating experiences, but on speed dates, we do things a little bit differently. I sit down one-on-one with one of my good friends, and we chat about whatever the fuck we we want to chat about.

And today, I have a very special guest on. According to his website, my guest is the National Treasure. And I agree. He's a comedian, writer, and actor from Inside Out to trolls, Kirby, enthusiasm, blackish, and loot. Now you can see him on season four of Traders. It's Ron Funches, everybody. Hello, Ron. If I don't claim it, who else will?

I will. I will. I preach the gospel of Ron Funches all over this goddamn town. I have to tell you. How are you doing, my friend? I'm doing very well. We were just chatting before we got on, Mike, that you have just finished the Traders Season 4 reunion.

And I cannot wait to jump into your experience on that show. You had a very intense experience. I want to read the text that I actually got from you when you got back. Because I texted you, obviously, a huge fan of the show over here. And I said, no spoilers, but how was it that you have fun? And you said, I think after watching the show, a rather restrusting. response from you, which was, it was one of the worst and best experiences of my life, and I don't think they should do this to people.

And for anyone who's listening at home who saw the show, you know exactly what we're talking about for those of you who aren't traitors fans. I will say it is a game of deceit. It is a game of mystery. It is a game where you are. It's basically mafia, but set in a Scottish castle. There are, you know, traitors, secret traitors that you're trying to find out. And Ron, I have to say, I thought.

you may not have nailed it in your first guess as who was a traitor. But the thing is about your gameplay is I thought it all made sense. You were making the right calls, but the wrong conclusions. And spoilers for season four of Traders. If you're planning on watching Season Four of Traders, do not listen to the rest of this podcast because we will be spoiling. What happened to my good friend Ron and what has gone on since? the show has not finished yet, so I will not be talking about how the show completes,

but I highly recommend you jump in to Trader Season 4 if you haven't watched it yet. I think it's one of the best American seasons of the show. Ron, were you a fan of the show before you went on? Can't say I was a fan of the show. I was aware of the show, and similar to you, they asked me to do season three, and that was how I learned about the show. And I was coming out of a divorce at the time, and I knew the show was a lot about December. and betrayal and accusing people of things.

And so I was like, I don't think I'm ready mentally for something like this. But then the next year came around. And in the meantime, I got to watch a bit of it. And I liked just the social, I like the mystery and investigation of it. And, I mean, let's address the elephant in the room. You also happened to be dating somebody that was based in the UK at the time, which made it, I think, the work trip a little bit of a, You were double dipping, which made it convenient for you.

Have you watched any of the international seasons, or did you stick straight mostly to the English, the American season? All American. All American, all the time. Exactly the way Trump would like it. How would you sum up your experience? Well, I guess I just read the text message. That's how you summed up your experience.

But having seen yourself now, you sent that text before you got a chance to see your own performance on the show. How would you sum up your experience now that you've seen the show? I just sum it up as probably intense, like a really weird therapy session for myself. Where there are no professionals. They actually are a lot of professionals. They have a lot of therapists on staff, and I use them. But I just say it was very intense for me.

Overall, I'm proud of the way I played. I think at a certain point, I just thought of the game is something bigger than just getting the traders for money. And it was to me more about what you were willing to do to, when money are under pressure, under stress, what does it reveal about your character and who you are? And to me, halfway through, that's kind of how I started looking at the game. And in that, I feel like I nailed it because I just wanted to show something that my boys could look at and be like. And be proud of. Yeah.

Yeah. I have to say, I was really shocked. that things went the way they went for you on the show. Because knowing you so well personally and knowing the show so well, I thought to myself, Ron will be a faithful and Ron will never be voted out because Ron is so delightful and plays such a good social game just, you know, on set when I'm with you that I thought, there's just no way Ron will be voted out. He'll be so beloved by everybody that he'll have to be murdered.

And that is unfortunately not the way things went for you on the show. you made a very, I thought, well articulated argument very early on in the game about another player who unfortunately said no less than four times that they had, essentially that they were a traitor. They had some slips. They had some slips of the tongue where they talked about murdering rather than banishing, which is what faithfuls do on the show. And you, I think, made the only call that any reasonable person would make, which is to say at table that they were a traitor. And early game, there's really not a lot to go off of it. It seems like a nightmare because there is no real evidence.

I mean, there's barely evidence that goes on in the late game that people are noticing. Would you have done anything differently looking back on it now? No, I thought about it a few times, of course, because I was like, oh, could I have lasted a little bit longer if I hadn't said anything would have been an easier time for me. And that was the kind of the, from my friends who were super fans of the show, that was their main piece of advice was like, do not stick your neck out on the first couple of roundtables. That everyone who sticks her neck out on the first couple of roundtables gets taken out. Right. And so I was like, okay, don't say anything. Don't do anything. But the whole, you said in there, and it feels like

everyone's gotten that advice, you know? So you're sitting at a table and no one's saying anything. And when you have a piece of evidence, you have actually, you were the only person at that table who had a concrete piece of evidence at the time. Because so often at the beginning of the game, people are just going off of vibes. They're just going off of vibes. In fact, I'm surprised no one said of you early on because this was my worry. I, for those of you who don't know, was asked to go on season three. I turned it down because of a my myriad of reasons.

But one of my biggest worry was early game. people would say, as one of the only actors in the castle, to say, well, you're an actor, which means you're good at lying. Which means in the early game, that's all that people are going off of. I want to ask you really quickly. That would have required most of them to be aware of what I've done. Yeah, let's just say that the people that they cast on traders can be a little myopic about other people's careers. if they're not also in the reality game. You were very early on aligned with Donna Kelsey,

the mother to Travis and the other Kelsey Klan, Mrs. Taylor Swift, mother-in-law, for those of you who aren't really paying attention. Looking back, now that we know that she was, in fact, a traitor, the secret traitor, did you, looking back on it now, in hindsight, did you feel a little like, oh, of course, because she kind of let you, she was right there with you

in terms of calling out portions and noticing the same things. But she let you do a lot of the talking and do a lot of, and be the one to stick your neck out. Do you think that was strategy on her part? Do you think she knew what she was doing? Or did she sort of stumble on a really good piece of gameplay in that moment? I think, I mean, once she heard, when she was, because we all heard what Portia said together, me and her and Michael, I think once you heard it, she was like, oh, I have a life raft here. And so I'm going to use it. And so I think she absolutely was like, okay, I'm going to let Ron take it forward. Because if I go, people already think I'm a traitor. And then my only thing with Donna was just that their only kind of evidence, hey, they didn't let me know that that was the plan. I was already on the outside of it because I was writing with Donna and Michael. And then. when I heard that they were planning to vote Donna out in the first roundtable,

it was just put on the guise of like, oh, that would be cool if she was a traitor. And I was like, well, that's not enough. No, it's not enough. But at the same time, I think they did kind of fuck up making her the secret trader because unfortunately people voted on her, voted for her based on like almost using producer brain a little bit by saying like, who would have been the most interesting choice for a trader? And again, early game, you don't have a lot to go off of it. and they happened to guess correctly what the producers were doing in that case.

You know, obviously the show is extremely edited. Is there anything either about yourself or about your time in the castle that you observed that the edit left out? Because the show does sort of tell you what to believe and what people are believing. Was there anything where you were like, at the time, that's not what was going on? I mean, just a couple interactions with a couple other cast where it looked at I kind of just blew up at them at nowhere. where it kind of been this back and forth picking thing that I would. Right. But I understand why you wouldn't show that.

It wasn't necessarily, you know, within the game or something that would have helped, like, tell the story of the game. So I understand why you wouldn't show it. Other than that, no, I mean, I think they pretty much nailed it. There's a couple of things where, you know, there's a story that gets placed. And then there's like, or I've gotten feedback where they're like, oh, man, look how Rob came in is the only person that understands Rodian. And I'm sure you understand. We're like, I don't necessarily like this story. Sweet days.

Sweet days. I mean, to get real inside baseball about the game, so I apologize to the people who haven't watched the show, who are listening to this now. But Ron, his first vote for Lisa was a shocker to the other traitors, but also his excuse for it was obviously he couldn't vote for Colton because of his close alliance to Colton, which does, I think, makes sense for where he was at. But he also said he couldn't vote for you because of his close alliance to you.

Now, do you feel like you had a straight-up alliance with Rob at that moment, or did he just like you at that moment? Yeah, I think he just liked me. I just think we're friends. I mean, we're still friends. We still go and do stuff and hang out and do some mini golf in and stuff. I think, again, like, you know, where you get a piece of what was going on. Like, the intenseness of my time was probably a little longer than it looks on screen. And so he's been there through that whole time.

So I imagine at a certain point he was just kind of like, I don't, like, game or not. Like, I understand, like, mentally or like emotionally what it will do to him if I kind of turn against him right now. Do you, obviously, you did not necessarily feel fully seen in your time in the castle for who you actually are. Is there anybody that the edit sort of maybe wasn't showing the full picture? Like, your impression of them might be different from my impression of them based on the edit. I mean, we probably have to go over your impressions of them. Yeah, no, I mean, I guess, for instance, let's just go. there was Michael Rappaport as much of a nightmare in the castle as he seemed? And if you defend him,

that's totally fine. I won't hold it against you. But it did seem, he did seem difficult to manage socially in the game. Both yes. Both yes and yes. He was extremely him, very difficult, absolutely himself. I think the camera kind of sets him off. And so like if there's a camera around, he becomes this whole other thing. And sometimes when the cameras weren't on, he was a lot more chill, a lot easier to talk to. At the same time, as you can see in the actual edit of the show, like he's there when we

hear the things. And then at the same time, he's willing to go, like, I don't even know what you're talking about now. Like, no, that was Ron thing. I got caught up in Ron's thing. And so to me, not knowing, I mean, as I've found out, I mean, next week will be the confirmation, but she's like,

surprise, surprise, you're probably autistic. So, um, me going like, logically being like, okay, Traders are liars. Good people aren't going to lie in this. And so I'm just getting set off all over to play as being like, oh, they're a liar. So they're a traitor. They're a liar. These people are, I know they're lying. So they must be a traitor. I didn't go like, oh, they're just shitty people who like being on TV. I mean, you brought it up. Let's get into it. Because this is, I have to say, I saw obviously all of this play out online and in social media, your big announcement. You have come out now. And, and thank you. thanked the traders actually for sort of leading you to this autism diagnosis. And I want to give a little bit more context to this specifically because it's a very personal thing for you. Obviously, you have a lot of experience with autism. If you don't, we don't, we can go

this out. Like your son, one of your sons has a very severe form of autism. And so was that, Was it ever something that crossed your mind about yourself, knowing what you know about autism, that this might be something that was a part of your life so personally as well? No, not until quite recently. I would say not until the last year. Like to me, I've always just been like, oh, I'm an ally. I'm a caretaker of an autistic kid. When I go back and now, I go like, oh, of course. I mean, I just always just like, I'm just a weird, weirdo.

You know, I'm just a little. I mean, that's what I was thought. just a little offbeat. So to me, that's just kind of always where I left it. But then when I think just with our jobs in comedy and acting and stuff, I just learned to mask well over years and to be performative through years. And to be in a position, I think, where cameras were on me for so many hours was the first time where I was like, oh, I can see myself when I'm like shutting down and like just like not even made,

hanging eye contact anymore where I could see a lot of the same mannerisms that my son does or when he's like stemming and things and that was the first time where not not when I saw it but coming out of it when I did the when I was like I was very clear and I was very direct and I was very enthusiastic and then have the whole time people being like do you even want to be here like are you doing this or are you having fun and I'm just like what are they saying that I'm not seeing you know and then just since my divorce and and stuff. A lot of the women I've been dating have just been neurodivergent. And so it just was a thing where I'm like, and just a lot of my friends in general. I mean comedy. Yeah, exactly. You find a job that is independent and allows you to focus and hyperfocus on something and just be isolated when you want to or be extroverted when you want to. And masking is a huge is sort of baked into it. Yeah. In general for people who aren't even masking autism symptoms, it's just It's just like we all do it. You know, we all cover.

We all have to because sometimes you have a show and you're having a bad day and it's like you can't bring that into work like the rest, you know. And so you have to cover for a lot of things. But always, I mean, there's always little things because I remember like to say little things on set. Like you probably do not recall this one little bit. And but we were joking around and I just go, said something and you go, I go, I don't care about what anybody thinks.

And you were maybe just being snidey or you maybe meant it. But you go like, maybe you should a little bit. And that stuck with me for months. Oh, my God. I'm like, what did he mean? Maybe I should care about. Okay, all right. No, maybe I need to dress better.

Maybe I need to be. No. Oh, my God. I'm sorry, but also you're welcome. In a lot of ways. Do you think, because this is, I think, one of the big things about autism that I think that most of society is only just sort of starting to understand right now is that it is a spectrum.

that it is not like, and especially I think this must have been really pronounced for you, because you have spent the last, you know, 17, 18 years of your life dealing with a very pronounced form of autism. And I think for a lot of people who think of autism, they think of that. They don't think of someone who's highly functional and who can mask or move throughout the world in a mostly normal way. Do you think that, um, the, where do you think the C change is coming from where people more and more are coming out with their diagnoses and more and more. It's not looking like, it's not love on the spectrum for everybody. And do you think like, where do you think the C change is coming from it?

And how difficult was it for you to come to terms with that? I mean, for me personally, it just comes from wanting to learn more about myself. And at the same time, like, wanted to respect. my son's diagnosis and the things, I mean, because when he got diagnosed, it was 20 years ago, and it was very different. It wasn't like a Zoom call. It was us going to OHSU and them like holding him down and taking his blood and like all these other things that are like still like, you know, I still traumatized by it to this day. And so when I was thinking about it, I was like, I don't want to just be, although I do 100% respect self-diagnosed, especially in a place where it's hard

to afford to go get it diagnosis, like our country. I didn't want to, you. I didn't want to, just be self-diagnosed. I wanted to look into myself and learn more about myself. And I think in general we're seeing a lot of that and people, um, not to make it like grand brain scheme,

but I think in a world where people are like, things aren't making sense and like, oh good doesn't necessarily seem like it wins over evil. I think people are looking internally to make sense within themselves. And it's, um, and just finding that we, most of us, I think not even like,

it's not like a small amount. I think the majority of us don't fit into this little box where you can just sit in a room where there's like fluorescent lighting over you all day and just be in this box and there's no good air and you're not moving around and you don't you don't feel comfortable you don't feel like a human so I don't necessarily think that I just think in general there's a desire for self-discovery and all of us and I just think we're at a generation where it's just more acceptable because of progress do you think though I fully hear you on the access to care to actually get an official medical diagnosis for something like autism. Do you think it's a, do you think, how complicated is it though?

Because so many people now with TikTok and social media have self-diagnosed themselves with all sorts of, you know, whether it be autism, whether it be ADHD, whether it be ADHD, whether it be. depression, et cetera, et cetera. Do you think it is a net good, or do you worry that people are taking three Instagram videos and sort of running with it? Or do you think it's a net that it is better for more people who maybe aren't on the autism spectrum to self-diagnose and but still catch the few that are through those means? Or do you think, what is your feeling on that? I think overall it's a positive.

I mean, even just the way that I went about it is unique, but not wholly unique. I found out Ian Terry, who also was on the show as well. He was on Big Brother Pryor, and he got diagnosed similar to me by just being on the show and the internet being like, hey, we think you're autistic. So I think overall, there's just a positive of people being more informed. and going from like when my son was diagnosed how foreign of a term it was and how many people would never claim that. Yeah. You know, so to me, I think it's an overall positive.

Of course, you do get the negative of people who try to use it for attention or use it to kind of just be part of a community and feel that way. But overall, I think it's got to be a positive. I mean, but my thing, too, is like, do you think all the people who were saying that to you? I think we have not moved. There's a lot of stigma that has been lifted around the autism spectrum through very, you know, through its depiction in pop culture, through education. We all know so much more about it now. Thanks to sometimes TikTok, et cetera.

But when people are shouting at it, you online, we think you're autistic. How difficult is it because it is still used as an insult. It is still used as a pejorative. it is still used to poll little people or to like, it is used to ascribe, it is used to label certain behaviors that maybe it's inconvenient for us to deal with in other ways. How much of it, how much of the feedback you were getting do you feel was in good faith and how much of it do you think just happened to get it? That was what made me look more into it because at first it was negative.

First, it was just people being rude, because especially after the, the first week when voted Porsche off, it was just like, who is this black, weird, autistic, blah, blah, you know? And so I was just like, ah, whatever. And then, but it, you know, when I, at the end, when I was leaving, I kept getting all these messages of people being like,

oh, man, this is just what it's like to be neurodivergent in the workplace. This is what, oh, I've been through this exam. I'm trying my best. I work my hardest and people just don't see me because I'm not social like them. And so I would read these messages from people. And it was one specifically on threads where a person was just like so effusive about it.

Where I was just like, because by then I started going to get the diagnosis, but I hadn't mentioned it. And so I was like, I was just like, okay, I'm going to mention it and just bring it up because it seems to be affecting people in a positive way. And, you know, even when I was just an ally, I never shied away from talking about it. Right. You know, so it's never been something to be ashamed of to me. When you were voting Porsche out, did you have any idea what you had stepped in or who she was or what she meant to people writ large throughout the community? No, I had no idea. You had no idea.

I mean, yeah, I kind of figured because, my God, she's one of the most popular people in reality TV right now. She was so popular in that castle. That's pretty much what happened. I figured out. So as they go, oh, she's very popular and they don't want to play with me no more. That is so sad. And that was just the gist of it. How is your life changed?

How is the diagnosis like, has it affected your day to day at all? Has it affected how you approach certain things? Has it affected your work? It's still settling in on me because I'm still, like, I still have one more week for official. So it's mostly now just kind of makes me go back and look at things in my life. And a, proud of myself. Because I'm like, look at me, I was killing life as a typical neurotypical person. You throw in some type of neurodivergent.

I'm crushing it. Yeah, man. Not even playing neurodivergent roles. I'm just about here playing neurotipal. I mean, you know, they're a little tinged. Well, quite frankly, I wonder, too, like being a nerd is such a big part of your identity, too, and is baked into your character on loot, too. Do you think that obfuscated some of it, too?

Is that like sometimes like, you know, I know as someone who identifies that way too, it's like it's easy sometimes to be like, well, of course, we're outside because of our interests. And, you know, like, do you think that played any part of it? What do you, I'm sorry? Well, you as a person who has sort of your interests of until recently, relatively recently, I would say, in the world and society have put you. you outside of the norm. Because as a nerd, you know, you're used to being sort of maybe ostracized socially in a bit or set apart a little socially because of your interests. Do you think that had

that played, that made it more difficult to come to the realization of things for you? Yeah. I mean, I think partially, yeah, it's just that I've always had this kind of outsider view. And even like, when I brought it up to my mom that I was going to go do this, she was like, oh, I bet you you're not. And I'm like, I'll take this bet. And so I just think there's always just been this little thing of, which actually in turn, to go back to what you're thinking, it's like it's made me be less worried about my oldest son because I've always been like, oh, does he feel less than?

Does he feel like, does he go like, oh, I have autism and stuff? And for me to be like so much to like I didn't know until, or even have an inkling until like six months ago a year ago and not know until now and the whole time and still very much now go like, no, it's everybody else that's weird. I'm chill, I'm great. Like, it makes me feel so good about my son.

And then just it's made me be like, just kind of like I just want to embrace it more but at the same time, like I don't want to be defined. I mean, I've always been like, if anyone's like, oh, he's a comedian that likes wrestling. I'm like, I'm not doing any wrestling jokes. So I'm never going to let anything like that define me. but at the same time

I do want to continue to be a spokesperson for it. It's like, God, the last thing we need is another thing. Does your son, how aware is your son of your diagnosis? He's completely unaware. I haven't told him anything about it. Do you have any plans to? Do you think you want to?

Yeah, I think I'll talk to him about it once it's done. Yeah, sure. Talk to both of them. I'll wait a little bit from my youngest. Right, yeah, yeah. He did, what would he care? Is he like, were you going to play another round of Smash, brothers? Exactly, exactly.

That's so interesting. And it resonates me so, with me so hard, the whole thing of, like, looking back. Because as scary as it is, like, when I was diagnosed bipolar, like, it sucks on some level. You know what he wants to have a thing that makes them feel different from everybody else, or that is highly stigmatized or misunderstood by a lot of people. But at the same time, it's a huge relief to have a framing device for like, well, that's why I was like, that's why that happened. That's why I was behaved in that way. That's why this was so hard for me.

Do you feel sort of that sense of relief too? Yeah, I think, I mean, that's how I felt before my son was diagnosed, the most desperate and, And sad time was when you knew something was different, but we didn't know what. So just to have something to research, something to look up, something. I mean, that's what I look at now is it makes me want to go like, oh, I want to do some research to figure out how can I be more efficient and how I work. If I've been forcing myself to work in ways or putting myself in positions where I am not optimal. I'm stressed out. How can I?

And what will it be like if I can learn how to. to work the way that works for me the best. Sweet days. Sweet days. So you are currently in a relationship with a lovely Brett. I have to say you brought her to my wedding. I did not get to spend as much time with her as I would have liked. You seemed like you were busy.

Yeah, it was a lot. But you've been dating now for a while. How has the diagnosis affected that relationship at all? No, not really. She actually was one of the reasons why I would. to get diagnosed because she was more cheery and more sweet and more odd than even I. And so I started to kind of pick up things in her. And she would tell me the stories where she would be like, oh, you know, my friends would always make fun of me because I have these little, they call them livisms where I say these things.

And people are like, what do you mean? And then I would start noticing, like, especially when we went to Japan, she'd be like, she'd be like, you know, Snoopy's Japanese? And I'm like, Snoopy's a fan. What are you? Snoopy's a beagle. Yeah, we're talking about he's not Japanese at all. What are you talking about? And she's like, well, all this stuff is in the Japan.

Well, no, they just like him here. He's not from here. Yeah, I go, he's from Minnesota. I know this for a fact. And she'd say other things. And then we just had a conversation where she was just like all nonchalantly. She was just like, yeah, you know, my mom said, like, you know, I didn't even really talk that much until I was five. And I was like, babe.

Baby, you're autistic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to talk to you a little bit about how you met Liv. It was an unorthodox meeting, and I was there on the ground floor for it. Tell me a little bit about Liv and tell me how you met Liv. Yeah. Well, we met thanks to my social media team, Block Party, who I love and endure because of that. And we started putting out clips weekly and stuff, and she saw,

one of the clips and she just DM me and was just like you know, it was super British and was like, oh, you made me laugh so much I spilled tea all over my carpet. And I was just like, whatever, weirdo yeah, yeah, yeah. I had nothing going on. What were you even doing in the

DMs in the first place? And I was, so we were shooting loot and so I had a lot of free time and so I was like, oh, I'll just keep chat chatting with this lady for a while and we kept chatting and it was really easy to talk with her. And she was very smart and very well traveled.

She's a journalist overseas. And so she just, we said a lot of interesting things to me. One of her reports she showed me was her going undercover to help take down this, like, hospital that was abusing autistic adults. And I was just like, this is, I was like. Spoke your language. Yeah, I was like, who told you to show me that? And then we just started playing game.

So, yeah, that's what you would see. We were play a lot of overcooked. Overcooked two on set. Adorbs. Looking back on your dating history and your past relationships now, how much has the diagnosis reframed how those relationships operated and played out for you now? Has it brought you any sort of, I don't know if it's closure or peace or whatever, or forgiveness to yourself or to grace to them or what have you?

I think of all the things. There's some areas where not necessarily relationships. I want to stress that in case somebody listens. But just in general, I go like, I wonder if other people have noticed and have used it to take advantage of me. Because I think that's been a cycle in my life where people either assume I'm not paying attention

or I haven't been paying attention and they use it to take advantage of me. And I am pretty giving. So sometimes I will, even if I see it, I will let it go for a little bit. And then eventually I will be like, We got to cut it. Right.

And so it made me go back and think about that cycle of my life. And then talking with a couple with my ex and with some people where they were like, okay, yeah, this makes sense. Why you would like, we'd be at a party and you'd just go upstairs and go lay down because you're done. How about work? I mean, I know this is so fresh for you right now, but I also know you're up a lot. Um, have you, has it affected, um, your, your, your work as a standup at all? Have you started to talk about it at all? Will you talk about it at all eventually?

Lately, I've talked about it. Again, I'm mostly been waiting for the diagnosis just because I didn't want to, if we just by any case where they were like, no, you're not autism at all. Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, oh. And then egg is on your face. Yeah. Yeah. So I've been waiting a little bit. And also the fact that, um, I got to figure out. a lane on it because there's so it's like it's almost in vogue right right you know there's a lot of people who are doing material about their diagnosis and I yeah it's like 10 years ago it was gay people and now

it's all autistic people they're flooding the markets they were talking about kale all the time and now yeah before they didn't talk about autistic people for the past 10 years but before it was making fun of them right and just using it to replace the R ward and now it's like I am autistic and that's uh what's I prefer.

So I'm just trying to find my specific lane on it, but I don't want it to be just like, I'm autistic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ron, we're running out of time, if you can believe it. So I want to get to the two questions that I always ask all my guests on the speed dating episodes, which is the first one. And I'm excited to hear this from you because I know you are, you're a lover of love in pop culture. But what is, if you had to pick a favorite or memorable or most?

influential romance moment in pop culture, whether that be a couple in a movie or television show, a song lyric, a book, God forbid, a book. What is something, an example of love that you've experienced in pop culture that you point to and say, that's what I want, that's what I've been looking for. That's the model for me. There's a lot of them. I think the relationship between Aunt Viv and Uncle Phil Which one? We'll go with dark skin one The best, the best one

Especially because she nailed that dance Yeah, she did But they had such They had a great I mean A, you know It's kind of modeled off the Cosby show But I've always loved that type of relationship But we're successful

We're both successful We do our own things But we come together They were socially conscious Inactive in their own ways And then they had a great family life and they always showed love and laughed with each other. I've always been a big fan of that.

Even, like, you know, not the person, but like the show Roseanne, Roseanne and Dan. I always love their relationship to me, because then, like, money didn't really matter to them in their relationship. Yeah, it is interesting the two relationships you mentioned, because on one hand, like, it's interesting. Roseanne growing up as someone who grew up in an, Illinois suburb who was also in a very similar financial situation as that family.

They don't make a lot of depictions of families in that, in that economic class a lot. And they certainly haven't sense. And it's interesting. Yeah, there's just not a lot of to grab hold on. Just when, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but the fact that they did a whole episode about them not being able to pay the electricity and then knowing that it was going to get cut off and then prepping for it,

I think is one of the greatest like sitcom episodes ever made. because you don't you don't, it's so real and so grounded, but it's something you don't see people do. Right. And in the same token, too, with, um, with Will, with the Fresh Prince, too, is that, like, I think especially at the time, like, you didn't see a lot of depictions of black love where it wasn't full of angst. Um, and, and unfortunately, I, I actually am struggling to think of a lot of examples where that's true today. Um, so, um, really, um, really. Wonderful examples there. And then more currently, Ron,

what is something that is making you believe in love this week? This week. Wow. What's making me believe in love this week? What's coming here? Just because then it made me think about your wedding and how much fun I had and how the last three weddings I went to. Three out of four weddings I went to.

We're all loot weddings. And they were all fun and magical and extremely different. in their own ways and show everybody's personality and the only thing that binded them all was that Maya didn't show up. Oh my God. And we love for, no, exactly, exactly. She would have been tabled everybody.

If I got that RSDP, yes, I would have said, what are you doing? Don't do this to yourself. Get out while you can. But to be serious, like, yeah, I mean, your wedding was so. beautiful in the way that you guys spoke about each other and looked at each other. It was just beautiful.

And the same thing with Stephanie's wedding and with Alan and Christine's wedding. They were all so different, so unique. So within the personalities of those couples, but they all made me be like, oh, at a time where I was not sure, I was like, oh, there is like real love. That's great. And do you think that's something, and not necessarily. with your current relationship, but it is something you've experienced before

that maybe didn't turn out to be the most positive experience for you ultimately, but is it something you're willing to try again? To get married? Yeah. I don't know about that. Really? I don't know about that.

Interesting. Even after our three beautiful weddings? I got a lot, let them, they got to last for a while. Fair, fair, very, very, very, fair. Yeah, they were all pretty recent, weren't they? They were all pretty recent. Ron Funches, everybody.

What a pal. What a good hang. You can see him. Check out all three seasons of loot. Now streaming on Apple TV if you want to see us. And check out season four of Traders, which I believe by the time this comes out will have all aired. You can check it all out on Peacock.

And watch Ron realize in real time that he's autistic. You can watch it. Come see me on the road. Yeah, oh, that's what was going to be my next question. You have dates coming up, I'm sure. Where can people find out where they can see you live? Ronpunches.com for all dates. I'm doing a full, strong summer, tour.

Oh, what means? We were in spring. I'm going tour for the year. So I'm going everywhere. Please come see me. I'm talking a lot of trash about the traders and having a lot of fun. And it's been great to have people come out from the show and hug me and show me and show me love and tell me how they did me dirty and that they want justice for Ron.

Absolutely. Justice for Ron. That's the last thing I'll say. say on this podcast. If you liked what you heard, please give us a rating and review on iTunes or wherever you're listening to this podcast. Five stars only people, I don't read anything that's not five stars. So you'd be falling on death ears. Anyways, until next week, that's Bad Dates. Speed Dating Edition. Bye-bye. Bad Dates is a production of Smartless Media created by Robert Cohen. Executive producers are Robert

Cohen and Stuart Bailey. Produced, edited, and engineered by Devin Torrey Bryant. Produced by Anne Harris. Edited by Kyle McRough. Associate producer is Maddie McCann. Social media producer is Tommy Galgana. Executive producers are Sean Hayes, Will Arnett, and Jason Baitman. Executive producers for Smartless Media are Richard Corson and Bernie Khaminski. Music by Cushie and Evan Schleder.

If you've had a bad date or would like our advice on any dating issues, please tell us about it at baddatespod at gmail.com or call us at 984-265-3-2-2-2. That's 984-265-3283. That's all for this week. We will be back for more. Bad Gates.