Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 221. Ron Funches: Say What You Want

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

This week Ron Funches joins Mike on the podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about finding your comedic voice vs. faking it, Ron’s recent autism diagnosis, and Ron’s stint on the reality show, “Traitors.” Plus, Mike and Ron work out tons of new bits about remaking famous Black movies with all-white casts, death by chocolate, and the problem with a haircut Ron got in Budapest. Please consider donating to The Ed Asner Family Center Text BIRBIGS to 917-444-7150 for updates Find Mike: Website: https://birbigs.com/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/birbigs/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/birbigfans TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@mikebirbiglia Find Ron:  Website: https://ronfunches.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronfunches/ Hosted and Produced by Mike Birbiglia Producers: Peter Salomone, Joseph Birbiglia, Mabel Lewis, Gary Simons Sound Mixed by Ben Kruse Supervising Engineer: Kate Bilinski Video Consultant: Graham Willoughby Special Thanks: Marissa Hurwitz, Josh Upfal, David Raphael, Nina Cwik, J. Hope Stein, Oona Music: Jack Antonoff and Bleachers Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

So you recently had an autism diagnosis, but then your son had it 20 years ago? Yeah, I wanted to go get the diagnoses most to like honor what my son had to go through. Like we had to go to Portland and go up to OHSU. And I remember to this day, three nurses and me each grabbing an arm, two legs, holding them down where they like draw his blood. And he's yelling and screaming and like hating me and looking at me. like I'm like torturing them you know and and so then when like I go got to get mine like I just met with uh as the joke I was doing like oh I met with a psychiatrist and she just asked me a bunch of questions and so my joke I just go she just set me down and she just goes do do do do do and I go

and I go ah you got autism. Hey everybody it's Mike Barbiclia this is working it out that is the voice of the great Ron Funches. What an absolutely unique voice and comedic voice he has. And he's a great comedian. I mean, I've known Ron for many, many years of one. I have him on the show.

A lot of you might know him recently from appearing on the reality show, Traders, which we talk about today. I did not know about Traders. It is apparently huge. We talk about that a lot because it's led to a lot of interesting twists and turns in Ron's life.

quick announcement. Some of you might have subscribed to my email list might already know this, but unfortunately, I had to drop off a few of the John Mullini dates this fall because of a very special amazing project of mine that came together and couldn't make the schedule work. You know I hate doing this, but there's just a few dates in Calgary, in New Hampshire, Ontario, Grand Rapids, in September, and I will go to those places as soon as they start touring again in 2020.

Even though I won't be on those shows, I still highly recommend going to see those shows because John's hour of comedy right now is so good. He is on top of his game. But this weekend, I will be with John in Lincoln, Nebraska, as well as Waite Park, Minnesota. Also, a reminder to sign up for working it out premium on Apple Podcasts. We recently released an extended version of our episode with Joe Firestone. We've never done that before. The response has been so great. We might do it again.

Let us know if you liked it. I love this chat today with Ron Funches. We talk about the show Traders. We talk about his autism diagnosis. We talk about positivity. He's a very positive person. I love sitting across from him and chatting. Enjoy my conversation with the great Ron Funches.

You and I just got back from Montreal. You played Le Jesu. Sure. I played, I think. Mine was at Plaza Desart. It was like a gala. How long have you been going to Montres? Montreal? I don't remember the exact day, but I think it's either 2013 or 2014.

One of the reasons why I feel like you would do well internationally is that you're so, your comedic voice is so specific and you're just like your own deal. So like if people are locking into you, they're locking into you. They're not locking into like these 40 comedians. Yeah. Who sound like you. Yeah. I appreciate that. Oh yeah, of course. I mean, how long did it take to do you feel like to develop? your comedic voice um i think pretty quickly like at a base level yeah at a base level i was lucky i started in portland where there wasn't really at the time this history of like anyone who had gone like done national work there were comedians who were doing some great work like dwight slade and um susan rice

but there were mostly just this you were just going to uh do like runs in idaho and in just the middle of nowhere and they would be terrible. And so anyone, similar to like Montreal now, like if you were doing comedy, it was just because you love to do comedy. Yeah. And so it allowed everyone to kind of have these unique voices. No one was trying to copy anyone to be like,

this is how you succeed. And that was helpful for me and just my general way of speaking. And the way, you know, just kind of have a little sing-songy in the way I speak, I just would lean into that more. And then just the more as I get older, the more I go through things, I'm into divorces, finding out that I have autism, like, all these things. The more I've learned in myself, the more I feel like my voice gets stronger and that I'm able to, like,

and I was talking to my friend Rick Glassman because I feel the same for him. Like, he'd been, like, struggling so much to, like, get passed at the comedy store. And it took him to, like, learn more about himself and accept himself and find his lane. And then people started coming back to him. And now he got past this year. And I was like, that's so beautiful. and it's a certain thing that I'm feeling now as like even in my early 40s where I'm like I'm just now learning things about myself and I feel like it makes my comedic voice stronger. Isn't that weird?

Like yeah the correlation between like your comedic voice and your actual like understanding of self is pretty tight. I'm a big believer of that. I'm a big believer of that since the day I started where like my comedic voice and my life they can have a little bit of degree of very. I'm not always as happy as I am on stage as I am all stage, you know. There's some things that might be going on in my life, but they can't be far apart. If they are, I have to fix something in my life. I have to change whatever it is. I'm willing to switch jobs, go to divorces, quit things, as long as it can match back up. Right.

Right. It's like the same car that's going to the grocery store as the one that's driving to California. Yeah. It's like, that is interesting, though, like, because you are jolly on stage. Like, you're buoyant. You're, if you were in the movie Inside Out, you'd be joy. Thank you. And, like, do you ever feel like you're, it's a hard, it's been a hard day, the travel's killing you?

And you go, okay, do I fake it? Or do I bring them along to where I'm at and try to get to joy? I used to try to fake it. You know, in the last couple years, I was going through a really tough divorce, and it really taught me a lot about the value of your audience, like, not just me providing a service, but like what they provide for me. And to be able to let them in and be like, hey, I'm not feeling good. I have to take these gigs because if I don't, I'm going to lose my house. But I can't, like, I can't fake it right now. This is like the toughest thing I've gone through.

And so to have people who I have this one lady in Stacey Pallisack And she probably over two years She saw eight shows of mine And she would see me and sometimes she would just give me a hug And sometimes I could tell she would be like Okay, you're going through it And then when she noticed that I was getting better She'd tell me she'd be like, oh, it seems like you're feeling better

Your comedy seems a little less angry this time Like you are looking better And then she came to my special and she was just like, you just seemed like so much better now. And I was like, it's been so great to have someone like you who's been able to like track me and keep me going and but also not lie to me. And that, that.

Where's the line between a support system and a stalker? She rides it. handsome people. It's come to a lot of shows at a certain point. All right. I want you to come out, but there's a line.

Yeah, no, luckily I got a pretty cool fan base. They're pretty just smart weirdos. Yeah, yeah. Support me. And I think, like, yeah, they like me more to my jokes. They see, like, my authenticity

and who I am on stage. And that's what I try to bring. And that's why I try to, I remember years ago, after I shot my first special, I would be like, oh, what am I going to do? Like, I can't keep, I was like, oh, there's a lot of weed jokes. I'm like, a pothead dad is kind of how I would have described that hour.

And I was like, I'm getting older and I don't really feel like that. And my friend was like, you don't sell being a pothead. You don't sell, like, smoking weed. You, like, you sell happiness and freedom. That's your brand. And I was like, oh. And that, like, always stuck with me. And I was like, that's what I do.

That's what I want to sell. I want so that if you work hard, if you be yourself, you can be happy and you can be free even if you are going through obstacles, you know? And so I don't try to ever fake it, but I mean, I'm most joyful on stage, you know? Yeah. I'm still going through the fallout of divorce now and, like, stress financially. But, like, the most fun that I have is, like, touring around and chit-chatting with Gary and talking crap about comedy. Yeah. Like, it's, all that makes me go like, oh, things are beautiful.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get to travel the globe. Yeah, there's something about, and I'm this way with my show. I mean, like, when I'm performing, I feel a piece. When I was at the Duke's show that Mabel co-directed, I feel, last night, I feel peace. I love comedy shows for that reason. There's something, there's something uninhibiting. about comedy shows specifically,

more than other types of shows. That like I'm just all in for. Yeah, I think for me, at least the type of comedy I like, not everyone does this, but I like comedy where by the end of that hour or 15 minutes or whatever it is, I'm like, oh, I learned more about them. I can feel them as a person. Yeah.

Even if it's just some silly jokes, I learned their perspective and their worldview. And I think, get that with comedy even more than like music or any other thing that's like a production where you're getting what people want you to see yeah but even with comedy sometimes you'll get a joke and it'll hit different than you even meant it to intend because people are seeing through you you know yeah and even like you know to the point of like you're saying you're uh stacey went to like eight shows or whatever it was like i'm kind of similar like i like seeing four or five or five

performances of the same comedian to see like where it is along the way. Like there's something about the process of it that I think like you can be like my favorite was the second one out of five or whatever it was. There's something about the process

where it's like it actually in some ways tells you more than the special does. Yeah I mean that's always and I'm sure you find this that it's so funny to me that no matter what like you'll shoot a special and then literally the next show or the next week,

you'll come up with the perfect tag for a joke and you're just like, what the fuck, why? It's endless. It's every time. It's endless. But isn't that like the great lesson of everything, which is like it's never done, it's only abandoned? The, um, yeah, you have that great joke about how, like, raising kids is like,

it's like someone on mushrooms trying to guide someone on mushrooms. Yeah. Thank you. for knowing that's my joke. A lot people tell me that's fuck Jerry. Oh yeah, fuck Jerry.

Yeah, that's like, for people don't know what that is. It's some like Instagram kind of meme. Yeah. Yeah. So they, they like ripped it off and then kind of like took credit for it.

Yeah, and so now whenever I post it, people go, you took this from a meme account. And I go, yeah, a meme account had an autistic kid. Dude, what? I mean, that's so crazy. I remember that.

a few years ago that was a big controversy with fuck jerry where it's like a meme account they kind of like i mean allegedly i don't want to get sued but allegedly steal jokes and then repurpose them on their account it's a strange thing for them to claim that that's original yeah because it's like well what do you have comedy writers yeah who's your staff exactly it was a long life lesson um taught me to over the last year is to be more active about like protecting my work and putting out my work instead of holding on to it as long as I do. So I try to be more of like just put everything out, have my face seen on it. Yeah.

The, um, so you recently had an autism diagnosis and, but then your son had it 20 years ago. Yeah. It's interesting, right? Like, it's like, do you, I guess I would say like, I would ask like, what, do you feel like the way they diagnose? is different then than it is now yeah no yeah that's one of the bits I've been working on recently is just talking about how I wanted to go get the diagnoses most to like honor what my son had to go through like when he was a kid we had to go to we were in Oregon we had to go to Portland and go up to oh hsu and he had to blue blood work on him and he was very resistant to that and I remember

to this day three nurses and me each grabbing an arm two legs holding them down where they like draw his blood and he's yelling and screaming and like hating me and looking at me like I'm like torturing him you know and and so then when like I go got to get mine like I just met with uh as the joke I was doing like oh I met with a psychiatrist and she just asked me a bunch of questions and so my joke I just go she just set me down and she just goes do do do do do and I go ah And she's like, eh, you got autism. Love that.

It's a good bit. It's working on it. But, yeah, a lot different now. And a lot of people, self-diagnosing, which I'm also certainly accepting of. But I felt like, especially being in the public, I wanted to make sure I had, like, an official diagnosis. You had it, I feel like you had it come up. It's not a show I watch, but it's a pick. The traders?

Traders, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't watch traders. I'm told I'm in the minority of culture. Like, it's this massive show. It's pretty big. I didn't know as big as big. I think it just got real big, too. Okay.

So you were on that. Yeah. And that's how you had an inclination that you might have autism? That's what it really turned was people telling me after the show started airing. Interesting. And there had been little things before. There had been a couple ladies that had dated who, you know, who had mentioned. that I was pretty particular about certain things.

And then I had a friend, one of my closest friends, Blair Socky, she got diagnosis. And then I was like, hmm, well, like, you're the person I understand the most. That's right. So that was a bit of an inkling as well. But it was like going into this big group situation and then kind of like being reminded. It was like high school or middle school where I'm like. like, oh, yeah, this is one of reasons why I always kind of like work solo is that, like, in these big group situations, I've ran into these cycles where I feel like I'm being

direct. I feel like I'm telling people exactly how I feel. I feel like I'm showing enthusiasm. Right. And then the whole time they're like second guessing me, you know? Oh, interesting. And so, and it was, some of them were just jerks and narcissists and terrible human beings, but it couldn't be in all 20 of them, you know?

So I had to be like, hmm, like, what am I? am I missing here. Did that diagnosis affect the way you work in groups or whether or not you choose to work in groups? It's been choosing how and who I work with more. Even this, I have bought this shirt that I'm wearing it in back of it. It says I only want to work with friends. And I bought it right after I did the traders because it was this reminder of like, oh, my time is very valuable. And my sacrifice away from my kids is valuable.

And if I'm going to do something, I need to make sure that I have fun and that it feels worth it. And overall, it has felt worth it to learn about myself to get the fan base who saw me and saw how people treated me and be affected by that and rally around me has been cool. But then it also made me be like, oh, before I say yes, I know, and you wouldn't know who was there. But I just try to be more aware of like, who am I going to be working with? Are they going to be fun people? Are they, do they have family that they want to get back home to or do they not care at all? Right. You know, like I just more aware of that now.

Yeah. Yeah, no, it's hard when you work with large groups of people because you really do have to try as much as possible to check people's references and ask other people like, what was it like to work with this person? Because if you end up in a situation, where even there's one person who is kind of an asshole it's devastating yeah especially all day 14 hour 18 hour all day you're like oh no yeah i can only keep it up so much before you're going to learn i don't like you yeah yeah um you the trade so you had like with traders it was like i guess i mean i i people love you from it but it was like challenging it first

yeah it was challenging for me for sure um a the whole I mean the event is challenging you go out there to the lack of sleep you're trying to figure these things out you don't know anyone right and then for me to like top it off like okay

I knew I was going to be like accused or like things but to feel like out and out like rejected it'd be like oh they don't even want to talk to me they don't even want to like there's this thing where people come to breakfast in every single episode I've ever watched of that show when someone comes to breakfast, no matter what, they clap for them. I came in there and it was dead silent.

And you've been there for days. I'm away from my kids. Bothers days gone by. And I'm like, these motherfuckers do I uncare about it's dead? They truly want me dead. Oh, my God. And so, you know, it was stressful and then watching it come out and having people like, see me for the first time

where I'm not playing character which turned out to be great because a lot of times when people see me on stage or see me in some things they're like oh he's he's not really like that that's an act

you know and so for them to see that and see me like oh no that's him he's sweet and jolly and then let's watch the light leave his eyes let's watch the light leave his eyes Oh, God. You imagine?

I mean, just for me and you, and I put this one with comedians, like, just imagine being, working with 20 people for like 18 hours a day that you don't know when it's going to end and like none of them are funny. Yeah.

Not a single one. And some of them really thought they were. Right. Yeah, no, the respite of being a comedian is that it is often hard and rigorous and the travel can be hard, but if you're a, around funny people, that's pretty fun.

Yeah, like last night, hanging out with Gary, hanging out with the people who open up on the show. It was such a beautiful time, and it was so fun, and to watch it just not be this competition of just people just talking and naturally being funny. And I was like, this is what I love and love being around, not someone trying to, like, just say curse words in Spanish, and because they're white, that's hilarious.

And that is just And that is the name And they were like, oh, why is Ron mean? I had that this year with, in the last, I don't know, 18 months I've done a bunch of shows with me and Nick Kroll and Fred Armisen and John Mullaney. And it's like just being around funny people is so fun. Being around friends.

Like you're saying, like your shirt says, work with your friends there's nothing like it yeah no it's beautiful you know I like to stay open and try to meet new friends

yeah but at the same time when I can clock that I don't I used to be more open to everyone I used to always say like oh I like to keep everyone

at a distance where I can like everyone but that's changed now especially with the diagnosis I'm like oh I'm cool with having like enemies

I'm cool with being like oh I just don't like this person it's interesting Like, it's almost like having the whole sequence of like being on like this reality show and having this diagnosis. It's almost Truman show ask. Kind of. Does it feel weird?

Yeah. Yeah. But embarrassing. Because everybody's like, you're going to get so much sex off with this. And I was like, no, I'm going to get an autism diagnosis. It's like, do you ever have this feeling just like make it stop? You know what you mean? Like the Truman Show thing.

Like the way Truman Show goes eventually is like, no, shut it off. Yeah. You ever have that? Yeah, for a couple of weeks there, it gets overwhelming. And they tell you that it's going to get overwhelming. And I was like, I've been working in entertainment for almost 20 years. You and these other people don't know how to handle online, but I've been online. And then they're saying, oh, I'm like, oh, I'm feeling manic.

You know? And it's just like, oh, there's so many eyes. And there was the time where, like, I would go to, I went to LAX a couple weeks after. And, like, I literally couldn't walk like five feet without another person being like, oh, I know. Oh, it was you. Right. And I was like, oh, I like it. Because I've always been a, I like, I prefer it when people, like, are nice to me.

Yeah, yeah, sure. But at the same time, I was like, oh, this is overwhelming. And then the first few weeks before I actually left and they, they, they got to do my speech. And people like, before that, people were like, oh, this guy hates black women and then also hates old he just hates women you know they were all these things where people coming out talking trash about me and I was like oh I'm not used to this why they because I voted out because I thought the lady was a traitor because she said she was a traitor but you're not allowed to vote her out because I'm black and she's black so I forgot

the social contractor that what a nightmare what an absolute nightmare to have people judge you based on that Do you wish you didn't do it? No, I'm glad I did it. Oh, absolutely, that I did it. And if people NBC are watching, I'm certainly glad I did it and not despairing you in any way. No, I think you're speaking positively about it. Thank you.

Oh, you know what I was really curious about is you've done vision board making parties with friends for over 11 years. What's the system behind properly creating a vision board? and what's the most surprising thing in 11 years that has come to fruition on your vision board? Oh, we were literally just talking about this last night because Gary were not a believer. Really? Gary? I know.

I started doing it. I mean, the first year was one of the big reasons why I kept doing it because I was similar to now in a stressful situation, needed to get full custody of my oldest son, And I was like, I need to get home for him. And I had heard about vision boarding. I had spent the last couple of years previously on New Year's Eve's, like chasing women that weren't good for me and going to parties and bars, even though I don't drink.

And I was like, this is a, like, bad omen for the rest of the year, you know? And so I was like, I want to start my year off positively and, like, knowing where I'm trying to go. And so I got my friends together, and we had a little Vision Board party in my apartment. And I just put that I wanted to have a home for me and my son. And then the next year we did that party in my new home. And so I was like, okay, this is working. I'm going to keep this going. Yeah, sure, sure.

And the latest one was just that I put this year that I wanted to act in three movies. And then in May, I was looking at my poor kids to look at it every day. And I was like, oh, I'm in no movies. And then by June, I had gotten an animated movie. And by July, oh, no, by June as well, I was like, oh, I auditioned for this movie. Someone dropped out. And I was like, oh, I got to do this action movie. And then while I was in Budapest, they were like, oh, you got to offer to do this rom-com.

And I'm like, oh, three movies. Oh, Vision Board. Vision Board. And so. Do it once a year? Once a year. Sometimes I will do a update at the half-year mark, depending on, like, what has been working, what has not been working, what I no longer feel. a goal I want to achieve, you know. I don't just stick to it if it's not working. And I just try to

sit with it and I try to take ego out of it and not just be like, oh, what other people get and what is the cool thing to get. I just try to think about my life, think about my career, and I just go like, what could the universe bring me to like boost me for a next step? What could I do to make my life better or to be a better father or be better in my community. And I just kind of sit with those and come up with goals. And some of them are very,

I would say, more long-term than others. And so I have to be patient with them. And then some of them are much more frivolous than others. Like, I will put like, oh, I just want this watch or I want this exact car. But what it will do is, like, focus my spending for, like, oh, I don't want to do this. I wanted to get this car.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I like to do a mix of just, like, material goods and also, like, career and also just dad stuff. And this year has been just about trying to have the best year ever and capitalize on the traders stuff. And a lot of it's been happening. I wanted to have to add shows and sell out shows and do theaters more and all that's been happening this year because of the traders.

a lot of it's been happening, but I try not to just skip steps and be like, make me the number one movie star, you know? Sure. It's just like what, based off of what I've been doing and what I've been focusing on, what should be the next step. I think it's a great idea.

I really, I think someone gave me this piece of advice, even when I was in college or something, and I think it's one of the best pieces of advice anyone's ever given it, which is like, if you share your dream with other people and you let them know, what your dream would be, it's more likely that someone, not all of those people, but some of those people or even one of those people is going to do something to help you get to the dream. Yeah, I think it's much more likely.

I'm also a big believer in like if you have a dream, you should be able to say it out loud in order to just say, I want this. It doesn't mean like if you don't get it, you're a failure. But just saying it out loud, saying like, I want to. this there's a power to that to me i think there's a power to it and it's also like think about how many people you know who don't say what they want and you actually don't know yeah like people you interact with that data people you care about yeah and you kind of don't know what they want yeah yeah and like if if you knew you would be able to go to evaluate the situation go maybe i could help

with that? I wouldn't. I wouldn't help. Not you. Other people. Other people. You could at least go like, I could help or I could not help, but at least I know. Yeah.

This is the slow round. Who are you jealous of? Right now, I'm jealous of my friend Gabe Dinger, mostly because he has a beautiful relationship where he knows like he wants to marry his. girl and like they love each other and it's like very sweet and copacetic and i've never like i mean i love my girlfriend now and she's very lovely uh but like before my relationships haven't been like that and so when i see that i tell them i'm like oh i get jealous of like this pure family love that you guys have built i get jealous of that does it need to be career wise i can do that too if you want let's do it all uh uh i hate the i'm not i'm not

lying. I don't really think about other people career-wise a lot. I often used to audition for the same parts as L'Orell would get, and that was frustrating, but I wasn't really jealous of him. There's no one... He's in three movies here. Yeah, at least.

At least. Oh, I'm jealous of my friend Michelle Batoe because she's got like, two homes and a home in Amsterdam and that to me is the dream. So I'm jealous of that. And I love her beautiful family. And then she made a great show about her life.

Those are people like Chris Estrada as well when he did this fool. People who have been able to like get their vision out completely and have it formed whether it's even been for one season, two season, three seasons. I get jealous of that because I've been trying to do that for

a long time and been able to be successful at it. So I get jealous of people who've been able to, like, create something that shows who they are on that grand scale. Yeah. What's something you believed 10 years ago that you don't believe now? That just being good is enough. What shook you?

Being good for a long time. So what is the formula then? What is the formula? You got to be good and you got to be your biggest advocate. and push yourself out there, not be afraid to advertise yourself, not be afraid to put your work out there again. Like I said, I used to be so much more like, you hold on to your bits because you don't want people to see it until it's perfect.

And then there were so many bits that died. There's so many, like, pandemic bits that I really wrote, that I love and enjoyed. And then they just died because I never put them out in a time where it was timely to put them out. Yeah. So that's been one of my biggest shifts in how I handle business and comedy in general. just put it out, claim credit, like put your work out there and put yourself out there.

It's why I did the traders. That's definitely something I've witnessed through the years is that the people who advocate for themselves and their own work professionally. It doesn't mean they'll definitely succeed, but it sure as hell helps. Yeah. It puts them on the playing field. Yeah, and it's just more fun to be your own biggest cheerleader. I see so many other people in our industry. They are their biggest critic,

and I understand pushing yourself and working yourself, but they are not their biggest cheerleaders. Yeah. And I don't understand that. No, and we've all known, you know, in our peers, many, many people who are not their own biggest cheerleaders who are really talented and never fully break. Yeah.

That's really common. Yeah. Well, I think that also goes back to having your life and your comedy world be at a level playing field Because I think a lot of times when it's not people just self-sabotage when they do get a chance to pop, you know Oh, yeah Did your life go how you expected it to? A bit Great

Yeah, a bit I mean from when I was five I knew I wanted to do comedy Oh kidding Yeah, I mean I just love comedy grew up watching i love lucy and benny hill and green acres and all these old shows where my mom would be like you're watching shows older than me yeah and that's a really old school taste yeah yeah i just like the rhythm of it yeah and i could always hear the rhythm of it which i think again might be more spectrum based uh and i just was always a fan of it and i knew i wanted to do comedy and so the fact that i am

is cool to me and the fact the other things i did not expect like you know i just did a movie with Liam Hensworth and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I never, I did not expect that. I wasn't like, oh, I'm definitely going to be in an action movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yeah. That's insane to me. Yeah. But that's what I love about this job is you never know what you're going to do.

Yeah. Yeah. What's the best piece of advice someone's giving you that you've used? What's the best piece of advice? Oh, my mom on my first day of school. She's like, there's going to be people who like you for you and people who, don't. The people who like you for you, stick with them and the people who don't fuck them.

And when you're five and your mom's like, fuck them. I'm like, okay, this is this is some knowledge. She was exactly right. Yeah. And the language was merited. For emphasis. Yeah. She used emphasis.

She really did because it stuck with me until now. Do you have any material? Sometimes on the show we'll talk out bits that are kind of half-baked or whatever. Do you have anything that's sort of like in your notebook right now? I'm pulling out my phone because I have some of my bits on there. Yeah. You want me to start?

Go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. Well, I've been working on because I went to Budapest and I had a good time. But they also had like the hair people there were Eastern European. And it was clear that they had not worked on black hair before. Yeah. And so I've been doing trying to come up with more jokes about how important a black hair line is

for black people where you're like if you push it too up then it makes it tells everybody's story where you're like oh this guy's a black republican or he lets his friends he gives his white friends the inward pass you know um you as an older white man you got anything for that i am i i will i will submit those uh to you my pitches for that joke in disappearing ink over tech. I also don't like how you said I'm older. You think you're younger? I'm middle age, I think.

What's your age? 48. Okay, I'll take that because there's 43. I want that, yes. I want to hold on the middle age until I think 52. That's fine. I think after that you can call me old. I feel like.

A middle-aged man. Did that feel better? It's desperation. It's desperation. It's not earned. It's literally like I'm crumbling before your eyes and going, call me a different word. I mean, that's one of the things.

Another thing I'm trying to write about embrace, because people from my generation that you didn't think would get older or getting older. When I was a kid, like the rappers and wrestlers didn't get old, they died. And now we have old rappers and we have old wrestlers. That's right. I think there's something interesting in that. I have no real joke about that.

Well, I had it even, I was thinking at Montreal, I was like, you had, you had Gary and Mabel and Levin, Jane, they're like in their 20s. And I'm like in my late 40s. And then I went and saw Seinfeld and he's 72. And then you're dead. Yeah. So I was just like, wow, this is like, you know. These are the four groupings, one of the groupings is dead. We're inching close.

But dead will come grab you in any of those groupings. No, obviously dead will grab you in any of those groupings. However, the natural causes is coming for you at 180, 90, 100 for sure. Yeah. But man, I was like, but it's interesting scenes. I think, what? 72. It's good.

He's good. Yeah. I was interesting working with sports. Senegger, same thing, being like, oh, okay, he's doing these night shoots, and he's like, chill. And he's like... How old is he? I don't know, but it's got to be pretty old. When they look it up.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is 78 years old. And he was doing the night shoots. Doing the night shoes, doing everything. And he's probably muscular and in shape. And shape and, like, and hidden his lines. That was the thing of being like, oh, wow, there's a reason why you were the most famous person in the world. 78 years old. Yeah.

Noses lines, muscular in shape doing night shoots, good for him. Yeah. My God. Here's what I wrote in Montreal. I wrote, I wrote, I was at the hotel and I had chocolate for dinner because I hadn't eaten dinner. And then I was in my hotel room and all there was was chocolate. And it was just one of those moments you go, okay, I guess I'm eating dinner. chocolate and i'm so unused to eating chocolate that i was while i was eating chocolate i was eating more

chocolate so the chocolate was in my mouth already and then i was choking on chocolate and i was like if i die someone can plausibly say it was death by chocolate that was a long walk i loved no i mean i didn't know where i was going it's a long walk it's a long walk But I did not get there until you said it. So it was beautiful. Well done. It's dead by chocolate. And then I was just like, can you imagine if I died and they were doing the coroner's report?

And they have to tell my wife, like, I'm so sorry it was chocolate. Like, everything about it's so embarrassing. Like, if I, like, when I die, just, like, let it not be by chocolate. It's just there's something about it that's devastating. I agree. Yeah. That's just a fun and what's an honorable and what's a not an honorable death. That's right.

Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Do you have anything else? Yeah, I just tell you what's in my notes here. Yeah, me too, me too. I was talking about how people don't like that. You know, people, you know, you get the Odyssey and everything and people get mad about when people remake movies or put movies in and they put black cast and white movies.

But I feel like black people would not be mad if we remade black movies with a white cast. because I would watch the shit out of roots that way. That's a great joke. Thank you. Super tight, too. Thank you. You made fun of my joke for being a long walk and then you tell like a perfectly economical short joke.

You're like, well, that's a long walk. How about this one? That's a great joke. Have you done that on stage? No, I just wrote it. So what's your process like when you have new jokes like that, you go like you're at Citywiner. this week will you bring that up like will you memorize it will you put it put it on a card will

you say it on your phone i usually when it comes like that i will change my phone to my lock screen being my set list for that day and so and then i will be there to remind me to try it totally because if not then i'll sometimes will forget to try it and even if i do forget and i see it i will tell the audience hey right i want to try this we'll get back to oh i love that yeah yeah i love that kind of honesty with an audience of just being like full disclosure this is where this is what we're doing yeah because in a lot of time i mean because my lot of my comedy is rhythm based and everything leads to another thing and so when there's a new joke that comes out of thing you you feel it and so like if i don't announce it they're just like okay well that didn't match with the rest of it you know

what's the title of that bullet point um i think it's just remake black movies white cast that's i like it i was walking down the street i wrote this down the other day i was walking down the street i was walking on the street the other day right here and there was a bicyclist going the wrong way and then someone driving a car opened their window and goes dumb bitch to the person

and I had this eye contact with this lady the moment she was dumb bitched and I had this inclination to be like I don't think you're a dumb bitch but I just had this like what is the etiquette there

is there anything I can do for this woman who is in the wrong but didn't deserve to be called a dumb bitch. I think that's real funny and I just think there's also this fun world of you being like, I'm going to need more information first. Right, you need to state your case in more depth. Yeah, he seems very passionate. I do, I'm trying, I wrote it down not because it's a perfect joke, but because There is this thing I find where in, you see, like you're saying, a half an incident, a half a thing.

And you go, I feel so bad for this person. But is there anything I could say literally? You know what I mean? Like, I feel like I think that all the time where people are wronged in some way. And I'm like, I don't. Yeah, no matter what you say is going to be real. You could be like, I think you're a genius. I think you're a genius.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're the weird. You were the opposite of a dumb bitch. You are a friendly genius. I just had this random thought you were a friendly genius. It's less of a joke, more of just the thought that I just recently had because now my diagnosis, people have been reaching out to me to do benefits and do autism non-profits,

and I tell them, but I'm an autism prophet. Yes. Like, I'm the one who has autism. Why don't you just send me a check? Yes. I love that. That segues us perfectly into the final section of the show, which is working out for a cause. Is there a nonprofit that you like to contribute to?

It could be an autism nonprofit, and I will contribute to them, and then I will link to them in the show notes. Nice. Yeah, yeah. I always like working with, you could go locally or globally. I'll give you two options. Okay. Locally, I love working with the Ed Asner Foundation because my son goes there and is founded by the legendary Ed Asner. And they do a lot of programs for kids and young adults with autism with job placement and summer camp and sexual education and so many things.

And I support them a lot locally. And then also nationally next for autism, which is a great autism benefit. They are the people who do the night of too many stars as well. And I used to work with a different. place and then I learned about them through Trevor Moore who was a great comedian who passed away and one of the greatest messages I ever received was from him maybe six months or a year before he died where he talked about how he found out that his son had autism and that the way he embraced it and the way he had been about it was because of the way he heard me talk about it

in my comedy and my son and that was one of the great greatest compliments I've ever received. And then he passed away suddenly a bit after that. And so I've always tried to work with the company now since to honor him and also they do great work. That's beautiful.

What a beautiful story. Ron Funch is such an honor to have you on the show. It's been pleasure. I've been excited to talk to you. Working it out because it's not done. Working it out. That's going to do it for another episode. of working it out, you should do yourself a favor and catch Ron live on stage this weekend.

He is at Skyline Comedy Cafe in Appleton, Wisconsin. I've been there a bunch. I love that place. Then he's off to the UK and Netherlands for a month. And then back to the U.S. this fall, you can get tickets at Ron Funches.com. Follow him on Instagram at Ron Funches. Check upbervigs.com to sign up for the mailing list to be the first to know about my upcoming shows. Our producers are myself along with Peter Salomon, Joseph Barbiglia, Mabel Lewis, and Gary Simon. sound mixed by Ben Cruz. Supervising engineer, Kate Balinski. Special thanks to Jack Antonoff and bleachers for their music.

Special thanks to my wife, the poet, Jay Hope Stein, and our daughter, Una, who built the original radio fort made of pillows. Thanks most of all to you who are listening. If you enjoy the show, rate us and review us on Apple Podcasts. And as always, tell your friends, tell your enemies. Tell your fellow contestants on traders. If you're ever on the reality, tell them this is a show, Traders.

Just say to the group, hey, why are we all sneaking around? Tell them lies. Why don't we take a few moments to listen to Mike Brubigley's working it out? It's a podcast where Mike Brubiglia talks to comedians about the creative process, even former contestants like Ron Funches. And if you don't want to listen, maybe you're the traitor. Aha! Thanks, everybody.

We're working out. We'll see you next time.