Ron Funches
Funches in 2015
Born	Ronald Kyle Funches (1983-03-12) March 12, 1983 (age 40) Carson, California, U.S.[1]
Occupations	Actor comedian writer podcaster
Years active	2006–present
Children	2
Comedy career
Medium	Stand-up television film
Genres	Observational comedy black comedy surreal humor insult comedy sarcasm satire deadpan
Subject(s)	African-American culture American politics human behavior pop culture current events autism fatherhood marijuana
Website	ronfunches.com

Ronald Kyle Funches (born March 12, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. Born in California, Funches spent his early life in Chicago before relocating to Salem, Oregon, as a teenager. He began his comedy career in Portland, Oregon, at age 23. After moving to Los Angeles in 2012, he began appearing as a guest on several comedy series, including @midnight, Mulaney, and Kroll Show.

From 2014 to 2016, Funches starred as a regular on the NBC series Undateable, and in 2015, began performing as a voice actor on such series as BoJack Horseman, The Adventures of Puss in Boots, and Adventure Time. He subsequently performed the voice role of Cooper in the animated film Trolls (2016). He also had guest-starring roles on a number of television series, including Transparent (2016), Black-ish (2017), and reprised the role of Cooper in the Trolls spin-off series Trolls: The Beat Goes On! (2018).

Beginning in 2019, he began voicing the roles of King Shark in the DC Comics TV series Harley Quinn and Fox in the TBS/Adult Swim TV series Final Space. In 2020, Funches again reprised the role of Cooper in the sequel film Trolls World Tour. Starting in 2020, Funches voiced Ron on the Netflix series Hoops. In 2021, Funches began voicing Kevin in the FX series Poorly Drawn Lines.

Early life

Ronald Kyle Funches was born in Carson, California,^[2] but spent his early life with his mother and sister in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.^[3][1] Funches' mother was a social worker.^[1] When he was 13 years old, he moved to Salem, Oregon, to live with his father, who was employed there as a pipefitter.^[1]

He graduated from Douglas McKay High School in Salem, where he took English courses,^[3][1] and was inspired by writers such as Molière, J. D. Salinger, William Faulkner, and Erich Maria Remarque.^[1] After high school, Funches relocated to Portland, Oregon, where he worked a variety of jobs, including at a bank call center and as a clerk at a Grocery Outlet store.^[1][3]

Career

Funches began pursuing stand-up comedy at the age of 23 in Portland.^[3][1] After having a small role on an episode of Portlandia in 2011,^[4][5][6] he relocated to Los Angeles in 2012.^[1] Beginning in 2013, he was a regular panelist on the comedy series @midnight, had a recurring role in the comedy series Crash & Bernstein (2013), and worked as a writer on The Eric Andre Show and Comedy Central's The Half Hour (2014). Also in 2014, Funches performed as a regular comic panelist on Chelsea Lately.^[7][8][9]

Beginning in 2014, Funches appeared in several episodes of Drunk History, and in 2015, performed numerous guest-starring voice roles on the animated series BoJack Horseman, The Adventures of Puss in Boots, and Adventure Time.

Funches subsequently starred as Shelly on the NBC comedy series Undateable from 2014 until the series' conclusion in 2016.^[10][3][11] Funches also had a supporting role in the 2015 comedy film Get Hard.

In 2016, he voiced the role of Cooper in the animated film Trolls,^[12] Also in 2016, Funches guest-starred on numerous series, such as Another Period, Take My Wife, and Transparent.

Beginning in 2019, he began voicing the role of King Shark in the DC Comics TV series Harley Quinn and the role of Fox in the TBS series Final Space. He played the recurring character "Funchy" in season 3 (2019) of the CBS sitcom Man with a Plan. Funches reprised his role of Cooper in the Trolls sequel, Trolls World Tour (2020). Funches also voiced Shag Rugg on the 2021 HBO Max television series Jellystone!.^[13]

On April 20, 2021, Funches became host of a new spinoff of the iconic Chopped cooking competition series. The new show, streaming on Discovery+, called Chopped: 420 where the cheftestants have to make cannabis infused gourmet meals.^[14]

Influences

Funches has cited Lucille Ball, Dave Chappelle, and Mitch Hedberg as major influences on his comedy.^[15] Commenting on Ball, he said: "I Love Lucy was kind of my introduction to the world of comedy in general. And when you look at the history of Lucille Ball, and the work that she did for women in Hollywood, having her own production company, and also showing an interracial marriage on TV in the ’50s, to me, she’s just one of my biggest influences overall as a human being. That's what it means to be a professional and what it means to stand up for yourself even though interracial marriage has nothing to do with a career."^[16]

Personal life

Funches married his wife Christina in August 2020 and had a son together, Funches's second child in 2022.^[17][18] In October 2022 they separated.^[19][20] He is open about his first son being autistic in his comedy and welcomes fans sharing their stories with him.^{[3][11][21][22]} Funches was 20 years old when his first son was born during his first marriage. At 39 when his second son was born, Funches two children are nearly two decades apart in age.^[23]

Funches is an avid video gamer^[24][25] and wrestling fan, taking classes at a wrestling school for a few months.^[26] Eventually Funches made his in-ring debut at GCW in September 2021 in a match against Tony Deppen that featured Paul Scheer as his cornerman and interference from Danhausen.^[27] In August 2022 he started his wrestling podcast One Fall with Ron Funches.^[28]

He told Adam Carolla that he had once weighed 360 pounds. Funches said that over a few years he lost around 140 pounds.^[29]

Filmography

Film

Television

Other accomplishments

• DDT Pro-Wrestling
  • Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)^[37]