Ron Funches

Ronald Kyle Funches (born March 12, 1983) is an American comedian and actor. 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.

Ron Funches
Funches in 2015
Birth name	Ronald Kyle Funches
Born	(1983-03-12) March 12, 1983 (age 42) Carson, California, U.S.[1]
Medium	Stand-up television film
Years active	2006–present
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
Children	2
Website	ronfunches.com

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 performing in 2010 at the Clinton Street Theater, Portland, Oregon

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] and Rock on the 2024 Nickelodeon television series Rock Paper Scissors.

In 2021, Funches hosted a spin-off of the Food Network series Chopped—Chopped 420—for Discovery+.^[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 had his first son, Malcolm, when he was 20 years old.^[17] He mentions Malcolm's autism in his standup routine and welcomes fans sharing their stories with him.^{[3][11][18][19]} He married Christina Dawn in August 2020. They had a son, Funches's second child, in 2022.^[20][21][22] In October 2022, they separated.^[23][24]

Funches is an avid video gamer^[25][26] and wrestling fan, having taken classes at a wrestling school for a few months.^[27] 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.^[28] In August 2022 he started his wrestling podcast One Fall with Ron Funches.^[29]

He told Adam Carolla that he had once weighed 360 pounds. Funches said that over a few years he lost around 140 pounds.^[30]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2014	Night Night with Ron Funches	Himself	Writer; short film for Funny or Die
	Night Night with Ron Funches Ep 2
2015	Movie Mind Machine	Ron	Short film
	Get Hard	Jojo		[31]
2016	Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie	Member of The Fat Boys		[32]
	Trolls	Cooper	Voice role	[12]
2017	Once Upon a Time in Venice	Mocha		[33]
	Killing Hasselhoff	Bill
2019	Jexi	Craig
	Noelle	Elf Mortimer
	6 Underground	Blaine's cousin / the funeral speaker
	Lucky	Sammy	Voice role
2020	Sylvie's Love	Tank
	Underlings	Sal	Voice role
	Trolls World Tour	Cooper
	The One and Only Ivan	Murphy
	Golden Arm	Carl
2021	Dark Web: Cicada 3301	Avi
2022	Cheaper by the Dozen	Seth's Neighbor
	Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Underground Rock Experience	Les Pants	Voice role
2023	80 for Brady	Chip
	Under the Boardwalk	Anemone	Voice role
	Trolls Band Together	Cooper
	Good Burger 2	Jimathy
2024	Inside Out 2	Bloofy	Voice role; also performed "Bloofy's House Theme Song"	[34][35]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2011	Portlandia	Baseball Player	Episode: "Baseball"
2013	Crash & Bernstein	Roland	5 episodes
	Dead Kevin	Homeless King	Episode: "How Not to Rob a Liquor Store"
	New Girl	Street Musician	Episode: "First Date"
2014	Mulaney	Rodney aka Tall Tucan	Episode: "It's a Wonderful Home Alone"
	The Eric Andre Show	—	Writer Episode: "Seth Rogen; Asa Akira"
	Selfie	Wayne	Episode: "Traumatic Party Stress Disorder"
	The Half Hour	Himself	Stand-up special
	Bob's Burgers	Horseplay / Patrick	2 episodes Voice role	[36]
	Enlisted	Private Huggins	Episode: "Pilot"
2014–2015	Kroll Show	Himself	Actor: 4 episodes Writer: 11 episodes
2014–2016	Undateable	Shelly	36 episodes
	Drunk History	Various	3 episodes	[36]
2015	Cougar Town	Marty	Episode: "To Find a Friend"
	BoJack Horseman	Levi	Episode: "Chickens" Voice role
	The Adventures of Puss in Boots	Fartholomew Fishflinger	Episode: "Mouse" Voice role
	Adventure Time	The Fool	2 episodes in Stakes Voice role
2016	Great Minds with Dan Harmon	Idi Amin	Episode: "Idi Amin"
2016	Another Period	Hamish's Cellmate	2 episodes
	The Lion Guard	Ajabu	Episode: "The Imaginary Okapi" Voice role
	Harmonquest	Captain Ribs Sanchez	Episode: "Across the Dernum Sea"
	Cupcake Wars	Himself	Episode: "Josie and the Pussycats"	[31]
	Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh	Sharzod	45 episodes Voice role
	Take My Wife	Ron	Episode: "Headliner"
	Transparent	Fredrick	Episode: "Elizah"
2017	Drive Share	Nicky Nitro	Episode: "The Light Source"
	Black-ish	Ledarius	Episode: "I'm a Survivor"	[36]
	The Goldbergs	Froy	2 episodes	[36]
	Powerless	Ron	12 episodes	[36]
	We Bare Bears	Wyatt	Episode: "Road Trip" Voice role
	Future Man	Ray	Episode: "Pilot"
	Trolls Holiday	Cooper	TV special Voice role
2018	A.P. Bio	Hans	2 episodes	[36]
	Talk Show The Game Show	Himself	1 episodes	[37]
	OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes	Sparko	4 episodes Voice role
2018–2019	Trolls: The Beat Goes On!	Cooper	65 episodes Voice role	[36]
2019	Infinity Train	Khaki Bottoms	Episode: "The Ball Pit Car" Voice role
	Man with a Plan	Funchy	3 episodes	[36]
	Twelve Forever	Manquin	25 episodes Voice role	[36]
2019–2021	Final Space	Fox	Voice role 18 episodes
2019–present	Harley Quinn	King Shark	23 episodes Voice role	[36]
2019	Ron Funches: Giggle Fit	Himself	Stand-up special
2019–2022	Crank Yankers		2 episodes Voice role	[38]
2020	Central Park	Danny	Episode: "Squirrel, Interrupted" Voice role
	Room 104	Charlie	Episode: "Oh, Harry!"
	Hoops	Ron	10 episodes Voice role
	The Last Blockbuster	Himself
	Nice One!		Host, writer
	Top Secret Videos[39]
	Match Game		Episode: "Joel McHale, Amanda Seales, Ron Funches, Ana Gasteyer, Rob Huebel, Nikki Glaser"
2020–2022	Trolls: TrollsTopia	Cooper	52 episodes Voice role
2021–present	The Great North	Jerry Shaw	Recurring Voice role
2021	Nailed It!	Himself/Judge	Episode: "Burbank State Fair"
	Chopped 420	Himself/host	5 episodes
2021–2025	Jellystone!	Shag Rugg, Astro, Hong Kong Phooey	Voice role
2021–2022	Inside Job	Mothman
2021	Poorly Drawn Lines	Kevin
	Trolls: Holiday in Harmony	Cooper	TV special Voice role
	A Tale Dark & Grimm	Jacob	Voice role
2022–present	Loot	Howard	Main role
2023–present	Rock Paper Scissors	Rock	Voice role
2024	After Midnight	Himself	Episode #26
	Ariel	Delfino	Episode: "The Singing Dolphin" Voice role

Other accomplishments

• DDT Pro-Wrestling
  • Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)^[40]