#1273 - Ron Funches

Ron Funches (0:00)

That's the last thing people want to see. You know, it's the thing of difference that I'm learning between when I do comedy and acting, is that like, the last thing people really want to see from your own stage is you really get emotional. Yeah. You know, but when you act, you have to go to that right away.

Joe Rogan (0:15)

Big difference.

We're live? Is it working? We just got it up, yeah. Oh my Jesus.

Ron Funches (0:20)

Right at the end of that.

Joe Rogan (0:21)

A candid moment. No, I think you're totally right.

Ron Funches and I were talking about people getting mad. First of all, welcome to the show.

Ron Funches (0:27)

Thanks for having me.

Joe Rogan (0:28)

Thanks for being here, man. Appreciate it. We were talking about people getting emotional on stage. If people get angry on stage, that it shows, the audience can feel it. You can say the exact same words, and with like a fake anger, as we were saying, like Brody was really good at.

Like he would fake be mad at you.

Ron Funches (0:47)

Yeah, Louis Black.

Joe Rogan (0:49)

Yes.

If you can see those exact same words, there's like a smile to it, right? You were saying that there's a nod or a hint, hint of a nod.

Ron Funches (0:57)

Yeah, there's a little wink that lets you know that this isn't, this is a joke. I'm not really this mad about it. And there's usually an absurdity about the thing they're mad at.

Joe Rogan (1:06)

Yes.

Ron Funches (1:06)

You know, when you get, we also see those sets sometimes when like someone's recently broken up with somebody or something. And then you like, you get that real anger and you could say something funny, but like it's too fresh, it's too real and people just don't want to hear it.

Joe Rogan (1:22)

They don't want to hear it.

Ron Funches (1:23)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (1:24)

It makes them feel uncomfortable.

We were talking about how weird it is that you could actually have something that sounded so similar to that, but we could tell the difference. Like with the exact same words, you know, with enthusiasm, just something's off about it. Something's off about it that you know it's funny versus something's off about it where you know that person's serious. And a person, like I was, we were just saying, try to explain that to someone who doesn't understand English or doesn't understand human communication. They'd be like, what?

Ron Funches (1:54)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (1:55)

How can you tell? Like, how can you tell it's fake? How can you tell it's fake anger?

Ron Funches (1:58)

Yeah, that's what makes, I mean, the language so fun. It's not just about the words, it's about the intent behind the words.

And body language and posture. It's what makes comedy so deep, you know? I love about it.

Joe Rogan (2:13)

Oh, for sure. Yeah, I mean, what we're trying to do is convey intent. We're trying to figure out a way to sneak ideas into your head where maybe you didn't see the punchline coming.

Yeah, it's a very strange art form. Like one of the strangest ever. Because it's a, I always said it's almost like a form of mass hypnosis. Do you feel that sometimes, like in the middle of the set, and you're in the groove?

Ron Funches (2:39)

Yeah, a lot of ways.

One of, I mean, you're a weird guy, so it doesn't matter. Well, it's going to get weird in multiple ways. But when I first started my acting class, I was talking about that with my acting coach, and I'd be like, there's a point, like if my set's really going well, where I'm in the present moment of enjoying the set and saying these words, but at the same time, I'm in the future thinking about what's coming next. I'm surveying everything that's going around me, and I'm also still kind of like judging myself off of what just happened. And so this thing happens where you're kind of like time traveling in a way, where you don't exist in any one space of time. You just kind of like remove yourself from that. And when your set's going really well, that's the thing that my girlfriend and I have talked about is that you can hear these sets and hear these jokes.

You can see someone said it multiple times, but if they're really good, oftentimes you don't remember the joke. Like how many times people go back and quote a joke to you and they've got it half wrong, because they've heard you a thousand times, a thousand times, but they got the joke half wrong because you've hypnotized them. They don't even remember it, you know?