Joe Rogan Experience #1273 - Ron Funches

1. 0:00 – 2:23

   Comedy vs. acting: real emotion, “fake” anger, and reading audience intent

   1. RFRon Funches0:00

      ... the difference I'm learning between when I do comedy and acting is that, like, the last thing people really wanna see from y- you on stage is you really get emotional.

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:08

      Yeah.

   3. RFRon Funches0:08

      You know? But when you act, you have to go to that (snaps fingers) right away.

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:13

      Big difference. (clicking sound) We're live? Is it working?

   5. JVJamie Vernon0:16

      Just, just got it up, yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      Oh, my Jesus.

   7. JVJamie Vernon0:17

      Just started working just now.

   8. RFRon Funches0:18

      (laughs)

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:18

      Right at the end of that.

   10. RFRon Funches0:19

       A candid moment. No, I, I think you're totally right. We're ... Ron Funches and I were talking about people getting mad. First of all, welcome to the show, sir. Thanks for having me.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:26

       Thanks for being here, man. Appreciate it.

   12. RFRon Funches0:28

       Of course.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:28

       Um, we were talking about people getting emo- getting emotional on stage, if people get angry on stage that, um, it shows. The audience can feel it. You could say the exact same words and with, with, like, a fake anger, as we were saying, like, Brody was really good at. Like, he'd, he would fake be mad at you.

   14. RFRon Funches0:45

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:45

       And it was, it was-

   16. RFRon Funches0:46

       Lewis Black.

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:47

       Yes.

   18. RFRon Funches0:47

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:48

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

   20. RFRon Funches0:54

       Mm.

   21. JRJoe Rogan0:54

       ... hint of a nod.

   22. RFRon Funches0:55

       Yeah, there's a little wink that lets you know that this isn't ... this is a joke.

   23. JRJoe Rogan0:59

       Yeah.

   24. RFRon Funches0:59

       I'm not really this mad about it. And there's usually an absurdity of the ... about the thing they're mad at.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:04

       Yes.

   26. RFRon Funches1:05

       You know?

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:05

       Yeah.

   28. RFRon Funches1:05

       When you get ... We also see those sets sometimes when, like, someone's recently broken up with somebody-

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:11

       Oh.

   30. RFRon Funches1:11

       ... or something and then you, like ... You get that real anger.
2. 2:23 – 4:12

   Standup as mass hypnosis: flow state, time-traveling awareness, and why people misquote jokes

   1. JRJoe Rogan2:23

      Yeah. It's a ... It's a very strange art form. Like, o- one of the strangest ever. It's u- ... 'Cause it's a ... I've ... I always have said it's almost like a form of mass hypnosis. Do you feel that sometimes? Like, when-

   2. RFRon Funches2:35

      Mm-hmm.

   3. JRJoe Rogan2:35

      ... you're in the middle of a set and you're in the groove?

   4. RFRon Funches2:38

      Yeah. Um, a lot of ways. Um, one of, um ... This is gonna get a little ... I mean, you ... and you're a weird guy, so it doesn't matter. (laughs)

   5. JRJoe Rogan2:46

      (laughs)

   6. JVJamie Vernon2:46

      (laughs)

   7. RFRon Funches2:47

      But it's gonna get weird in multiple ways. But, um, when I first started in my acting class, um, I was talking about that w- w- 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, 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.

   8. JRJoe Rogan3:21

      Mm.

   9. RFRon Funches3:21

      Where you don't exist in any one space of time. You, you just kind of, like, remove yourself from that. And when your set's going really well, that's the thing that m- uh, my girlfriend and I have talked about is that, you can hear these sets and hear these jokes may ... You could see someone's set multiple time, 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?

   10. JRJoe Rogan3:44

       Right. (laughs)

   11. RFRon Funches3:44

       Because they've heard you a thousand times, but they don't kn- ... They got the joke half wrong, because you've hypnotized them. They don't even remember it, you know?

   12. JRJoe Rogan3:52

       Oh. Yeah. Or some people remember shit you don't remember anymore.

   13. RFRon Funches3:56

       Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan3:57

       That's a weird one.

   15. RFRon Funches3:57

       Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan3:58

       I've had people come up to me and tell me a bit. I go, "What? What bit is that?" And they'll tell me the bit, I'm like, "Pff ... When is that from?" Like, "2014." I'm like, "I don't even remember that."

   17. RFRon Funches4:08

       Yeah. Just something you were trying out every now and then.

   18. JRJoe Rogan4:10

       Who knows?

   19. RFRon Funches4:11

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan4:11

       Yeah.

3. 4:12 – 6:41

   Getting better after 10 years: comedy ‘PhD,’ peers’ respect, and building a full special

   1. RFRon Funches4:12

      That's what's fun now for me as I'm getting a little bit, uh, deeper. I've been, um, coming up on 13 years is now, now I'm getting to the point where I'm like, "Oh, this bit that I tried two or three years ago now works."

   2. JRJoe Rogan4:23

      Yes. Yes.

   3. RFRon Funches4:24

      You know? And that, that's really fun.

   4. JRJoe Rogan4:27

      Yeah. I remember that, that time. You w- you're essentially a, a PhD in comedy when you got 10 years in. Like, if you have do real 10 hard years of comedy. And then after that, it seems like some, some guys ... d- I mean, it all depends on the artist, right? But ev- ... Some guys have their best work, like, 15, 16 years in.

   5. RFRon Funches4:47

      Mm-hmm.

   6. JRJoe Rogan4:47

      They're just starting to catch their groove and figure out what it is. You know? 'Cause it's, uh, it's only understood by the people who practice it. It's, it's understood in a way by a lot of people who are, um, comedy fans.

   7. RFRon Funches5:01

      Mm-hmm.

   8. JRJoe Rogan5:01

      But that's similar to, like, me being a fan of music. I don't know shit about music, but I know what I like.

   9. RFRon Funches5:07

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan5:07

       I know when it sounds good.

   11. RFRon Funches5:08

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan5:09

       But I literally don't understand any of it. So I think there's those kinds of people too.

   13. RFRon Funches5:14

       Yeah. I mean, comedy is such a ... Yeah. I mean, that's what gets great when your peers ... That's one thing I loved about d- doing my special other than, like, people seeing it and being able to, like ... I wanted to just make something and put something out. I'd always done, like, small little things or guested on people's things and I was like, oh, I'm ... been doing comedy over 10 years and I'm ... show a lot of potential. I wanna present a meal. And when I put it out and, and, like, p- people's reaction was great, but a- the o- ... But my peers is what really made me happy that when I would get texts from, from, like, Mulaney or from some of the people being like, "You a- are ..." Or just be like, "This was your hour. This is you presenting who you are p- completely."

   14. JRJoe Rogan5:59

       Right.

   15. RFRon Funches5:59

       And th- and that ...... um, when people can see the stuff behind it when it's not just like joke, punchline, joke, punchline, when people can see, like, oh, you set this up, you did this right, your structure is right, and then you just were yourself, that's what really makes me happy in comedy.

   16. JRJoe Rogan6:16

       Yeah, yeah. You're a funny dude, man. I enjoy watching you. I've watched you quite a few times at The Comedy Store now in the main room. You're very, very funny, man. It's cool to see a guy like you put something down that's representative of your real, your real standup, what you're capable of doing. It's, it's a, a nice group to be a part of, man. And, and you sound like you think about it a lot. Like, I really appreciate that. When people think about, like, what it is we're doing, how do you do it?

   17. RFRon Funches6:41

       Yeah.

4. 6:41 – 9:09

   Ron’s joke-writing system: ‘fisher vs. hunter,’ constant capture, and leveling up at The Comedy Store

   1. JRJoe Rogan6:41

      Like, how do you do it? Like, d- do you write? Do you, uh, write on paper? Do you write with a typewriter? Or do you just r-write, do you just have ideas and you just keep working on them?

   2. RFRon Funches6:49

      It's all a mix, you know?

   3. JRJoe Rogan6:51

      Mm-hmm.

   4. RFRon Funches6:51

      I, I like to say, like, I'm a, um, more of a fisher than a hunter. Like, I'm not constantly like, oh, I need to write this down e- every day-

   5. JRJoe Rogan6:59

      Mm-hmm.

   6. RFRon Funches6:59

      ... I have the structure, but I'm constantly, like, I try to p- make my house so that we're, we're constantly always joking around with each other. There's notebooks everywhere. There's, like, little bowls of, like, w- um, Post-it notes for me whenever I ... An idea comes, I had to make sure I catch it, and then after, make sure that I work on it.

   7. JRJoe Rogan7:17

      Mm-hmm.

   8. RFRon Funches7:17

      You know? Um, that becomes a difference, it's just constantly keeping myself in motion so that I don't, um, get stagnant and I don't just do the same 10, 15 over and over again, that, 'cause, you know, that's where I think, especially, um, when I first moved out here, it was always about like, oh, I gotta show these people that I'm good, so I gotta do my best work, my best work. And I did that for about three months and I was like, oh, I don't have anything in the kitchen. I don't have any backup. You know? I haven't been building anything up. And so I learned very quickly, I think The Comedy Store has been the best for me at that, is just being like, um, having to, like, follow people who are completely not like me stylistically, um, having to f- follow people who I grew up watching. You know, I did a, um, night the other day where I had to follow, it was Sebastian and then Ron White and then me, and then I was like, uh, there's no ... I mean, I'm like, uh, I'm confident in myself. Some people know me, but when it comes to that, it's like, I'm the bottom of the totem pole o- on those three. And I had to go out there and just sh- show them that, like, I'm capable, I'm not gonna mess up the momentum here, I'm just as funny as these people, you just don't know me.

   9. JRJoe Rogan8:26

      Mm-hmm.

   10. RFRon Funches8:27

       You haven't met me yet. That's the thing I've been listening to a lot, like, there's rappers all the time, but, like, there's a rapper 2 Chainz where he said, like, um, "I just had to wait for, for the fans and for the game to learn what I already knew." And that's w- where I'm starting to feel now-

   11. JRJoe Rogan8:43

       Hm.

   12. RFRon Funches8:43

       ... a new confidence of like, I know I'm good and I just have to wait for people to, to catch up on my wave. And I don't, if they don't, they don't. If they do, fine.

   13. JRJoe Rogan8:52

       Dude, that's very jazz of you. (laughs)

   14. RFRon Funches8:55

       (laughs) Two Chains was the guy who debated Nancy Grace about weed. Mm-hmm.

   15. JRJoe Rogan8:59

       Remember that? (laughs)

   16. RFRon Funches9:01

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan9:01

       Weed is gonna kill you.

   18. RFRon Funches9:04

       (laughs)

   19. JRJoe Rogan9:05

       (laughs)

   20. RFRon Funches9:05

       He outlasted her.

   21. JRJoe Rogan9:07

       Yeah, that didn't work.

   22. RFRon Funches9:09

       (laughs)

5. 9:09 – 14:56

   Weed stigma, legalization, and the messy question of legalizing all drugs

   1. JRJoe Rogan9:09

      I mean, it's hilarious now and you see how many states have legalized it. And in full disclosure, Ron and I smoked marijuana with Young Jamie before this podcast.

   2. RFRon Funches9:18

      Yes, we did.

   3. JRJoe Rogan9:19

      As I do so many others. It's ... Finally, the stigma's slowly being removed.

   4. RFRon Funches9:24

      Slowly?

   5. JRJoe Rogan9:25

      Dude, I was a drug addict in the '90s when I started s-

   6. RFRon Funches9:28

      (laughs)

   7. JRJoe Rogan9:28

      When I first started smoking weed. I guess it was, uh, not even the '90s. It was like t- ... When was it? Ni- maybe 98 or '99, somewhere around then is when I started smoking weed. And, uh, "You were a drug addict. You were a drug addict. You're a marijuana user? What's wrong with you, man? Get your shit together." I'm like, "Man, you guys don't get it." There's 2 Chainz. There he is, and Nancy Grace.

   8. JVJamie Vernon9:50

      They put the stuff on the screen when it was going on.

   9. JRJoe Rogan9:52

      "How many marijuanas does it take to overdose?" (laughs)

   10. RFRon Funches9:56

       (laughs)

   11. JVJamie Vernon9:56

       (laughs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan9:58

       Ah, Jamie sent me that.

   13. JVJamie Vernon10:01

       (laughs)

   14. JRJoe Rogan10:01

       Send me that. That is a fucking amazing quote.

   15. RFRon Funches10:04

       (laughs)

   16. JRJoe Rogan10:05

       Did she really say that?

   17. JVJamie Vernon10:06

       No, no, no, it's a Twitter user. They put-

   18. JRJoe Rogan10:08

       Oh.

   19. JVJamie Vernon10:08

       It looks like people were tweeting whatever, #pottoblame.

   20. JRJoe Rogan10:11

       Oh my God, who?

   21. JVJamie Vernon10:12

       And so they just put this stuff on there.

   22. JRJoe Rogan10:12

       That Twitter, oh, that Twitter user. Oh, Styler ...

   23. JVJamie Vernon10:14

       Tyler2015, it says.

   24. JRJoe Rogan10:16

       Oh, Tyler2015. Dude, that ... But is 2015 the day of the tweet? It must be.

   25. JVJamie Vernon10:20

       No, that's probably just another account.

   26. JRJoe Rogan10:22

       But-

   27. JVJamie Vernon10:22

       I don't know when that happened.

   28. RFRon Funches10:22

       It's a weird tweet, though-

   29. JRJoe Rogan10:23

       Oh.

   30. RFRon Funches10:23

       ... because there's a space in there.
6. 14:56 – 23:10

   Cocaine era stories: Miami chaos, Black Mafia Family, and rap’s shift from real anger to manufactured persona

   1. JRJoe Rogan14:56

      Did you see Cocaine Cowboys?

   2. RFRon Funches14:58

      Hmm, no.

   3. JRJoe Rogan14:59

      Oh, dude. Billy Corben, the guy who directed it, was on the podcast yesterday. He's, uh, he's fantastic and he's got this new b- um, documentary called Screwball. It's about Alex Hernandez and steroids in baseball-

   4. RFRon Funches15:11

      Mm-hmm.

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:11

      ... and all this crazy shit.

   6. RFRon Funches15:11

      Rodriguez.

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:12

      Oh, right. Rodriguez. Who's Alex Hernandez? This a different one?

   8. GUGuest15:15

      It's pretty similar.

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:16

      A-Rod. How did I say Hernandez?

   10. RFRon Funches15:17

       Now it's Hernan- ... It wa- ... He is the guy ... No, that's Aaron.

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:19

       That's the weed.

   12. RFRon Funches15:20

       And now I'm thinking of that guy-

   13. JRJoe Rogan15:20

       It's the weed.

   14. RFRon Funches15:21

       ... from the New England Patriots.

   15. JRJoe Rogan15:22

       It's goddamn weed. It fucked my head up. That is the guy from the Patriots with the murderer?

   16. RFRon Funches15:25

       No, that's Aaron Hernandez.

   17. JRJoe Rogan15:26

       Oh, okay. That's where I fucked it up. My apologies, Alex. Alex Rodriguez. And, uh, anyway this, this guy made a documentary called Cocaine Cowboys and it's all about how crazy during the big cocaine days Miami was. And how one year the entire graduating class of the sheriff's academy, uh, the police academy, whatever it was, they either were murdered or they were arrested for corruption. The whole ... Everyone. The entire class. Like the entire graduating year. Like ev- ... It was w- ... Wild West chaos. And there was all these pilots bringing in millions of dollars worth of coke and they had b- bags of money buried in their backyard. It's fucking crazy.

   18. RFRon Funches16:10

       That's interesting.

   19. JRJoe Rogan16:11

       It's great, man. It's great. It's a two-part series. Or it's, it's ... There's two parts to it, too.

   20. RFRon Funches16:16

       Do you ever hear about the Black Mafia Family?

   21. JRJoe Rogan16:18

       Two versions of it.

   22. RFRon Funches16:18

       You ever r- ... You ever watch any documentaries about them?

   23. JRJoe Rogan16:22

       No.

   24. RFRon Funches16:22

       That, that makes me always interested.

   25. JRJoe Rogan16:24

       What did they do?

   26. RFRon Funches16:25

       They were a, a cocaine outlet in the early 2000s out of Atlanta and they transit- ... At one point they were running like most of the South, Southeast, um, headed by this dude named Big Meech, and, um, then they decided like, "We should legalize and get into rap." But they w- ... Had never done anything like that before and they were very blatant about it.

   27. JRJoe Rogan16:47

       (laughs)

   28. RFRon Funches16:47

       So, the- ... All of a sudden these people who were came outta nowhere were just all on like every magazine that, um ... They have this thing in- ... Where they're introduc- ... Interviewing police officers and they had this big billboard when you would land at Atlanta that would go b- ... That would just say, "BMF, we own the world." And they-

   29. JRJoe Rogan17:04

       Wow.

   30. RFRon Funches17:05

       ... were just out there and they would throw these big parties with tigers and stuff.
7. 23:10 – 26:40

   Art, taste, and childhood obsessions: expensive abstract paintings, Frank Frazetta, and Conan mythology

   1. JRJoe Rogan23:10

      Yeah, man. I'm all for people selling the most ridiculous shit. I went to my agent's house once. He had this dope place in Aspen. I mean, this place was crazy. Like, you know, Aspen houses, like, near the ski lodges and shit. And on the wall, he had this painting. And I said... I go, "Did his kid make this?" And they go, "No, that's a..." (gibberish) You know, some fucking obscure popular artist. I go, "What is that?" And they were like, "This is a really expensive piece." Like, "Shut the fuck up. You're, you're messing with me?" They're like, "No." It was, like, tissue paper that was, like, different colors. It was stuck with glue and, like, a little piece of paper and some paint on it. Like, "Get the fuck out of here with this." Like, "What are you doing with that?"

   2. RFRon Funches23:48

      Can't come. I mean, was it pretty?

   3. JRJoe Rogan23:51

      No.

   4. RFRon Funches23:52

      (laughs)

   5. JVJamie Vernon23:52

      (laughs)

   6. JRJoe Rogan23:53

      No. That's why I was stunned. I thought it was his kid. I thought his kid made it.

   7. RFRon Funches23:57

      (laughs)

   8. JRJoe Rogan23:58

      Maybe I'm, maybe I was dumb.... well, I definitely was, but, uh, younger and dumber. Maybe I'd appreciate it now, but I don't think so. I, I appreciate, uh, all kinds of art. I appreciate distorted things, but I don't appreciate, like, just a bunch of splat. You know what I mean? Like, it's gotta have something to it.

   9. RFRon Funches24:15

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan24:15

       Like, I, you, like, Jackson Pollock stuff, like, that stuff weirds me out. It's like, "Why is it so expensive?" Like, I get it. I get it. You'll, I mean, it's crazy. It's definitely crazy. But then you look at, you know, you look at a classic, like, uh, l- look at a, you know, some Frank Frazetta stuff. Do you know who that guy is?

   11. RFRon Funches24:36

       Mm-mm.

   12. JRJoe Rogan24:36

       He was a fantasy painter-

   13. RFRon Funches24:38

       Show me something.

   14. JRJoe Rogan24:39

       ... from the 19 ... So there's a poster of his, or, um, a print of one of his works out in the, uh, lobby, that Conan the Barbarian one, with that, uh, that monster. He's got a sword. He was, uh, this guy that do, he would do all the covers for Conan the Barbarian books, just incredible artwork, like wild, crazy fantasy shit.

   15. RFRon Funches25:00

       And this is your type of art?

   16. JRJoe Rogan25:01

       Oh, just I loved it when I was a kid, man. When I was a ki- you know, when I was a young boy-

   17. RFRon Funches25:04

       This makes a lot of sense. This seems like what you would like.

   18. JRJoe Rogan25:07

       (laughs) I loved it. It was the best. His books were incredible. There's Robert E. Howard was this really tortured guy who was, um, a guy who lived with his mom. He had, you know, fairly poor health, and he died suicide when he was, like, 36 years old. But he wrote a, a bunch of these books about a guy that was nothing like him, about a guy who was this just unstoppable force of nature. From this, he be- he created this place called, uh, s- was Sumeria? No. What, what do you call it? What was his ... Simerian? It was Simerian? Is that what it was? Where Conan, Conan the Simerian, right?

   19. JVJamie Vernon25:45

       That's correct, yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan25:45

       C-I-M- ... They cre- he created, created a whole world and in this world, it was like, it was, like, very Games of Throne-y in a lot of ways, the original shit. Like, no one to this day has really captured the books in a movie. Like, Arnold was fun as Conan and then, uh, Jason Momoa was, like, a better fit physically. He was, like, a perfect fit physically, more realistic as opposed to, like, being a body builder. But nobody's really captured, like, the, the, the feeling of the books, 'cause the books was just some wild shit. And it was all created by this one guy who was, like, super depressed. And he would just write these books about this guy who just fucked all these women and killed everyone and just, well, just smashed his way through the world and power.

   21. RFRon Funches26:23

       True. True fantasy.

   22. JRJoe Rogan26:24

       Like, crazy shit though. It was all him fighting dragons and monsters and demons coming for his soul, and he ran for 72 hours and fights them off with a sword and it was just cr- when you're 12 years old like I was when I got into this shit, you'd be like, "Whoa, man. This is wild."

8. 26:40 – 29:48

   Wrestling absurdity and combat oddities: intergender spots, “Blow Pop” clip, slap fights, X-Arm, and chess boxing

   1. RFRon Funches26:40

      Oh, I get that. That's like what ECW Wrestling was for me-

   2. JRJoe Rogan26:43

      (snaps fingers)

   3. RFRon Funches26:43

      ... 'cause it was like titties everywhere and violence and blood and nails.

   4. JRJoe Rogan26:49

      Ooh. Yeah.

   5. RFRon Funches26:49

      Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan26:50

      Dude, I watched one yesterday on Instagram. Somebody had a clip of a guy and a girl, and they're in the middle of the ring. The guy's making out with the girl, and then he turns on her and body slams her down to the ground. And I was like, "What? You can still do that?" In pro wrestling, you could still fake, like, fake violence against a chick? I didn't know you could do that.

   7. RFRon Funches27:09

      Yeah.

   8. JVJamie Vernon27:09

      Oh, yeah.

   9. RFRon Funches27:10

      Oh, yeah. Inter-gender wrestling's still real big.

   10. JRJoe Rogan27:12

       They, they slam ... They fake slam chicks?

   11. JVJamie Vernon27:15

       Sure. Yeah.

   12. RFRon Funches27:15

       Mm-hmm.

   13. JRJoe Rogan27:15

       That is crazy. I saw him do that and I was like, "That could not have felt good."

   14. RFRon Funches27:19

       A lady stuck a Blow Pop up a dude's butt recently.

   15. JRJoe Rogan27:22

       Oh, no.

   16. RFRon Funches27:23

       Mm-hmm.

   17. JVJamie Vernon27:24

       What?

   18. RFRon Funches27:24

       He, he didn't want it.

   19. JRJoe Rogan27:26

       What is this about?

   20. RFRon Funches27:27

       I don't ... It's just his dick. He carry... When you carry around Blow Pop, I guess, you know?

   21. JRJoe Rogan27:32

       Wow. Jesus Christ.

   22. RFRon Funches27:35

       Just wrestling.

   23. JRJoe Rogan27:36

       Well, the, whatever you gotta do to sell them tickets. (laughs)

   24. RFRon Funches27:41

       (laughs)

   25. JVJamie Vernon27:41

       (laughs)

   26. JRJoe Rogan27:41

       What is this Jamie?

   27. RFRon Funches27:43

       Oh, yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan27:43

       Is this the Blow Pop thing?

   29. JVJamie Vernon27:44

       Yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan27:44

       No way.
9. 29:48 – 53:41

   Ron’s transformation: losing 140+ pounds, workouts, diet discipline, and identity motivation

   1. JRJoe Rogan29:48

      (laughs) Oh. How did you lose the weight?

   2. RFRon Funches29:50

      Um, I really just changed my ... I got a trainer. That was a big part of it.

   3. JRJoe Rogan29:55

      Mm-hmm.

   4. RFRon Funches29:55

      I just changed my diet and, um, started exercising. I went from a guy who didn't exercise at all and ate-... multiple Philly cheesesteaks a day to a guy who eats a bunch of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and protein shakes and now I work out, like, six times a day.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:11

      Wow.

   6. RFRon Funches30:12

      Yeah. Just s- s- it seemed like I was gonna die if I didn't, so.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:16

      So what do you do for working out these days?

   8. RFRon Funches30:19

      Uh, you know, a lot of weightlifting, a lot of, um, uh, let's see, today I did, you know, just a lot of back, a little, little biceps and, you know, one-arm rows and, and whatnot, just general weightlifting.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:30

      So but you're, you do it a lot?

   10. RFRon Funches30:31

       Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:33

       Do you, um, do you find it has a, uh, an effect on your mood, on how you feel?

   12. RFRon Funches30:37

       Oh, absolutely.

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:38

       How do you f- how much better do you feel?

   14. RFRon Funches30:40

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:40

       Is it... And how much do you attribute it to, uh, th- the working out, the losing weight, or both of them together?

   16. RFRon Funches30:45

       It's a combination, definitely. The, um, the diet and, and just feeling better nutrition-wise is, is a b- is very helpful. Um, but, you know, just doing two shows a night now, you know, that used to be a thing for me. I used to be, like, really tired afterwards.

   17. JRJoe Rogan31:02

       Mm-hmm.

   18. RFRon Funches31:02

       And now, it's n- n- you know, no problem. I, I do a lot of, um, voiceovers and, and other little things. And so, you know, I'm always bouncing around from going, like, doing shows on the weekend and then coming home and then having to do voiceover on Monday morning.

   19. JRJoe Rogan31:15

       Mm-hmm.

   20. RFRon Funches31:15

       And taking care of my son and helping him with his homework. And just being able to do that and not being like, "Oh, I'm just... I gotta go pass out. I'm tired."

   21. JRJoe Rogan31:24

       Yeah.

   22. RFRon Funches31:24

       You know? That's really the, the biggest deal, being able to take on more so then I'm able to, um, make more money, so it's good.

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:31

       I was, uh, carrying my daughter around on my shoulders the other day. She likes to get carried around. She's 63 pounds. And, uh, while she's on my shoulders, uh, after, you know, 40 minutes or so of that, like, it's fucking rough.

   24. RFRon Funches31:44

       Mm-hmm.

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:44

       Like, it starts really hurting your neck, you start getting really tired, and I had to put her down. And, uh, I was thinking, like, how crazy is that, that there's a lot of people that just carry that much extra around with them all the time. They're always carrying around an extra 60 pounds. And you don't think it's that much of a deal until you don't have it and then you walk with it.

   26. RFRon Funches32:04

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan32:05

       You know, and you realize, like... And it's just l- e- even if it's not that, like when a kid's sitting on your neck, it's not, like, the ideal place to carry all the weight. They actually make a, um, a thing, there's a company called The Outdoorsman. They make a thing called the Atlas Pack. It's like a backpack frame in... But at the back of it is, like, one of those weightlifting posts.

   28. RFRon Funches32:24

       Mm-hmm.

   29. JRJoe Rogan32:24

       So you could slide an Olympic, uh, barbell or a Olympic plate on and two plates. You could, you could put as much as 90 pounds on it and clamp this thing down. And then it's sitting more on your hips, it's way easier to carry. But even that, uh, still, it's fu- it fucking sucks, man. Walking around with just 45 extra pounds on your back sucks.

   30. RFRon Funches32:42

       Yeah. Just v- getting, you know, just being, like, in my mid-30s and being like, "Oh, my, my knees are hurting." I didn't, I never played football. I never did anything like that. My knees shouldn't be hurting and...
10. 53:41 – 1:30:17

    Grit, mentorship, and mindset: jealousy in comedy, being a fan again, and “do your best” even for 10 people

    1. GUGuest53:41

       Just Land of the Misfits.

    2. JRJoe Rogan53:42

       Well, that's one of the reasons why I fit in there from standup, you know? Like, uh, starting doing standup from 21 and then (clears throat) being around these pool hall guys when I was, like, 23 or 24. I was like, "Oh, you guys are like my fucked up friends that I like." It's, like, too many people out there think that there's, like, only one way to live your life.

    3. GUGuest54:04

       Mm.

    4. JRJoe Rogan54:04

       Like, there's a, there's a bunch of ways to live life. There's a lot.

    5. GUGuest54:08

       Yeah, there's a whole lot of worlds.

    6. JRJoe Rogan54:09

       And everybody wants you to think that their way of living life is the way you should go about it. It's real tricky because they all want, like, this sort of confirmation bias. They want, they want you to confirm... They want... Well, it's more like a, a confirmation desire. They want you to confirm that they're doing the right thing. If you listen to them and then you become happy and, uh, you know, they, they come up to you and, and they go, "Hey man, I'm really, really excited that you, uh, you told me how to do it this way because now I'm just living my life much better."

    7. GUGuest54:36

       (laughs)

    8. JRJoe Rogan54:36

       "Thank you very much." Like, people love to hear that. Like, "Yeah, I'm right then. I am living my life the right way." There's no right way.

    9. GUGuest54:42

       No, so many paths.

    10. JRJoe Rogan54:44

        Be nice to people, keep moving.

    11. GUGuest54:44

        Yes, be nice, be positive, work hard, and do, do what you want. I mean, that's-

    12. JRJoe Rogan54:47

        Keep moving.

    13. GUGuest54:48

        I would've never got here if I listened to people, you know?

    14. JRJoe Rogan54:50

        It's impossible.... they, they don't even know what they're saying. People give you advice when they're absolutely not sure of what they're saying. They just say tr- They practice on you. They gi- Sometimes people give you advice and it's real, sometimes people have great advice, sometimes people really mean well, and sometimes people are just practicing.

    15. RFRon Funches55:04

        Yeah.

    16. JRJoe Rogan55:05

        They're like, "This is-"

    17. RFRon Funches55:06

        Well, in general, how can anyone give you advice that does- doesn't relate to something that happened to them, you know?

    18. JRJoe Rogan55:11

        Yeah.

    19. RFRon Funches55:11

        Like, they, they're only going by their life experience, so... That was one thing, um, I learned from, uh, Chris Jericho, another wrestler, where he was just like, "You don't listen to unsuccessful people because they don't know how to do it."

    20. JRJoe Rogan55:25

        Yeah.

    21. RFRon Funches55:26

        Why would they tell you? Of course they're gonna tell you you can't do it, because they couldn't do it. A successful person will tell you you can do it. Most people I know, like, if you tell someone that, "Hey, I wanna go try comedy," you know, if you go- if you have the balls to get up there and do it, they're gonna support you.

    22. JRJoe Rogan55:41

        Yeah.

    23. RFRon Funches55:41

        You know?

    24. JRJoe Rogan55:43

        Yeah. And there's, there's plenty of those people out there. (coughs) On both sides. There's plenty of people out there that will give you good advice and really care and, you know, want you to do well in your life, and there's plenty of people that don't wanna see anybody doing any better than them-

    25. RFRon Funches55:57

        Mm-hmm.

    26. JRJoe Rogan55:57

        ... and they're not doing that well. There's a lot of that. There's a lot of that. That's a sickness that we gotta forgive people for, 'cause I, I had it when I was a young man, for sure. And I think many of us struggle with it. It's one of the things that made me realize that I was looking at stand-up the wrong way in terms of, like, other people's stand-up.

    27. RFRon Funches56:15

        Mm-hmm.

    28. JRJoe Rogan56:15

        I was looking at other people's stand-up as, like, a comparison to mine, in that, uh, I was judging, like, "Who's the best? Who's doing better? Who's this, who's that?" And then I realized, like, that is so stupid. Like, I should just be a fan of comedy-

    29. RFRon Funches56:28

        Mm-hmm.

    30. JRJoe Rogan56:28

        ... and do comedy.

Episode duration: 2:16:28