A Quote by Ron Funches
Some of my biggest influences are people like Steven Wright and Todd Berry. I'm a shy person, and I don't think people who aspire to do comedy think that's an option.
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Steven Wright can do Steven Wright very well. Not everyone can do Steven Wright's jokes with the same results.
I guess the one-liner kind of comic sounds like a guy who can talk and talk and whatever the subject is, he can pull out a one-liner, but I couldn't do that. I didn't like the association. I mean, I love Steven Wright, but so many people started saying "Steven Wright" to me, and I would get mad, because I never wanted to be thought of as copying anybody.
Everybody is different. Some comedy is more musical like Steven Wright. His is a pillar of comedy to me. He invented a whole form and all his jokes are poems. So it's different. I wanted to do it like George Carlin. Now I do it like me.
People think, for some reason, that I don't care about creativity and art, or helping people. So I would say that the biggest misconception is, when you think about me, when you think about my name, I don't want you to think about design or clothes or music. I want you to think about a person that's just trying to help people.
I'm outgoing when I have to be, but usually, I'm kinda shy. I always think people don't want to talk to me. Some people might take that as being stuck-up, but I'm just shy.
I think, for a shy person - and I was very shy until my mid-20s - having been to an all-girls' school is not brilliant on the boyfriend front later. Because when I went to university, it was definitely like meeting a new species of people. Suddenly, at age 19, I was thinking: 'Can you speak to these people?' I was very, very nervous.
I'm not extremely outgoing, but I'm average, I think. When people meet me they'll say, 'Oh you're not that shy...' I never said I was! I see where they're coming from because my biggest single was about being shy at a party - I get it. But it's not 100% accurate.
I think on some level, you always carry your first and biggest influences with you, whether it's the Allman Brothers or Col. Bruce Hampton, people that you learned a huge amount of what you do from. So it's always there.
Some of my biggest commercial musical influences would be people like Merle Haggard, George Jones, of course, Johnny Cash. People that wrote and sang their own stuff, I really admired.
I think I do become someone else. In real life, I’m very shy, but people think I’m this angry, sexy kind of... god knows what they think! And there I am in front of them, nervous and blushing and stuttering and whatnot. So I’m definitely not the person you see in pictures. I mean, in pictures, you look like something you’re not.
The first purpose of comedy is to make people laugh. Anything deeper is a bonus. Some comedians want to make people laugh and make them think about socially relevant issues, but comedy, by the very nature of the word, is to make people laugh. If people aren't laughing, it's not comedy. It's as simple as that.
Here's what I wish people wouldn't ask me: "Who are your influences?" That's a boring question. It's not even like, "What's it like to be a woman in comedy?" That question also happens often in interviews, but I at least understand where it's coming from. "Who are your influences" - I wonder if people ask that of male comics? Maybe they do.
People who don't know that I do comedy think I'm shy, kind of a dud, and I don't have the wherewithal to prove them wrong. It takes me a long time to get to know people.
I think people are purists about what sketch comedy should be, and I think sometimes having too much fun can be a little annoying to some people.
Some people even think that I'm still just not right for it [ballet]. And I think it's shocking because they hear those words from critics saying I'm too bulky, I'm too busty. And then they meet me in person and they're like, you look like a ballerina. And I think it's just something maybe that I will never escape from, those people who are narrow-minded. But my mission, my voice, my story, my message, is not for them. And I think it's more important to think of the people that I am influencing and helping to see a broader picture of what beauty is.
James Brown, Ray Charles, Jackie Wilson, Chuck Berry and Little Richard - I think they had strong influences on a lot of people, because these were the guys who really got rock'n'roll going. I like to start with the origin of things, because once it gets along it changes. It's so interesting to see how it really was in the beginning.
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