‘Trollstopia’ Star Ron Funches Reveals How the Peacock Series Helped Him Surprise His Wife on Valentine's Day (Exclusive)

Trolls: TrollsTopia turned comedian Ron Funches into a singer, and he is putting that skill to [...]

By Michael Hein

Trolls: TrollsTopia turned comedian Ron Funches into a singer, and he is putting that skill to good use. TrollsTopia Season 2 hits Hulu and Peacock on Thursday, March 18, and Funches spoke to PopCulture.com about the new episodes. He revealed that his five years in the Trolls franchise paid off for him on Valentine's Day.

"You know, I'm just a comedian and actor, I've never really had a background in music, but because of this job I've worked with people like Justin Timberlake!" Funches said in an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com. "Now I take singing lessons weekly just because I want to stay ready because I don't know whatever they're going to ask me to do... I've been taking my lessons, and on Valentine's Day, I sang a song to my wife and she cried. So it really is helping me out."

Funches' story got even sweeter when he agreed to reveal what song he sang. "It was 'Beyond the Sea' by Bobby Darin," he shared. "That was our wedding song, so I sang that to her on Valentine's Day."

Funches' character Cooper has grown a lot since the first Trolls movie in 2016, alongside the actor himself. Cooper began as a friend of Poppy's in the first movie but took on a much greater role in Trolls: World Tour last year. He then became central to the franchise and appeared in Trolls: The Beat Goes On! before TrollsTopia.

In that time, Funches has had to adapt as well. He said that before this role he felt he "was good at telling jokes and doing set-ups and punchlines, but no so good at singing, and definitely not confident at singing — or singing as a character, which is also different. You have to control your voice and your pitch as the character, instead of my real voice, which fluctuates quite a bit. So it was just learning and getting more confident."

Trolls has snowballed from a surprisingly successful DreamWorks film in 2016 to a franchise that is still broadening on all fronts. Along the way, it has developed a distinct voice for social commentary that Funches is proud to be a part of. He said that he has gotten "a lot of great feedback" from fans and those in his life, regardless of age.

TrollsTopia Season 2 premiered on Thursday, March 18 on both Peacock and Hulu, with six brand new episodes.

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