On a latest Thursday night, a line of ladies snaked up the staircase resulting in Capitol Hill’s Comedy/Bar dressed of their finest form-fitting going-out tops with freshly curled hair and full-faced make-up. Within the app-dominated world of contemporary courting, many singles—particularly Gen Zers—are searching for actually every other strategy to discover a associate. Typically, that’s by way of old school meet-cutes or by prowling nightclubs. Different instances, it’s by signing as much as be a part of a reside courting comedy present.
Began in 2023 by 26-year-old Zahnae Aquino, Comedy/Bar’s month-to-month Enjoyable & Flirty present takes in-person courting gimmicks and makes them humorous. In a single portion of the present, comedians make PowerPoint pitches about eligible viewers members, highlighting their good qualities—mediocre Kermit the Frog impressions, not figuring out the definition of “fuckboy”—after which beseeching the viewers thus far them. In one other, folks from the viewers are chosen to play horny Fact or Dare onstage. The present ends with a collection of velocity dates.
“It is like watching actuality TV in actual life,” Aquino says. “You already know it is curated, however you are additionally undecided what’s gonna occur.”
Enjoyable & Flirty is unquestionably each enjoyable and flirty, however as a kind totally depending on what every viewers brings to the desk, it’s not all the time easy crusing. Possibly, in a world hungry for connection and a comedy scene centered on interplay, that’s the purpose. It’s giving “reside” comedy a wholly totally different which means, and, Aquino says, her “attractive singles in Seattle” viewers can’t get sufficient. The idea has constantly offered out reveals at Comedy/Bar and that hype has propelled Enjoyable & Flirty, after solely a 12 months, to the Crocodile’s mainstage, the place Aquino will host the largest Enjoyable & Flirty but on August 29.
The First Date
Aquino, who began pursuing comedy two years in the past, got here up with the idea for Enjoyable & Flirty whereas she was deep within the “desolate Seattle courting pool.” She described a hole purgatory of infinite swiping. Her choices have been so bleak her mother purchased her a e-book titled How one can Not Die Alone. Via the e-book (which she truly learn) and her screen-driven expertise, Aquino decided courting apps had ruined courting principally as a result of folks have develop into too choosy.
“[On the apps] you get the chance to checklist out each single factor that you’d need in your excellent match when, in actuality, your excellent match is not essentially all the time going to be aligned with each single factor,” she says. “There’s this performative half about courting that we do not actually need to acknowledge. All of us placed on a entrance. All of us need to be perceived in a sure method, to discover a associate who likes us primarily based on that entrance and all the pieces. So, why not simply do this in a humorous method?”
And typically it really works.
“Some folks have gotten into relationships after the present,” Aquino says. On the very least, persons are getting laid. “Usually, persons are within the DMs after the present. [Participants] get plenty of motion. The brand new tagline I am making an attempt to push is ‘Comedians get you laid, discovering love is only a byproduct.’”
Fact, Dare, or a Secret Third Factor
The present’s construction is damaged up into three parts: First comes PowerPoint pitches for 2 pre-selected single folks; Then there are two viewers member dates and a spherical of velocity dates. Aquino selects the contributors for the dates from attendees who fill out varieties by way of QR codes floating across the venue.
“Our essential demographic is single girls,” Aquino says, noting that for a majority of these girls, Enjoyable & Flirty is their first reside comedy present expertise.
It’s like an unscripted singles mixer, and everybody else—these too shy or too settled of their relationships—will get to look at. Typically this makes for awkward moments, and different instances, it brings out huge, real viewers reactions. “From the viewers perspective, even in case you’re not partaking within the crowd work or the interplay, you’re like, ‘Oh, this particular person is natural, they got here right here, and so they’re selecting to place themselves on the market,’” says Aquino.
Largely as a result of success of clips of unscripted moments on TikTok, comedians today are focusing extra on crowd work. Some comedians aren’t even writing jokes anymore, selecting as a substitute to go up onstage simply to needle their crowds. It’s a polarizing development in comedy areas, however Aquino loves it. She acknowledges it can be hit and miss.
“The present relies on what the viewers is doing,” Aquino says. “If it is a bizarre crowd, it will be bizarre onstage.”
At one present, Aquino invited two males onstage for a velocity date. They performed the present’s model of Fact or Dare referred to as Get Enjoyable or Get Flirty. The 2 listed three issues they favored about each other. They appeared like that they had actual chemistry, in keeping with Aquino, and everybody within the crowd was invested. On the finish of the section, a Get Enjoyable or Get Flirty card prompted them to share a kiss. “And one of many guys on the stage was like, ‘Oh, properly, shock guys, I am truly straight,’” Aquino remembers. “That was a fucking plot twist.” Aquino cringed; the viewers went wild.
At a present I went to, I used to be entertained, however I couldn’t assist however want the viewers contributors have been funnier, quicker-witted, and knew find out how to converse into the microphone extra. (Possibly that’s why they’re nonetheless single?) However the viewers round me devoured all the pieces up. Although I didn’t discover something actually hilarious, very like actuality tv, I discovered Enjoyable & Flirty attention-grabbing. It’s all the time entertaining to expertise folks being folks and this idea places that on show.
“Somebody advised me it was like watching reside sports activities,” Aquino stated. “These uncooked, natural moments are all the time a bet. They’ll both be deeply uncomfortable or actually profitable.”
Catch Enjoyable & Flirty Thursday, August 29 on the Crocodile, and Thursday, September 26 at Comedy/Bar.
