REVIEW: F**K TINDER!

4 out of 5 stars. 

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to get out from behind your screens and get back into a bar to meet some people, and Chris Henry’s F**k Tinder is here to help you do so.

Here’s the story of how I accidentally went speed dating on Sunday night. What I, and a few other unsuspecting “audience” members thought to be a fantastic engaging rant about dating and the app Tinder turns out to be a highly enjoyable and memorable evening that tries to deviate away from traditional speed dating and boring clichés about singles nights.

Started because bar owners noticed a huge drop in customers heading out for a night on the town and to meet the love of their lives, or just the love of tonight, F**K Tinder aims to bring the human interaction back into dating, instead of just the glow of technology and swiping we’ve come to.

When you enter Fad Gallery, off Little Bourke Street, you will be asked to sign in and are assigned a number, for you to be identified by for the rest of the night. Its formatted in rounds, but set up in groups instead of individuals. Groups of four and five men and women start the night with a dirty pub quiz, followed by a round of Henry live Tindering from his phone, showing exactly what men do when they are on Tinder. Following each round, participants circle on their date cards anyone they liked from the group who they’d like to get in touch with, and move through out the room meeting a wide variety of people. To entertain you throughout the night, two international comedians, Andrew Stanley and Wayne Deakin will present a set of stand up each, and the activities include a group effort to write a romantic poem, discussing your worst Valentines’ day gift ever and coming up with your best and worst pick up lines, which Henry will then send out live to women he’s connected with, so make it a dirty one.

It’s a little disappointing that Deakin is so uncaring in his comedy: kind of rude about women, Qantas air staff, people in the service industry… he’s drunk and he openly starts he no longer really cares about his dating life, and apparently his comedy, but at least it gives the crowd something to bond over in the next rounds, as multiple people and I get the pleasure of discussing the previous act and its low points. Stanely is a much more receptive and fun act, and is lucky to find a good member of the audience to pick on for his set, giving him plenty to discuss in the failings of relationships and why exes are exes.  Henry is a funny and charming host of the evening, chatting to each group with ease, making sure everyone is engaging but also putting himself on the line, live with his interactions with women and testing the theories and jokes he puts forward.

I’m pleased to hear from Henry the next day, when he emails out everyone’s match details of those who both circled each other on the cards, that he sent out a number of emails to people following the event to connect and exchange details: it’s a match for around 30% of attendees on the night, and he expects that to grow as it has in other cities. These nights are selling out, so spice up your Sunday and meet some new people.

For four exciting nights only before it tours South East Asia, F**k Tinder is entertaining singles in Melbourne at Fad Gallery. Tickets at: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/f-k-tinder

This article first appeared at: http://www.theatrepeople.com.au/fk-tinder/ on 6 April 2017.