Lolyamorous Review by Mariah Girouard
Sick of traditional dating? Lolyamorous is a live speed dating comedy show where the audience can put their names into a bucket for a chance to date a stranger, right on the stage. To some people, dating is stressful enough without an audience watching your every move. But for others, this is the best way to break the ice. This show puts a fresh spin on speed dating with a sprinkle of laughter.
The show is produced by Barcelona-based comic James Regal, who does a great job as the MC, encouraging the crowd to let loose and be their authentic selves. But James is only one part of the Lolyamorous family. Willow Star is the show’s resident sex therapist, offering practical advice about dating, sex, and consent. Together, James and Willow represent both the serious and silly sides of dating. To increase dynamism, James invites a new co host onto the panel each show to provide their own hot takes in regards to romance.
The audience is invited to put their names onto paper and into the bucket of their choice. Inclusivity is apparent from the start with different colored paper representing pronouns she/her, he/him, and they/them. Daters choose how they identify before putting their name into the bucket that determines the gender of who they’d like to date, with a gender-neutral option provided. These small, but intentional choices on behalf of the Lolyamorous team, help set the tone and the ethos of their brand, creating a safe space for everyone to participate.
Names are then pulled out of buckets and daters are invited on stage to get to know one another for two minutes. If they find themselves tongue-tied they can use “deep” and “dirty” question prompts to get going and make their date more entertaining for the audience. When the two minutes is up, the Loly trio interviews the daters about everything from love and sex to icks and kinks.
While this is a “comedy show”, the pressure to create funny moments is not put on the daters themselves—leave that to James and his comedic co host. Each date is unique, and the magic of authentic moments are like vignettes on the stage. As someone who has seen the show multiple times and been on a few dates myself, I am enamored with this concept of live speed dating. Something about this format fosters a particular vulnerability that normal dates don’t with a sense of urgency that forces daters to put it all out there.
You never know what you’re going to see at Lolyamorous, and that’s part of the beauty of it. Within the same show there could be borderline pornographic moments that add a bit of spice, bizarre dates that feel like a fever dream, and deep chats about insecurities and struggles, which show us that we are all worthy of love. Just like in real life, sometimes couples hit it off immediately, sometimes new friendships are born, or the date is just plain awkward. But no matter what, we get to watch it unfold with a sense of camaraderie, all of us rooting for laughter, and of course, love.
