Move Over, Love Island. The Big D Comedy Show To Give Dallas Singles Another Shot at Love

Love and laughs collide on Julie Golden’s matchmaking show for divorcees, The Big D.

The live comedy show brings divorced bachelors and bachelorettes onstage, where they are interviewed by a panel of comedians and then paired off for speed dates in front of an audience. The Big D has been a hit in Los Angeles, prompting Golden to take it on the road to test the concept out in other markets, including Dallas at Mic Drop Comedy in Plano on July 17.

The target age range for Golden's bachelors and bachelorettes is between 40 and 60, a demographic she feels has been underserved by the reality TV dating show landscape.

“We’re not The Golden Bachelor, but we’re not The Bachelorette,” explains Golden, who says most of the people who take part in the show are usually a mix of older millennials and Gen Xers.

For Golden, the goal is to make sure everyone has a good time, whether they are in the audience or onstage. She wanted to avoid a mean-spirited “roast” concept in the vein of Kill Tony. As a divorced single mother herself, she understands the plight of her participants in navigating the difficulty of getting back out there after a divorce, especially if it means being vulnerable in front of a live audience. She even tries to make sure the audience is full of single people who can empathize with her participants.

“I really wanted something authentic and emotionally risky, and something where we really had skin in the game, but for a good cause,” she says.

Golden sources her participants from the local dating pool of wherever the show takes place. In Los Angeles, it is relatively easy to find bachelorettes via word of mouth. Meanwhile, she often sources bachelors using Hinge. Anyone interested can also apply using the show’s website. Interestingly, Golden finds that bachelorettes in other cities are a little more challenging to identify, but that men have been easier to find outside of Los Angeles.

Some of the men, early on, accused Golden of catfishing when she asked if they wanted to participate. She says she would message them from a Hinge profile that included her photo and a poster for the show, and would ask them upfront if they wanted to be on a dating show.

“It is the opposite of catfishing,” she says.

When preparing for The Big D, Golden tries to ensure she chooses participants who feel confident they will actually find a match through the panel of comedians interviewing them. In a perfect world, all of the dates would go well, but she wants to take the pressure out of dating.

For the Dallas show, Golden’s panel of comics will consist of Dean Lewis, Sylvia McCallum and David Jessup.

“Dean is divorced, Sylvia is divorced, David was divorced, but is now remarried,” says Golden. “I always like to…put somebody on the panel that gives us a ray of hope.”

The stakes are correspondingly low. At the end of the evening, the audience gets to pick which of the three participating couples they think makes the best match. The winners get $100 and never have to see each other again, unless, of course, the strangers on and off stage helped them find a spark.

“I always tell people it’s not like getting picked in middle school. We’re not pulling that trauma Band-Aid,” Golden says. “Everybody tends to be really nice because everybody’s single in the audience. Like, everybody’s feeling a little vulnerable. They get super invested in everything, and so they kind of applaud for everyone, but usually there’s one couple that just … they had a moment, you know?”

In some ways the show is just a prelude for what comes after. When The Big D wraps, an onsite singles mixer commences. Golden says that is when she sees real connections being made.

“Everybody who’s single is wearing a lei. Cheapest thing Party City had, low hanging … sex pun. But everyone loves it,” says Golden. “They kind of giggle when they come in. The name 'The Big D' makes them giggle. It’s all about disarming people through laughter, [a] couple cocktails and vulnerability.”

Tickets for The Big D are available now.