“This is a roast-free zone,” clarifies Julie Golden, producer and host of “The Big D: A Comedy Matchmaking Show for Divorced Singles.” “It’s a fun, relaxed hang where you might meet the love of your life. But worst-case scenario, you are definitely going to laugh.”
Golden’s reality-TV background and matchmaking perception — she mentioned she’s personally answerable for three profitable marriages thus far — are behind her new comedy present and divorced singles mixer debuting Saturday evening at Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica. Because the annual custom of pre-holidays “cuffing season” begins, “I’m finding people in my generation don’t even know what that is. I’m trying to explain it to them,” she says of the relationship development.
A self-described “former film studio executive turned screenwriter turned reality TV producer,” Golden has overseen sequence at Netflix, Discovery and TruTV. She’s been performing onstage for a yr and a half. “The most exciting thing to me about stand-up comedy is no notes from the middle person. It’s you and the audience, and you get the notes right away.”
With Dana Weddle, she co-produces and co-hosts the “See You Next Tuesday” month-to-month present at Kookaburra Lounge in Hollywood. “A lot of what I talk about on stage is dating on the back half of life and being a single divorced mom,” she says. “I’ve been out eight years, so I’m an old pro now.”
A present favourite bit includes being on the Island of Misfit Toys with “some seriously jacked-up dolls missing pretty crucial parts.”
A self-described “former film studio executive turned screenwriter turned reality TV producer,” Golden has overseen sequence at Netflix, Discovery and TruTV.
(Marcus Ubungen/Los Angeles Instances)
Golden started taking comedy lessons when her mom died final December after battling most cancers. She credit stand-up with serving to her heal. Her general purpose with “The Big D” is “to make anybody feel less alone in the audience and lift their spirits.”
Across the identical time Westside was on the lookout for new produced exhibits, she recollects seeing loads of comedy relationship exhibits across the native scene, however they skewed younger and tended to punch down. “It’s not my kind of humor. So I’m not even drawn to it as a comic.” Additionally, “this was a neglected demographic on the dreaded dating-apps scene.” Golden’s No. 1 purple flag on apps: if somebody has an issue together with her being a comic book.
To seek out eligible singles, Golden hit the L.A. streets and labored with “America’s Got Talent” casting producer Naela Durrani for “more curated” native choices. “The thing reality TV and comedy have in common is I love talking to people,” says Golden. “Even as an executive, I’ve always used humor as a way to disarm people in the best possible way. I know how to connect people.”
“Comedy is the social lubricant that disarms the room in a good way,” Golden notes, “so that this stuff can feel a little more natural of a dating environment. I wanted to create almost a salon or a dinner party that doesn’t exist anymore, where you would show up and already know there are like-minded people.”
Is sharing an identical humorousness a relationship prerequisite? “You can pick up on something about someone’s past relationships through what they find funny, or what they can’t find funny,” Golden stresses. “And then also it’s emotional intelligence, right? So if you can’t laugh at the same thing, I just don’t think you’re speaking the same language.”
“The Big D” relationship present debuts Saturday evening, November 16 5:30-7:30pm at Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica.
(Marcus Ubungen/Los Angeles Instances)
Arms down, Golden emphasizes, divorce has proved to be the toughest factor she’s but to undergo in life. At occasions she’s felt alone, and he or she is aware of others have felt the identical means.
“That’s what I was writing about when I first hit the stage,” she says. “When I see people going through it in the beginning, like they’ve just been unplugged in ‘The Matrix,’ you know they can’t avoid this pain. I love guiding somebody through those first stages and talking about ‘Where are you in the process?’ a lot, the post-marriage process. It was something that came very naturally to me.
“It is a very lonely and scary time in the beginning. I wanted to try and make it a little less lonely and a little less scary. Especially while everything else is going on in the world.”