Nashville singles can agree: The dating apps suck. Meeting someone in the wild? Virtually impossible. A friend's recommendation? Could get messy!
So why not pay to pitch your friends for a date via PowerPoint at the local comedy club? It's come to this.
On Aug. 18, Zanies Nashville hosted its first "Hear Me Out: A Comedy Dating Show," an evening where participants delivered presentations pitching their love-seeking friends to a room full of eligible singles.
The format was simple. Hosted by local comedians, the show featured eight presenters, each given four minutes to make the case for their single friend.
And afterward? There was a cocktail mixer designed to stoke the flames of love.
say.
The crowd nearly filled Zanies, which has a capacity of about 300 people. Comedians Cocoa Speaks and Hunter Boros brought pairs of friends to the stage one after the other, encouraging fans to wave their red or green flags in response to contestants, either to signal approval or a dealbreaker.
The night was equal parts earnest and amusing.
One man pitched his friend, Timothy, as an "unvaccinated 2001 model, 6-foot-4 flat-Earther," drawing a few red flags from the crowd. But he also touted him as an "excellent chef, gardener and pool player."
Another woman took the stage on behalf of her friend, Callie.
"I have a lot of experience being around Callie, and I'm a lesbian, so everything I say is correct," she told the crowd.
She advertised Callie as a "Catholic school girl, Gators fan, graphic designer." But she also admitted Callie is a "horrible driver" with "rancid farts."
A pair of friends pitched their bestie, Tara, describing her as a "classy corporate baddie looking for a mature, God-fearing, reliable gentleman to build a legacy with."
"If you like texting, she's gonna text you and use alllll them emojis baby," they said on the mic.
Another presentation mapped out a friend's testosterone levels. One shared that a woman's husband of 20 years — now her ex — had a secret family on the side. One said their friend's main red flag is that "he eats several fresh limes a day.”
During a particularly sweet presentation, a friend said his buddy "has more joy in his heart than anyone I've met in my whole life."
Many of the presentations landed somewhere between stand-up comedy and the recitation of a dating profile.
Laughs aside, the event reflected a growing trend: Young singles are trying to meet IRL, or at least off the apps.
Creative dating events like "Hear Me Out," along with social clubs, hobby groups and other in-person activities, have become more commonplace as frustrations with dating apps continue to mount.
The trend comes during what some experts are calling a "dating recession," a period marked by fewer young people pursuing romantic relationships.
Just 31% of adults ages 22 to 35 are actively dating, according to the Institute for Family Studies.
The romance recession is attributed to rising living costs and a growing preference for personal peace over unfulfilling relationships, as well as low dating confidence, experts say. Simply put, the pursuit of love has become too expensive and exhausting.
In Nashville, some singles say the dating scene is especially challenging.
Participant Tara Carney said the city's party culture is a barrier. She just hasn't found her person yet, she added — but it isn't for a lack of trying.
Nashville's large transient population is another hurdle, with newcomers constantly arriving and leaving. There's also the city's growing pool of ambitious young professionals, some of whom are prioritizing career advancement over long-term commitment.
"I feel like dating is hard in this city, but it's kind of hard everywhere," said Callie Alexander, one of the participants.
"All of my friends, everyone's in the exact same boat. Men on the dating apps, they just kind of suck."
But events like this are a breath of fresh air, she said, explaining they feel more low-pressure and usually have higher attendance turnout than speed dating events. It's also a chance to bring people together and let friends make the first move for you.
Mattie McKinney, the one who pitched her friend Callie to the crowd, agreed.
"This was so much fun," she said. "The people who come to these (kind of events) are the ones with love in their hearts."
She may be right — during the post-show mixer, audience members approached the participants, flirting and exchanging contact info.
"The one who is the lover, the one who keeps trying, always wins at the end of the day," McKinney added.
There may still be hope amid the great dating recession of 2026 after all. For some Nashville singles, the answer might be as simple as trading a swipe for a PowerPoint slide.
"Hear Me Out" will have its second event on Sept. 16.
To learn more, visit nashville.zanies.com.
Do you have thoughts on the Nashville dating scene? Reach out to Audrey Gibbs, a music reporter at The Tennessean, at agibbs@tennessean.com. You can also follow her on Instagram at @audreyraegibbs.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Forget swiping. Nashville singles are pitching their friends onstage
