Robyn Lynne Norris
- Mar 19, 2017
- 7 min read

A Happy Ending For Everyone…

Every week we celebrate our #DateMe Audience Members here on DateMe Diaries. But this week we’re going to let you in on a little SECRET.

We Can SEE You!

Now you know we love the audience more than anything. But, as a cast, we also do have our fun. From the stage we notice things — The smiles, the frowns. The happy, the sad. The bored, the sleepy, the engaged…and the PDA.

Yep. We See When You Are MAKING OUT At Our Show!

And it’s kind of amazing. More than any other show I’ve ever done, I see couples in the audience holding hands, making eyes at each other, and sometimes full on kissing. And last week…

Well, Let’s Just Say We Got A Little More Than We Bargained For.

Doing the same show 5 or 6 times a week is a blast. But we do have some little things to keep it interesting. So on our two show nights, we use our in-between time to make…

Audience Bingo

This game was brought to us by the lovely Carisa Barreca from her time on the e.t.c stage at the Second City.

Basically, between the first and second show of the night we create a Bingo sheet. And fill in the squares with the types of audience members we think we will see from the stage that night. Once we see them, we draw an X through the box and if we get a full line we get a BINGO.

I want to reiterate that we LOVE our audience and there’s no judgement here. But we DO notice you. Especially the people who are laughing and having fun. But even if you’re not, that’s okay.

It’s our JOB to entertain you. But we also like to entertain ourselves…

Here’s our BINGO sheet from the other night:

Audience Bingo Card

Here’s A Breakdown Of The Squares:

Some of these are inside jokes so we’ll fill you in on the backstories.

Red Shirts (3) – We often choose a shirt color and say that at least three people are boldly wearing that color choice.

Green Tie – It was the official St. Patrick’s Day weekend in Chicago so we thought we might see this one. Didn’t end up getting it but we DID see lots of green clover headbands.

And during a rather serious moment in the show I glanced out and saw a row of girls wearing these…

…which made me laugh inside as I tried to be a PROFESSIONAL THESPIAN and deliver a sincere and heartfelt monologue onstage.

Bachelorette Party With Shot Glass Necklaces – We get a lot of bachelorette parties at the show. So we usually do some variation on what they will be wearing/bringing.

We didn’t get this one either. But there was a HUGE inflatable penis at the show that came out during the improv interviews.

And then, after the show, some girls invited Carissa and I to go party with them at the bar saying “Gregory Pecker” was going to be there. For a second we thought this might be a celebrity so we Googled it. Nope, just a nickname for a penis based on an old school actor.

This is a REAL THING that people blew up an brought to our show…

Front Row Frowner – Yep. We got this one this week. Often in a sea of smiling faces there is one that stands out as determined not to laugh. It’s hard not to be drawn to them and see if ANYTHING we do can get them to crack a smile. We usually get them. But not every time.

Do You Think That’s Funny? “Yes” – There is an absurd moment in the show that happens in Act II. And as the audience is recovering from it Carisa asks me sternly…

“Do you think that’s funny?”

Usually, before I can answer, one or two audience members always shout out “YES!”

Over 70 and Loving It – Pretty self-explanatory. An older audience member who laughs at the dirty punchlines. This happens more than you’d think and it’s my favorite.

“Randall” – We usually pick a very specific name and see if someone in the audience looks like they fit. At least two cast members have to agree. Past names have included Carol, Victor, you get the idea…

Mystified By Check – When the check comes and the audience member has an extremely puzzled expression on their face and has to check in with everyone at their table.

Hairy Ass Dude – Someone with a lot of facial hair. A long beard is even better.

Volunteer With Hand Around Lady – When we ask for a single male volunteer and the guy raises one hand while the other hand is wrapped around a woman who is clearly his date.

“Glow” – It was St. Patty’s weekend… so I think we thought some people would have glow sticks or necklaces.

Woooo – An overenthusiastic audience member who shouts “Woo!” throughout the show, often at inopportune moments. A well timed “Woo” is much appreciated. But don’t throw off the timing of our bits with your “Woos!”

Repeater – Someone who feels the need to loudly repeat lines or the profile names that appear on the screens during the show. We are SO used to this with #DateMe. It often sounds like there is an echo in the room.

Blue/Green Drink – Second City serves a Long Island with Blue Curacao called The Chicago River with a very high alcohol content.

Often people who order this are “Wooers!”

The Chicago River

Dumb Hat – St. Patty’s themed again. Pretty sure we got this one. But I took this BINGO card pic during intermission so all the boxes weren’t checked.

PDA – Couple making out during the show. Note the hand written arrow that points to “This may turn into a Hand Job!” (This was written by Carisa BEFORE the show. Never in a million years did we think it would happen…)

Sleeper – Sometimes people are partying and THINK they want to see a comedy show in the dark after drinking… but then they fall asleep.

Boob City – Our audience members dress to the nines. It’s kind of the BEST. And sometimes the ladies go all out and are pretty provocative. Hey, you OWN it, girls!

“Titanic” – One of the profile names in the show is “Titanic_” And, for some reason, when it appears on the screen, the Repeaters can’t control themselves and compulsively whisper “Titanic”.

Solo Laugh – Someone enjoying the show so much that they loudly laugh and seem to be the only one. Note: We LOVE these people. Never stop!

“4 Yrs Old” – Our show is rated R. But sometimes young kids come to the show. And sometimes they sit in the front making the vulgarities of the online dating world a bit awkward for us to act out.

Ice Crunch Or Clink – The show is fast paced with lots of laughs. But we do have some quieter, more reflective moments. And nothing kills the mood more than someone loudly crunching their ice or clinking their glasses together.

Yelling Out Answers – When we interview the audience volunteers but other audience members think they have BETTER answers and feel compelled to shout them out, even if they are complete strangers.

Inconvenient Bathroom Break – This happened tonight. During a fairly serious moment of the show when I was about to do a big reveal, a woman just stood up and walked right in front of the stage to go to the bathroom. So I had to hold a moment before continuing. Luckily, the audience stayed with me.

But anyone walking in front of you can really kill a moment or the timing.

*Toddlers In A Trench Coat! – Cast member Sam Super loves to make Ridiculous predictions that will never actually happen and could cost us the BINGO.

So we humor him by giving him an asterisk/wild card. He REALLY wants there to be three toddlers in a trench coat that look like an adult…

If this were to ever happen (which it WON’T), it would look like this:

Toddlers In a Trench Coat

So Did We Get Bingo?

Not quite.

However, even though we didn’t technically get BINGO, EVERYONE won tonight.

Remember That PDA/Hand Job Square?

Well… it REALLY happened.

There is a tiny section of the audience that is tucked right up next to the stage but hidden by the piano. No one else in the audience can see them. But from up on the stage, the actors CAN.

At one point, during the show, we noticed a strange movement happening. And at second glance, you could see the woman’s arm underneath the man’s jacket which was conveniently placed on his lap. Now I don’t want to be crass. But we are 90% sure this was a Handy.

An HJ! Right there in public!

I didn’t notice until the improv interview, at which point Carisa and I made eye contact, dropped our jaws, and then just continued with the show knowing this was probably ACTUALLY HAPPENING.

Now we have a fantastic house and wait staff who usually put a stop to anything inappropriate during the show. But this couple was tucked in a hidden area so no one saw.

We thought it would stop in Act II… but it CONTINUED.!

Hey, at least they enjoyed the show… In their own way.

As cast member Greg Komorowski said…