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Love Isn’t Blind is a live comedy dating show coming to Helium Comedy Club on Sept. 19. Four contestants come up onstage to vie for the affection of a bachelorette. There’s one small catch: The men can’t speak.
The host puts the contestants through the paces: She calls their moms live onstage, searches their phones and asks them personal yes or no questions that they can only answer with a thumbs up or a thumbs down (they’re blindfolded that round, for good measure).
Host and creator Allison Goldberg started the show—”my weird little baby”—two years ago in Los Angeles. Since then, it has expanded to cities including San Francisco, New York and Washington, D.C. Next week’s Helium show is its Portland debut.
“The show came out of a lot of the cultural discourse about mansplaining, and going on dates with men who would monologue about themselves and not ask a single question back,” Goldberg says. “I thought, what if I created a show where we can see them, but they cannot speak?”
It’s also a sendup of TV dating shows such as The Bachelorette and Love Is Blind (obviously).
“I do think the premise of Love Is Blind is so silly because of course you have to be able to see them,” she says. “If you don’t have physical attraction, you’re just friends. The end.”
People can apply to be on the show themselves or nominate their friends. Goldberg also works with a casting agent to help her find the right folks. Without revealing their identities, Goldberg hints that the Portland contestants, all in their 30s, will include a professional artist and a nonprofit founder. The bachelorette will be “a bad-ass bitch. Great job, friends, hobbies—that’s who I like to showcase.”
Goldberg runs queer versions of Love Isn’t Blind, though Sept. 19 will be a straight show. When the audience arrives, they are invited to take a wristband: Green means single, red means taken, yellow means “situationship/it’s complicated.” Guests can further signal with “poly purple,” “bisexual blue,” and rainbow wristbands for those seeking same-sex partners.
About 80% of couples paired up on Love Isn’t Blind go on at least one date, Goldberg says. The longest relationship she has heard about lasted six months. One couple who met in the audience is engaged, though, and a couple of former contestants have formed a heartwarming bromance.
“I’m really hoping that Portland is as warm, as welcoming and as rowdy as the other cities,” Goldberg says. “I’m not local but I want the shows to feel local. It’s not a show for tourists—it’s for locals to meet each other.”
GO: Love Isn’t Blind at Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 503-583-8464, portland.heliumcomedy.com/shows/265378. 8 pm Thursday, Sept. 19. $27-$37. 21+.