MILLENIALS, ON AVERAGE, SWIPE FOR 10 HOURS

EVERY WEEK ON DATING APPS.

Queer dating dramas explored in new MICF 2022 show, Stop Looking.

[Melbourne, VIC – 24 March 2022] 10 hours a week doesn’t seem like much. But
accounting for 8 hours of sleep a day, each year they spend just over a month (32
days) trying to work out whether they want to swipe left or right on potential matches.

Millennials are having less sex than past generations. But they’re
sending 218 million GIFs on dating apps every year.

On Hinge, 90% of people say they have a great time on a first

date. But only 72% say they’d go on a second date if asked.

The most successful online dating messages are between 40 and

90 characters. But why won’t anyone respond to me when I send
them?

Maren Whittaker and Matt Bell are tackling millennial dating head on as they stop
looking to date. In their new Melbourne International Comedy Festival Show at Loop
Project Space & Bar, both comedians will be exploring what it’s like to be a millennial
surrounded by endless swiping opportunities for ten hours a week . . . but the catch
is, none of them are ready to make a commitment.

This show covers the full gamut of their first-hand dating dramas. Everything from
the guy who ate a whole plate of chicken wings on a first date (meat and bones)
through to the guy who thought booking tickets to see their ex do improv theatre was
a great idea to celebrate a one-month anniversary. Fortunately for Maren and Matt,
the truth is stranger and funnier than anything they could make up.

Join this pair as they each present their case as to why sometimes the best solution
to dating adversity is to give up and stop looking.

“I’ve followed all the instructions I’ve been given. Stood outside boys’ houses with a
boombox playing In Your Eyes. Become pen pals with the awful guy who ran the big
box store that was trying to destroy my independent New York kids’ bookstore. And
I’ve gone up to many men and said ‘I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking
him to love her’. And nothing has worked. I give up,” says Matt Bell.

“All I need is someone who asks questions. Why are we not teaching our men to ask
questions? It’s really not that hard to do. I think it’s time for a change and would like
to use this opportunity to suggest that we hold back all sex from men until they don’t
interrupt me mid-way through a story to talk about a very vaguely similar experience
they had,” says Maren Whittaker.

Stop Looking
Maren Whittaker & Matt Bell
Dates: Saturday 2, 9, 16, 23 April
Time: 5.30pm
Venue: Loop Project Space & Bar
23 Meyers Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000
Tickets: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2022/shows/stop-looking

Reviews
‘I couldn’t go on a second date with him because I was intimidated by his talent.
★★★★½’ Jay, 32, Architect

‘It wasn’t her, it was me. Her comedy was just too entertaining. ★★★★½’ Daniel,
27, Chef

‘The jokes were so funny I didn’t see a future for us. ★★★★★’ Cale, 29, Nurse

Bios
Maren Whittaker is from Germany and works as an accountant so getting into
comedy was just the next logical step for her. Maren loves observational comedy
and following rules. She might make you think of a concept in new and surprising
ways but will absolutely not cross the street if the light is red.

Matt Bell is a marketer by day, serial dater by night and still struggles to notice when
someone is trying to blow him off . . . by text. With a background in improv theatre,
jazz dance and as a professional classical musician, Matt made his Melbourne
International Comedy Festival debut in 2021 at Open Bike – a comedy show in a
spin studio where the comedians and the audience are all pedalling. Stop Looking
marks Matt’s first split bill show in the Comedy Festival.