Finding Love and Laughs with Tinder Live!

Lane Moore needs help with her love life and she needs you. The NYC comic, who was here three years ago with her popular improv show Tinder Live! has sadly still not found a boo, so she’s back, projecting her profile on the big screen and inviting audiences to join her on a hilarious online hookup journey. If you’ve ever helped a friend comb through suitors online, or dealt with the soul-crushing post-match messaging process, you’ll feel this interactive show, which has been hailed by New York Times, Vice and more for its refreshing spin on the swipe scene. Moore’s wit and comic timing might not get always her a date, but at least her audiences love her.

The conceit is as simple as it is ingenious: Ms. Moore, a comic, writer (The Onion) and actress (she has a cameo on “Girls”), connects her Tinder account to a projector, which allows an audience to see her conversations in real time. Juggling several exchanges with men, narrating the conversation in various voices, she transforms the banter on a dating app into compelling long-form improvisation. “Tinder Live,” which started in 2014 and will play the West Coast later this year — has become so popular that in the middle of a recent show, one guy Ms. Moore was talking to interrupted the discussion to write: “Hmmm, am I on Tinder Live?” (He attended the next show.)

photo by. Mindy Tucker

When she swipes right and he does so, too, the crowd cheers and the real scene begins. She narrates her responses while typing them, often in the character of a whiny, clueless fool. Her typical approach is to begin with a big hello (“heyyyyyyyyyyyyy”), move aggressively into flirtation, disarm with a thudding double entendre or a confrontational question and then end with a GIF that raises far more questions than answers. Some men don’t respond. Others appear baffled. Some answer with earnestness, and while the show does have moments of warmth and genuine connection, these are the ones she abandons fastest.

Mara Wilson and Grace Helbig join.  At the Echo, 1824 Sunset Blvd. Echo Park; Sat., Sept. 11, 6 p.m. 1824 Sunset Blvd. https://www.lanemoore.org/tinder-live/