UpDating is an American live comedy and dating show that premiered in New York City in late 2018, featuring blindfolded contestants who interact on stage in unscripted, humorous scenarios designed to simulate real first dates while emphasizing authentic connections without visual judgments.[1] The show, co-created and hosted by comedians Brandon Berman and Harrison Forman, combines elements of reality television, stand-up comedy, and audience participation to create an interactive experience that has drawn crowds for its raw and unpredictable nature.[2] The concept originated from a live-streamed date by Forman in 2017 while in San Francisco, and was further developed through collaboration with Berman starting in early 2018, leading to its debut at a Tribeca taqueria with around 30 attendees.[1]The format typically lasts about 90 minutes, with lead contestants blindfolded to encourage personality-driven interactions, interspersed with comedic commentary from the hosts and opportunities for audience members to join on stage for spontaneous moments.[2] Early shows highlighted memorable elements like blindfolded kisses and audience interjections, fostering an unscripted atmosphere that distinguishes it from traditional dating programs.[1] By 2021, after more than 80 performances, UpDating had become a sell-out staple in New York venues, attracting over 200 people per event and earning praise for revitalizing in-person social experiences post-pandemic.[1][3]The show's popularity surged through social media, particularly viral clips on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, which showcased its blend of humor and heartfelt moments, leading to national recognition and expansions beyond New York.[4] During the COVID-19 pandemic, UpDating adapted with virtual livestreams on Instagram, maintaining engagement and inspiring similar online dating experiments covered by outlets like Time and ABC News.[5] By 2025, it had toured extensively across the United States, with scheduled stops in cities like Brea, California, and Kansas City, Missouri, while also venturing internationally to locations including Dublin,[6] Berlin,[7] and Scotland.[5] As of November 2025, the show continues its tours with recent performances in cities including New York City and Kansas City.[8] In April 2025, creators Berman and Forman signed with Brillstein Entertainment Partners, signaling potential for broader media adaptations.[9]
Format
Concept
UpDating is a live entertainment format that pairs single strangers for blind dates conducted on stage in front of an audience, merging elements of reality television with stand-up comedy to explore modern romance in an unscripted manner.[2] Participants enter blindfolded to heighten the spontaneity, engaging in conversations, games, and interactions that reveal personal dating experiences and preferences, all while comedians provide humorous commentary and facilitation.[2] This setup creates a dynamic environment where the authenticity of the encounters drives the narrative, distinguishing it from traditional scripted dating programs by emphasizing real-time emotional and social dynamics.[10]The show's unique features center on capturing genuine dating challenges, such as navigating compatibility and vulnerability, with humor emerging organically from awkward silences, unexpected revelations, and mismatched expectations.[2] Audience-driven interventions further enhance engagement, allowing spectators to influence proceedings by joining onstage or posing questions, which injects unpredictability and communal participation into the experience.[2] Classified within the genres of comedy, reality, and dating shows, UpDating prioritizes relatable portrayals of contemporary relational hurdles over polished outcomes, fostering a sense of shared catharsis through laughter and empathy.[10]Each performance typically lasts about 90 minutes, maintaining a lighthearted yet candid tone that balances entertainment with honest reflections on the complexities of dating in the digital age.[2] This structure ensures a concise yet immersive event, where the blend of vulnerability and wit keeps the energy high without veering into sensationalism.[2]
Episode structure
Each UpDating episode unfolds over approximately 90 minutes in a live theater setting, centering on a blind date between two pre-selected singles conducted onstage before an audience. The structure begins with the hosts, comedian Brandon Berman and co-host Harrison Forman, opening the show by introducing the overall concept and teasing the contestants' backgrounds, often drawn from pre-date interviews where participants share personal stories, dating histories, and humorous anecdotes submitted during casting.[10][3] These introductions set a lighthearted tone, emphasizing the show's blend of reality dating and comedy, while the contestants enter the stage blindfolded to prioritize personality and conversation over physical appearance.[3][11]The core blind date reveal occurs early, with the blindfolds keeping the participants unaware of each other's looks, fostering unfiltered dialogue guided by the hosts' prompts. On-stage activities follow, including structured conversations on topics like past relationships and deal-breakers, interspersed with interactive games such as audience-suggested challenges (e.g., playful dares or role-playing scenarios) that inject humor and test compatibility.[3] Comedic interludes from the hosts provide breaks, featuring improvised banter, exaggerated reenactments of dating mishaps, or crowd roasts to maintain energy and relieve tension.[10][3]Intermissions allow for audience input, where over 100 attendees shout questions, offer advice, or vote on date developments via informal polls, influencing the flow and adding unpredictability. As the episode progresses, the blindfolds are removed for a visual reveal, leading to post-date reflections where contestants share immediate reactions and insights on their chemistry.[3] The structure culminates in the final decision, with each participant choosing whether to exchange contact information for a potential off-stage date, often announced amid host commentary and audience applause.[10][3]While the core sequence—introductions, blindfolded interaction, activities, audience engagement, reveal, reflections, and decision—remains consistent across episodes, live improvisation introduces variations, such as spontaneous twists from host ad-libs or unexpected audience contributions, ensuring no two shows are identical.[10][3]
Production
Creators and hosts
Brandon Berman is a New York City-based stand-up comedian who serves as the primary host of UpDating, where he facilitates the on-stage blind dates and injects comedic commentary to drive the show's humor and energy.[10] As a graduate of the University at Albany, SUNY, Berman's background in comedy has shaped his role in steering the live interactions between contestants, ensuring the unscripted moments remain engaging and entertaining.[12] His experience performing stand-up across NYC venues provided the foundational skills for hosting, allowing him to improvise based on audience reactions and dater revelations during episodes.[13]Harrison Forman, a producer and co-host, brings a tech-savvy perspective to UpDating from his prior role on Facebook's media partnership team, where he worked on live-streaming initiatives that influenced the show's interactive format.[14] A University of Michigan alumnus with a BA in Sport Management, Forman previously held positions at startups and sports media companies, honing his skills in audience engagement and event production before co-creating the show.[14] In UpDating, he manages off-stage elements such as real-time polls, audience-submitted questions, and overall production logistics, complementing the on-stage action with digital interactivity.[10]Berman and Forman, longtime friends introduced by a mutual acquaintance connected to the Howard Stern Show, first collaborated on UpDating in 2018, blending Forman's passion for reality TV and live events—drawn from his Facebook tenure—with Berman's stand-up expertise to create an innovative dating-comedy hybrid.[14] Their professional backgrounds converged to emphasize authentic, audience-driven storytelling, with Forman's tech insights enabling seamless integration of social media elements and Berman's comedic timing ensuring the live format's spontaneity.[15] This partnership has allowed them to produce every aspect of the show, from casting to editing, fostering its evolution into a nationally touring production.[9]
Live performance elements
UpDating's live performances incorporate interactive elements designed to foster genuine connections while amplifying comedic tension through structured surprises. Central to the stage setup is the use of blindfolds on contestants, which prevent visual assessments during initial interactions, allowing conversations to focus on personality and compatibility; these are removed at pivotal moments, such as final decisions or reveals, to create dramatic unmaskings that engage the audience visually and emotionally.[3][16] Contestants are provided with handheld microphones to ensure clear audio capture of their unscripted dialogues, while the hosts facilitate comedic segments, including impromptu twists like inviting audience volunteers to "crash" the date and compete for attention.[17][16]Audience engagement tools extend beyond passive viewing, with spectators actively participating through on-stage interventions, such as shouting questions, suggestions, or cheers that influence the date's direction in real time.[3][16] For pre-show input, fans can submit questions or casting ideas via Instagram direct messages to the show's account, which may inform episode dynamics or participant selection.[18] This interactivity transforms the event into a communal experience, often leading to post-show mingling among attendees and contestants.[3]The production crew plays a crucial role in maintaining the event's pace and polish, with sound technicians managing microphone levels and audio mixing to handle varying crowd noise levels in comedy club venues.[3] Lighting operators adjust spotlights to highlight key actions, such as blindfold removals, ensuring visibility without overwhelming the intimate setup.[10] Beyond the hosts, a co-host or moderator oversees audience input, queuing questions and intervening to keep segments flowing smoothly amid spontaneous elements.[3]Safety and consent protocols are prioritized to protect participants in this unscripted format, with explicit on-stage discussions about boundaries before any physical interactions, such as hugs or kisses, to confirm mutual agreement.[16] Casting begins with an online application requiring humorous personal anecdotes and Instagram profiles for vetting, followed by screening calls to assess comfort with live exposure; audience members are also encouraged to attend shows first to gauge the environment.[18] These measures help mitigate risks in a high-energy setting where real emotions and improvisations occur.[16]
History
Origins and launch
The concept for UpDating originated in 2017 when Harrison Forman live-streamed a disastrous date in San Francisco, evolving through his experiments with social media into a collaborative idea with Brandon Berman developed in late 2018 in New York City for an interactive, audience-driven live dating comedy show.[19][1][3]The debut performances occurred in small New York City venues starting in October 2018, featuring blindfolded contestants on stage to emphasize personality over appearance, with initial audiences built through grassroots promotion like street flyers and word-of-mouth. These early shows received enthusiastic feedback for their raw humor and genuine connections, helping to refine the unscripted format amid modest turnouts that gradually increased to sell-outs of around 200 by early 2019.[19][20]Among the early challenges were iterating on the show's structure through trial-and-error runs to balance comedy, audience participation, and real-time reveals, as well as recruiting contestants via an online casting system that solicited Instagram profiles and personal dating anecdotes to ensure engaging participants. By 2019, UpDating had solidified as a recurring live event series, with regular performances establishing its niche in New York's entertainment scene.[3][19]
Expansion and tours
Following the signing of its creators, Brandon Berman and Harrison Forman, with the William Morris Endeavor (WME) agency in December 2021, UpDating marked a significant business milestone that supported its scaling beyond New York City performances. In April 2025, Berman and Forman signed with Brillstein Entertainment Partners, further enabling national and international growth.[21][9]This partnership enabled the show's progression from weekly local events in NYC to its first national tours, including stops in cities such as Denver and Washington, D.C., where performances drew growing audiences often exceeding 100 attendees with waitlists forming due to high demand.[8][22]Launched in 2019, the live format faced pauses during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but adapted with virtual livestreams on Instagram, before resuming in-person shows by mid-2021 as restrictions eased.[3][23]By 2024, tours had expanded to multi-city runs across the U.S., with venues accommodating over 1,000 people and record crowds recorded in Washington, D.C., in June of that year.[20][22]International expansion began in 2023 with performances in Berlin, Germany, and Scotland, followed by Dublin, Ireland, in 2024 and Toronto, Canada, in 2025; by November 2025, the show continued multi-city tours across North America and Europe.[24][25][26]
Distribution
Online platforms
UpDating maintains a robust presence across major social media platforms, with TikTok serving as its primary hub for viral content dissemination. The show's official TikTok account, @updatingshow, boasts over 1.5 million followers and has accumulated more than 2.1 million likes through short-form videos capturing the essence of live dates.[27] These clips often highlight awkward interactions, humorous mishaps, and unfiltered reactions from contestants, contributing to the show's organic spread since its inception. Complementing this, YouTube hosts full episodes of UpDating, allowing audiences to experience complete performances, with the channel garnering approximately 1.01 million subscribers.[28]Instagram plays a key role in fostering real-time engagement, where the @updatingshow account facilitates live interactions such as Q&A sessions with hosts and contestants, alongside promotional posts for upcoming events.[29] The platform's content strategy emphasizes behind-the-scenes glimpses, contestant spotlights, and interactive stories that build anticipation for live shows. This approach extends to cross-promotion, with bio links directing users to ticket sales on the official website and open casting calls via text or online forms, effectively bridging digital buzz with physical attendance.[10]The evolution of UpDating's digital footprint began with grassroots virality on TikTok in 2019, shortly after the show's New York launch, where raw clips of blind dates quickly resonated with users seeking authentic dating content.[21] Following the creators' signing with WME in late 2021, the strategy shifted toward more professionalized posting schedules, including coordinated releases of teaser videos and episode highlights across platforms to maximize reach and monetization opportunities.[21] This structured expansion has sustained the show's online momentum, integrating social media seamlessly with its touring schedule for sustained audience growth.
National and international reach
UpDating has expanded its live performances nationally through extensive touring across the United States. The 2025 After Hours Winter Tour, the production's largest to date, included stops in major cities such as Boston at The Wilbur on January 29, 2025, Chicago at the Vic Theatre on February 1, 2025, and Seattle at the Neptune Theatre on February 28, 2025, along with venues like the House of Blues in Houston and the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., demonstrating a strategic push into diverse regional markets beyond its New York City origins.[30][31]As of November 2025, recent U.S. performances included Omaha at the Funny Bone Comedy Club on November 12, 2025, and Des Moines on November 13, 2025, with upcoming shows scheduled in New York City on December 4, 2025, at City Winery, and Stamford on December 27, 2025, at the New York Comedy Club, as well as further dates in 2026 such as Atlanta on January 11 at the Buckhead Theatre and Denver on January 23 at the Summit Music Hall.[8][32]Internationally, UpDating made its debut outside the U.S. with a performance at The Academy in Dublin, Ireland, on July 29, 2024, marking an early step toward global audiences.[33] The show's reach further extended to Canada with a show at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto on January 30, 2025.[30] Additional expansions include announcements for performances in Berlin, Germany, and Scotland, broadening its international presence.[5][34][24]Partnerships with agencies such as WME have facilitated this broader distribution, providing representation for touring and venue collaborations that enable access to prominent comedy clubs and theaters nationwide.[35] For instance, WME handles touring inquiries, supporting logistics for multi-city schedules and partnerships with local promoters.[36]To enhance accessibility, ticket pricing varies by venue but offers entry-level options starting around $32 for general admission in cities like those with Funny Bone venues, with premium seats reaching up to $695 in high-demand locations such as New York.[30] Casting efforts promote regional inclusivity by prioritizing local singles for each tour stop through an open application process, allowing participants from diverse backgrounds to apply via the show's portal for fast-tracked consideration in their home cities.[18][8]While no confirmed television adaptations exist, the tour's momentum as of November 2025 suggests potential for additional global venues in 2026.[10]
Reception
Critical response
Upon its debut, UpDating received praise from The Economist for its unfiltered portrayal of modern dating dynamics in a live setting, highlighting the raw interactions between contestants and the audience's deep engagement, which captured the awkwardness of blind dates in an unscripted format.[37]The Hollywood Reporter covered the show's growing profile in late 2021, highlighting its signing with William Morris Endeavor (WME) for representation across all areas, which signaled industry recognition of its innovative blend of comedy and reality elements as a potential for broader entertainment expansion.[21] Similarly, Washingtonian previewed UpDating's 2022 D.C. tour stop at City Winery, framing it as a timely exploration of the city's notoriously challenging dating scene, where professionals' high-stakes lives might translate into compelling, humorous onstage interactions for a live audience.[38]The humor's effectiveness has been highlighted in reviews comparing UpDating favorably to traditional dating shows like The Bachelor, which often rely on scripted drama; instead, UpDating's improvisational style and raw, unedited mishaps have been lauded for delivering more relatable and spontaneous laughs.UpDating has not received notable awards or nominations in comedy or reality genres, remaining primarily celebrated through live event acclaim and media buzz rather than formal industry honors.Following its 2021 WME partnership and the 2025 signing with Brillstein Entertainment Partners for management, critical attention to UpDating shifted from niche comedy circles to mainstream outlets, with post-pandemic coverage emphasizing its role in revitalizing in-person entertainment and capturing evolving post-2021 dating norms amid remote work and app fatigue.[21][9]
Popularity metrics
UpDating has achieved significant popularity, accumulating over 3 billion views across its online platforms as of 2025.[10] On TikTok, the official account @updatingshow boasts 1.5 million followers and 91.7 million likes, reflecting strong viral appeal among users. Live performances draw consistent crowds, leading to sell-out events.[10]Specific episodes have driven notable spikes in engagement. For instance, the October 2025 YouTube episode titled "Girls Fight For Rich Finance Bro" amassed approximately 224,000 views as of November 2025, highlighting dramatic interpersonal dynamics that resonate with viewers.[39] Other clips featuring unexpected revelations or heated exchanges have similarly fueled shares and discussions, contributing to the show's online momentum.Since its launch as a live event in New York City in late 2018, UpDating has expanded rapidly, evolving from weekly local gatherings to a touring production with widespread digital distribution by 2025. This growth trajectory underscores its transition from niche entertainment to a broader cultural phenomenon in the dating show genre. The format's emphasis on unscripted interactions has influenced online dating discourse, inspiring memes and user-generated content that parody modern relationship challenges.[40]The fanbase primarily consists of young adults, drawn to the show's blend of humor and authenticity, with high social media interaction rates evident in an Instagram engagement rate of 0.71%.[41] This demographic actively participates through comments, polls, and shares, amplifying the show's reach and fostering a community around relatable dating experiences.