Grindr – and its straight equivalent, Tinder – have changed “hooking up”, as Nath Valvo calls it, for ever. An opportunity arises, then, for a show exploring the new anthropology of what we used to call dating: the recasting of amorous relationships into a consumer transaction, but also the frankness – the freedom from decorous old rituals. Aussie comic Valvo’s could be that show – but isn’t, quite. It’s entertaining, in a fairly obvious way: there are gaudy sexual anecdotes, and unceremonious Grindr correspondences projected on-screen for our delectation. It’s all good unclean fun, and Valvo is an endearing host – but (aptly, given the subject matter) it’s only ever skin deep.
The show is part idiot’s guide to the sex app, part autobiographical standup, in which Valvo chronicles his relationship with Grindr. It took him 19 minutes from first installing the software on his iPhone (bought expressly for the purpose) to the moment, he tells us, when “I blew on a stranger’s carpet”. In light of stories like that and of the show’s subject, it’s rich that Valvo later claims to be shy about sex. It’s also essential to the comedy, given that his tales of Grindr foursomes and “DP” (look it up) depend on his relatable awkwardness – as well as some lurid sexual imagery – for their easy humour.
Away from the confessional material, there are gameshow-ish audience participation sequences about Grindr etiquette, and – in a fairly unenlightening stunt – a straight man from the crowd is given a profile and match-made for laughs, much to his wife’s delight. Weaker still is a section that contrasts florid romantic quotes from history with crude come-ons screengrabbed from Grindr. At its worst, this offers cheap laughs about cheap sex; at its best, it’s perky slap-and-tickle with no strings attached.
- At Soho theatre, London, until 5 December. Box office: 020-7478 0100.
