On a recent Tuesday night, Bradley Wilkerson stood before a crowd of around 70 people in their twenties and thirties at Vermont Comedy Club, ready to introduce his friend.
“Tom is 26 years old. He’s a single, straight male,” Wilkerson said, cueing up the first slide in a PowerPoint presentation. A bulleted list of fun facts about Tom, who sat in the audience, appeared on a big screen, including “Chronic misplacer of sunglasses and water bottles,” “Forklift Certified” and “Allergic to peanuts.”
“He loves Star Wars. He’s seen, like, all of the spin-offs and stuff. So if you want to talk about that, you can,” Wilkerson continued, then quickly added, “but if you don’t, it’s not a deal-breaker.”
Wilkerson and his girlfriend were hyping their friend Tom Farran at Burlington’s first Pitch-a-Friend, where people recommend their single friends as ideal romantic partners in three- to five-minute presentations. Over the course of the night, 10 people presented their friends through slideshows decked out with photos, animations and charts.
Melissa Schipke and Ariana Brogan started Pitch-a-Friend in Philadelphia in 2022. The business now has chapters in 33 cities worldwide, from Hong Kong to Boise, Idaho. The events have gained traction among a subset of young people seeking alternatives to dating apps, particularly in-person meetups that foster deeper connections.
“On dating apps, I think sometimes we forget that there’s an actual person connected to the profile.” Maggie Phelan
Comedian Maggie Phelan, 29, brought the event to Burlington. She got the idea after her sister was the subject of a Pitch-a-Friend presentation in Philadelphia, which resulted in a few dates.
“On dating apps, I think sometimes we forget that there’s an actual person connected to the profile,” Phelan said. “But at these events, because it’s in person at local bars, it’s just an easy way to actually connect with people.”
Cofounder Schipke told Seven Days that she and Brogan launched Pitch-a-Friend partly to increase foot traffic on slow nights at local breweries. She now hosts the event weekly at venues across Philadelphia, where a lengthy wait list of bars and breweries angle to be the next Pitch-a-Friend host. The business model is similar to that of trivia nights, Schipke said; venues pay a hosting fee but often earn back more through food and drink sales.
All Pitch-a-Friend events have a few ground rules: Presentations must be less than five minutes and free of vulgarity and nudity, and they must portray the person in a positive light.
“This isn’t a roast,” Phelan said. “You’re not here to embarrass your friend in front of people. Genuinely tell people why you love your friend so much.”
Pitching oneself is also off-limits. Having a friend vouch for someone enhances the credibility of the recommendation, Phelan said, noting that people tend to be more comfortable bragging about their friends than themselves.
At the end of the slideshow, presenters typically display the person’s Instagram handle or phone number. But guests are also encouraged to meet the courageous, old-fashioned way — in person — in the downtime between presentations and at the end of the night.
At Vermont Comedy Club, many of the presentations resembled standup routines more closely than serious dating appeals — a likely result of Phelan’s flock of comedian friends in attendance.
Standup comic Ruth Fuller pitched her friend and fellow comedian Levi Silverstein.
“He’s got pet peeves,” Fuller said. “He doesn’t like people who are super into astrology, although he doesn’t want to count out every woman in Burlington — so it’s OK if you dabble.”
Some presenters riffed off the crowd. Comedian Jared Hall pitched Nic Sisk, also a comedian.
“To the best of my knowledge, [Nic] would fuck Homer, marry Stan, and kill Peter,” Hall said as photos of the three cartoon characters he was referencing appeared on the screen. He turned to Sisk for confirmation: “Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t care if you guys date. That’s a big win for me,” Hall replied.
Other presenters highlighted their friend’s endearing qualities, hobbies or quirks.
“Hannah is a major movie lover. She’s the MVP of any sort of movie or TV trivia,” Neilah Rovinsky told the crowd about her friend Hannah Ossoff. “Movie dates with her would be unbeatable.”
Wilkerson emphasized the appeal of his friend Farran’s job as an airport operations specialist.
“Imagine you’re at the lakefront, right? You’re holding hands, maybe you’re walking, and then you look up at a plane,” he said. “He can tell you exactly what the plane is. And then tell you a fun fact about it. That’s kind of cool.”
Phelan emphasized that participants don’t need to be professional comedians, nor do the presentations have to be funny. She hopes to make Pitch-a-Friend a regular occurrence at venues beyond the comedy club. The next one will be held on Thursday, November 7, at Einstein’s Tap House.
So, does this event really help people find love?
“It was just a lot better than swiping and swiping more and waiting,” Farran said in a follow-up interview. “There were a lot of people talking to one another, and it was really fun.”
A few days after the event, he told Seven Days, he went on a date with a woman he met at Pitch-a-Friend — and ended the night with a kiss.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Love at First … Slide? | At Pitch-a-Friend, Vermonters use PowerPoint to advertise their single pals”
This article appears in Oct 16-22, 2024.
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