Stephen ‘Sharpie’ Sharp is an improvisor from Glasgow, and the creator of ‘Looking for Laughs’, a dating comedy show that has become a monthly fixture of the Glasgow Comedy scene. Sharpie and his fellow improvisers will be bringing the show to the Fringe in August. We chatted to Stephen about the origins of the show, taking it across to America, and just why he’s putting himself through hours of chatting people up on the Royal Mile.

Can you tell us about ‘Looking for Laughs’?

Looking for laughs is one man’s attempt to fix dating. I mean, yeah, a 43 year-old single handy man is going to save dating. But it’s a blind date on stage. I guess the elevator pitch is, like, Whose Line [Is It Anyway] meets First Dates. We have a blind date, they’re genuinely single, they’re real people, they’re not actors, they’re genuinely looking for a relationship. And then what we do is we let them have a 12 minute date on stage, and the audience just watch.

The point of that is that we’re all kind of voyeurs, eavesdropping, and, listening in. And I think everyone kind of does that, like when you’re in a bar, you’re like, ‘They’re on a first date!’ So that’s the energy I kind of try and create in the room; this is a first date, let’s listen in. So the show isn’t really about being raucous. It’s more about people genuinely being themselves on stage. And that’s tough. It’s an artificial environment to do that, but they’re making this jump in front of everyone, and it’s quite a brave social leap that they’re making.

I did 100 dates in a year, and I think that at the end of that year, I was kind of dated out.  I think that there’s something about online dating and in-person. With in-person there’s som much more. Then we basically took that premise to a bunch of improvisers from Glasgow. My team is Chris McNally, Tom Fraser, Ellen McCullough. We’ve got two Irish Ellens actually. Those guys come in and kind of help me with the show. They’re just brilliant improvisers.

So I have this team of very funny people, and then I put a date together. It’s kind of like I’ve created a vehicle that doesn’t involve me having any real talent. I’m just introducing it, and then I’ve got all these funny people to come in and be funny, and all I kind of do is be ring master sort of thing. In the second half, the audience ask questions of the dates, So basically, we kind of split that in three. We have the audience asking the dates questions, and we do a speed run sometimes, and then we have a ‘questionable questions’ round, which is, like, ‘Would you rather join your mum and dad for sex once and one time only, or watch for the rest of your life?’ Like that stuff where you’re just like, ‘Guys, come on!’

How does the improv element fit into the show? And what was the catalyst behind the show? 

The first show was so weird. I had [the two dates] wearing alien masks, and my dad’s band played Taylor Swift, ‘Love Story’. My dad’s got a band called The Beagles – they’re a Beatles and Eagles cover band. And my friend Judy had been on Naked Attraction, I was like, ‘Would you be willing to have a date on stage?’ Once Judy, had said yes, and I’d booked the venue I had to find a man, and that was kind of a strange experience. I would be like, ‘That guy’s kind of cute. I should go talk to him!’ I found myself – and I’m a straight guy – in this strange other world. I’ve been arranging dates for two years now. I’ve always got a date to arrange within a month or two weeks. Fringe will be 14 on the draw, so I’m a bit nervous about that.

With the improvisers I was doing improv during lockdown. I don’t know if you know this, but Glasgow’s improv scene basically exploded during lockdown. We all kind of went online, and there was a [World’s Greatest Improv School], which is Will Hines improv school. So we all subscribed to that, and then we learned from basically the king of improv, Will Hines and gobbled it all up online for two years.

So we’re doing, like, 201, class, and then the first day of lockdown, Chris, was like, ‘Should we maybe just do some online stuff?’ And that was day one of lockdown. And then we just supercharged through that period and then popped out of lockdown and we’ve got a lot of chops all of a sudden, you know? So it was kind of cool, because I went from being really nervous to having done maybe 30 or 40 online shows and I had this group of people that are so talented. The thing with those guys is, you can give them the word triangle, and they’ll do a 40 minute show, and it’ll be brilliant. Yeah, I love it.

And how do you get the singles themselves to participate?

Well, originally, that was hard. So any conversation that I have with anyone, I’m always like, ‘Are you single?’ Like, I’m basically just like a big, big slut energy out in the world, out there, asking everyone out; men, women.

There was a crux point where we’d just started, and we were like, I think we’d done Saturday nights at Van Winkles, and we were getting okay audience, but still small, like 20 or 30 people showing up, but doing okay. And then I couldn’t get dates. And I had to be on Facebook messaging people like, ‘Hi. You don’t know me, but I run a dating show in Glasgow!’ So I did these cold outreaches, which was really weird but those dates were so cool, and those people are still friends with the show, still checking in.

And now we’ve got a form. We’ve got a huge online form, which is massive. And then I put posters up, basically being like, ‘Tired of Tinder? Would you have a blind date on stage? Brave, curious? And then basically if you’re brave, you get the form. If you’re curious, you get a ticket to the show.

Have you had any particularly memorable moments, or questions even more mad than the sex with your parents one?

‘Jeremy Kyle, Jeremy Clarkson, Jeremy Corbyn: shag, marry, kill?’ There was one where someone’s like, ‘In the film Moonwalker Michael Jackson turns into a car, a robot, and then a spaceship. What’s your special skills?’ What a question after they’d set up this big expectation.

Questions that do get asked a lot, like the tropey questions, are quite interesting. One which people ask a lot is, ‘What animal do you think you can beat in a fight?’ That’s something that people consistently ask. Recently, someone asked, and I thought was a great question; ‘What’s something that your ex gave you that you would go back into your house to save if it was on fire?’ And that was kind of interesting, because it kind of gives you an insight into their ex and what they care about. There’s kind of this whole little strategic framework to that question, and that’s what we’re trying to do, see what’s inside people Yeah, we’re like, ‘What are you all about?’ That’s what we want to know.

You’ve also done the show in the US. How does the response differ from an American crowd to a Scottish one?

It’s much easier! About 5000 times easier. Maybe 100,000 times easier: easier to get dates, easier to get [an audience]. Well, New York was tough to get an audience. New York was rough, but I had four days to pull the show together. So I had to get improvisers, a theatre, dates, and then just chuck the show on. And there were like 20-odd people there. But it was a Monday night, and a small theatre. People were like, ‘This is a success.’ And I was like, but I’m coming from Glasgow. We’re cramming them in. 100 people would be squeezing into Blackfriars. It’s strange, but there’s something universal about it.

Americans are more comfortable talking about dating, going on dates, and being observed. And 30% of our applications at one point were from America. There’s is very much a ready culture. People in the UK, it takes a lot. I’ve got a guy that I’m chatting to… for about six weeks, and he’s still like, ‘Oh God, I Just don’t know if I can.’ You’ve got to be open to that, that’s where the magic happens. Someone on the edge of their comfort zone is where we see it. You go and see an operatic singer singing not because she can hit that high C, but because that’s the highest note she can. We want to see people push themselves to their limits.

But, when I ask questions, don’t just say that your hobbies are shagging. Come on guys, we can do better than this! But it’s one of those things where everyone’s behind you when you’re taking that leap. The audience know it’s hard, and the people that show up are like, ‘What’s going to happen?’ It’s kind of like a very high empathy. They’re aware that they’re part of it and the audience influences the date. We’re all in this mix together.

I’m not putting on a show and being like, ‘It’s the Stephen Sharp show’. It’s almost got nothing to do with me. It’s got to do with all of these different factors. Sometimes we’ve had shows where the audience have just came in and been loved the dates, and then it’s great. Sometimes there are shows where they love one and hate the other.

And also sometimes, like the last date we had, was a fucking train wreck, slow motion, 12-minute car crash. So take off the blindfolds. He knows her. She knows him. He’s asked her out. She said no, and we just watched just like… Well, I had to go on the second half. I had to go on to ask the questions, which I normally don’t do, but just as a buffer to alleviate how bad it was. It was just the slowest-motion train wreck we’ve ever had. We’re all like, ‘Well, that’s the show!’

What made you decide to bring the show to the Fringe?

The truth is I was trying to see if I could get it trying to see if I could get it on TV. I have this kind of dream to get the show on TV. And I basically hijacked Gavin Smith from the comedy unit. He was giving a talk on a ‘Blagger’s Guide to Get Your Show on TV in Perth. I bought a ticket to it, and then basically hand-delivered a Valentine’s card for a Valentine’s Special show we were going to do. When we were talking to him, he was like, ‘This show will do well at Fringe’. And when he said that… Fringe is actually really expensive. It just eats money. But it was kind of like, okay, someone with a lot more experience gave us that little nudge. And whenever anyone gives me a shove and a direction, I just like, power in.

We did the Free Fringe last year, just a one-off day. The other improvisers were kind of like, ‘We should at least go and see what it’s like,’ and we completely sold out. It was jam-packed.

I love fringe and we’re now playing Gilded Balloon, which is amazing. I spent most of my time at Gilded Balloon last year going to see everyone you know, from Glenn Moore to Jordan Brookes. There’s so much talent. But I’m just doing my thing, and you’ve just got to go and be like, we’re here. We want to make it fun. And people want to see this stuff.

Besides the show, are you going to be doing any other slots on other shows, or are you just concentrating ‘Looking for Laughs’?

I think I’ll do any improv shows if I’m asked. But basically I’ve just got dates to get! I’ve got 14 shows in a row, and every day I have to go out and get a date and then pull two dates of the street, and get them to the stage for that night. So that could be an interesting few hours on the Royal Mile trying to get that together. I’ve just got a big sign that says DATE and NO DATE, and I’m just going to be like, ‘Are you single?’

So what would a successful Fringe look like for you? What would your hopes and expectations be?

People telling people about the show, that would be the ultimate. I think if you take all the crap away, if people are telling people that they want to come and see the show that’s it, everything else is in place after that. Because that’s the thing, isn’t it? It’s word of mouth. Yeah, I want to get show on TV, and I’ve got all these ideas that I would like to do, but the main thing for me is that people are like, I went to see the show an the date was a disaster!’  or, ‘The date was brilliant!’ I just want people to be like, ‘You’ve got to see this thing. It’s just unbelievable!’

‘Looking for Laughs‘ is at Gilded Balloon Patter House – Blether from Wed 13 to Sun 24 Aug 2025 at 20:20.

If you would like to sign up to have a date on the show you can do that here.