I just had a first date. We met at a bar. The guy had a tab open and I was determined to go in with my most cheerful, optimistic self. He was a cutie! He worked at the library! Loves books! He leans left!
Well, in the course of the hour, he said he move to Chicago as part of a socialist group: that's cool. He was going to save everyone from the tyranny of capitalism but now worked at a library. I shared that i moved here for improv and advertising, and that improv has roots in WPA and progressive theatre movements, but by the time I got there, it was a bunch of bros and they'd be like "we need a girl for our all male improv group", so it got away from it's roots.
He said "well, that's natural, that it's more men, because men need to impress women and make them laugh". I stared at him, slack jawed. I said "I made it a point, when I taught, to ensure that both males and females were equally speaking up in my writing class". He then told me a joke, about how it's hard to be a man, because if you have no car, women question that, if you pull up in a shitty car, women give you shit and then if you have a baller car, women assume you have a small dick.
I said, "oh, i don't think women are that mean" and he said "it's not my joke, and i'm not doing it justice it's from a stand up".
And then, he asked me what about advertising: isn't it evil? After I told him that I had worked in it for 30 years.
And then, we talked about trivia and he said he had been to Cuba. I said "me too" and he seemed VERY SURPRISED.
I went to the bathroom, and thought, well, maybe he's nervous and came back and gave him some more time.
It didn't get better.
So, I grabbed my bag, finished my beer, shook his hand and said "it's been nice to meet you" and headed out.
This is why I don't overly share about improv.
