![\"Show](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/CTC-L-ENT-DIVORCE-COMEDY-01.jpg\")
Show creator Julie Golden at a performance of \u201cThe Big D\u201d at Westside Comedy in Santa Monica, California. (Zack Arch)<\/p>\nA unique comedy game show is coming to Chicago, and while anyone can watch, the show\u2019s contestants share one commonality: Divorce.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Big D\u201d (you can guess what the \u201cD\u201d stands for here) is a matchmaking show that allows divorced singles in the 40-60 age range to meet people in the real world and, hopefully, spark a connection.<\/p>\n
Chicago native Julie Golden created the show in Los Angeles last year, where it plays to packed houses and attracts bachelorettes such as actress Mary Lynn Rajskub and comic (and Oak Park native) Kathy Griffin.<\/p>\n
Golden, having spent over two decades as a film studio executive, reality television producer and screenwriter, pitched the show to Santa Monica\u2019s Westside Comedy Theater. Having had her fill of the cynical live dating shows she\u2019d seen before, she swapped the roasting for romance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re roastable,\u201d Golden says with a laugh, \u201cI don\u2019t want you on that stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
A divorcee herself, Golden explains that she started the show \u201cbecause I didn\u2019t like the models offered to us.\u201d She says that her demographic isn\u2019t bar-hopping to find partners, but they\u2019re not necessarily creating a multitude of different dating app profiles, either. So, she offers an entertaining option to those not interested in signing up for Hinge or Bumble, with a show featuring comics, contestants, and a cash prize.<\/p>\n
To find her bachelorettes, Golden turns to her extensive network of friends and family. However, for the men, she turns to dating apps. After creating a profile for herself, she reaches out to bachelors she thinks would make good contestants. Never one to play coy, the show poster is in her profile \u2014 though, she says, she still occasionally gets asked if she\u2019s a bot. (She assures us, she is not.) Her goal is to curate a lineup where any matchup could potentially work.<\/p>\n
Every show starts with a cocktail party, where Golden mingles with audience members and ensures anyone interested gets lei\u2019ed \u2014 that is, given a colored lei to let other singles know they\u2019re available. (No one is pulled from the audience and brought on stage, though they are free to submit for future editions.) Golden hopes the early interaction eases the audience into feeling like they\u2019re on one big date together, \u201cminus the polyamory \u2014 unless that\u2019s what you\u2019re into, in which case, that\u2019s another show, and I\u2019m really bad at math.\u201d<\/p>\n
The newly familiar audience then takes their seats and the show begins. Three pre-selected bachelors and bachelorettes are brought to the stage one at a time. A panel of comics interviews them individually and pairs them up. Each couple then goes on a five-minute speed date live in front of the audience.<\/p>\n
Throughout the show, Golden holds court as host, dishing out advice, zingers and questions, a big-haired, brunette mix of Carol Burnett and Dolly Gallagher Levi.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love to bring love to people,\u201d she says, a line that manages to be entirely earnest while also sounding like a Jerry Herman lyric. It\u2019s this combination of sincerity and wit that sets her show apart. She wants her contestants to walk away with, if not their next partner, at least a new connection.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very lonely,\u201d Golden says of the post-divorce world. She envisions the show as a way of uniting people who share that common bond. \u201cIt\u2019s such a singular kind of commonality that divorced people have,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a very unique loss. No matter who left the marriage, it\u2019s a loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crafting \u201cThe Big D\u201d has helped her and her audience deal with that loss as a community. Hosting this show has felt like \u201ca calling,\u201d she says, a sentiment she says has been validated by the audience\u2019s responses.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody came to me afterwards,\u201d she says, \u201clike, \u2018Thank you. I feel so much better.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, she\u2019s bringing the show out of Los Angeles, stopping first in her hometown of Chicago before continuing on to Dallas later in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to at least take the first unfamiliar step in a familiar surrounding,\u201d she says of the choice to do that first out-of-town show here. She is still fielding contestants for the upcoming show \u2014 and having a wonderful time doing so.<\/p>\n
Show creator Julie Golden at a performance of \u201cThe Big D\u201d at Westside Comedy in Santa Monica, California. (Zack Arch)<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something about a Chicago man,\u201d she muses, joking that she\u2019s planning to either bring all of them to Los Angeles, or send her California contacts to Chicago. \u201cMy whole life out here in LA,\u201d she adds, \u201cI realize I\u2019ve been looking for somebody who feels like they\u2019re from Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you feel that way, too, and want to take your chance on stage, you can reach out via the show\u2019s website, thebigddatingshow.com<\/a>. And if you\u2019re just into watching, tickets for the show are now available.<\/p>\n