Cagney Brennan and Ryan MacDonald Show us Some Bad Dates

Have you ever been on a bad date? Who am I kidding this is the 18-35 male/female geek demographic – of course you’ve been on a bad date! We’re all at the age where going on the occasional bad date is bound to happen– especially when websites like OKCupid are being frequently surfed by young hip Philadelphians like yourself.

Even though going through a terrible date isn’t the most pleasant experience, hearing about your friends’ terrible dates is extremely entertaining. Likewise, every minute of that patience testing night is repaid in full when you tell your cringe worthy story to your friends.

Well, local funny men Cagney Brennan and Ryan MacDonald have started putting together a web series that explores the fascination that is “the bad date”. Cagney and Ryan interview the victims of these bad dates, and reenact them a-la Drunk History style. I was able to sit down with them to get to know a little bit more about their project, and why they feel that bad dates are important.

Can you define the term “bad date”?

Cagney Brennan: A Bad Date is a fruit that was used in an attempt to kill Indiana Jones. Or, in our experience, a Bad Date starts out like any other date but is eventually ruined by something ridiculous, embarrassing, disgusting, ludicrous, confusing…anything you can eventually look back and find funny…we hope. Basically, any date in which you or your date screwed up in spectacular fashion.

Ryan MacDonald: A date with Cagney Brennan.

Cagney Brennan: Zing.

What made you think of the idea of creating a series based on people’s bad dates?

Cagney: Unfortunately it came from the reality of our broken, pathetic love lives. As friends do, we’d give play-by-play of our most recent dates and break down where it went wrong. After a while, we began to notice a pattern of the absurd that was turning these normal dates to bad ones and it wasn’t always our fault, we think.

Ryan: Despite the fact that these situations kept leaving us alone, we were laughing a lot telling the stories. Even though love and/or sex had eluded us once again, we had a means of catharsis by telling these tales.

Cagney: There are a lot of people out there like us that have been slapped around, exhausted or disappointed by the dating scene. We want them to see these episodes, laugh and know they aren’t alone. And hopefully they’ll think, “I can top that story.” and submit.

What’s the worst date you’ve ever had?

Cagney: I can’t say without spoiling a future episode but I will share that it’s never a good sign when the cops show up to your date.

Ryan: Watch the series and you can choose my worse date. I don’t know which one is my worst, but I remember my first: I had to ask four girls to prom. And the fourth one, I didn’t even ask her. My sister did. I didn’t even want to go after swinging and missing three times prior, but my sister asked one of her friends and it was horrible.

The first girl I asked, she thought I asked her to buy lollipops — because I had a bag of candy in my hand which I was selling for charity — and when I asked her to prom, she turned to me and shouted, “No, I don’t want your stupid lollipops!”

So, that was… comforting. The second one was already going with someone else, and the third told me that she wasn’t going, but that was a lie. Andshe was a friend. Oh, it’s good to reminisce.

Do you think it’s important to have a few bad dates?

Cagney: I would say it’s absolutely good for people, if only to make you appreciate happiness even more when you find it. Anyone that’s dated has had at least one date that’s “meh”, and it’s not particularly bad– it’s just that you didn’t click.

When you go out with someone who clearly has had limited person-to-person interaction and doesn’t fully understand human social norms, someone so eager to have sex they’ll literally say or do anything to make that happen, or someone who’s just a total asshole– it helps you to reaffirm who you are and what you want. [Figuring out] who you want to be with can be a tough question, but figuring out who you definitely don’t want to be with can help.

Ryan: If you’re the type of person who continually has great relationships with everyone, why are you continually dating different people? Also, if you’ve never had a bad relationship, you’d be happy… and I’d probably hate you.

Are the majority of the bad dates you come across from online dating sites like OKCupid?

Cagney: Of the first ten episodes we’ve done, half are born of Internet dating, and I’m pretty sure all of the submissions we’ve got for upcoming episodes are internetty as well. I think it’s just the way it’s done now. A few years ago there was still that stigma about online dating… that it was only for freaks, weirdos or anyone who couldn’t possibly meet someone in reality. It was still very much connected to the old VHS video dating services of the 90′s (this is not the norm). Today, most of the people I know find each other online first and then bring it out into the real world.

I recommend it to anyone I know that’s looking. It’s a great way to meet new, different or interesting people. Or, it’s a great way for you to meet a weirdo, have a Bad Date and submit the story to us.

Ryan: Yes, you absolutely should online-date. Join the rest of us in this so you have a story to tell your kids. Or maybe your grandkids. You know what? Just tell your friends. It’s best if we leave kids out of this.

You can find all of Cagney and Ryan’s documentation of bad dates at seriouspeanuts.tumblr.com. Feel free to check out their Facebook at facebook.com/seriouspeanuts or follow @seriouspeanuts on Twitter. Do you have any bad dates you’d like to share with the world? Send your submissions to [email protected] I know I have a good story they’d love to hear.