A Few Laughs At Love's Expense

Spencer Fordin, The Santa Fe New Mexican
·2 min read

Jan. 27—It's the one elemental truth of putting yourself out there in the dating world.

You have to slog through a lot of rejection to find the person that fits you.

Love Sucks — a Valentine's Day stand-up special brought to life by CloudTop Comedy Festival — will celebrate the awkward first dates and the soul-crushing monotony of courting in the instant match era.

Local comedian Isabel Madley will host the evening, and headliners Christie Buchele and Robert "Buck D" Gipson will tell you their own war stories of hot dates and bewildering encounters with people seeking connections.

"Everyone that I've chosen for this show has some great experience with relationship drama," says Jessica Baxter, founder and director of CloudTop Comedy Festival. "They're going to bring that to the stage."

Baxter is teasing, but it won't be hard for them to find some topical dating humor. Buchele, a Denver-based comedian, has joked that her chief hazard as a single person is "trying to keep cat hair off my vibrator."

It's inevitable, says Baxter, that relationship humor creeps into a comedian's set.

It doesn't matter if they're married or single; they talk about their relationships because it's a universal bond with the audience.

They could just as easily have a Valentine's comedy show that celebrates love.

But maybe you've seen that before.

"I think it's just a little tounge in cheek," says Baxter of the Love Sucks theme. "People have been doing the same boring thing for Valentine's Day for so long. We've reached peak frustration with dating apps, with dating in general, and with the commercialization of Valentine's Day."

Baxter brought CloudTop Comedy Festival to life in 2019, and it endured a two-year hiatus during the pandemic. It came back last September, and Baxter says a few members of the Santa Fe Playhouse creative team attended.

Now, with its involvement in the Santa Fe Art + Sol Winter Festival, CloudTop is set to play a comedy event at the Playhouse for the very first time.

"We're just over the moon to be in this gorgeous, intimate, historic theater," says Baxter. "This is just a perfect place for us to host the show."

Love Sucks: A Valentine's Stand-Up Comedy Show

7 p.m., Feb. 14

Santa Fe Playhouse, 142 E. De Vargas St.

Tickets $30 and up, artsolsantafe.org