Dating Doctor Comes to Mason

By Broadside Staff Writer Dylan Hares

I sometimes think myself to be a bit of a cynic when it comes to self-help gurus; so by definition as I sat down in the Johnson Center Atrium on Friday night, I had low expectations and high skepticism. But to be fair, I decided to give love and dating guru David Coleman a fair shot as I listened to his message — mainly since my own dating life isn’t anything to boast about. Testimonials on Coleman’s website hail him as the messiah who has come unto us to deliver his message of dating success. Needless to say, in consequence of the aforementioned testimonials, his calendar is packed full of daily university talks and he offers a plethora of free dating advice online.

As the big hand on the clock was nearing show time, I looked around to witness a much healthier turnout than I expected for so late on the Friday night of Labor Day weekend. Prior to the start of the actual show, David Coleman took the stage to pitch the upcoming seminar by promising to solve every dating woe you’ve ever had in a seemingly-insignificant-but-not-really-because-he’s-got-so-much-to-say 90-minute performance. Suffice it to say, when the “dating doctor” actually took the stage around 9:05 p.m., he gave the initial impression of being quite funny and charming. As most people would agree, first impressions are everything and I must admit the audience was quite captivated with his humorous anecdotes.

He really was taking the whole “Will Smith played me in the 2005 movie called Hitch” thing to the bank. Coleman has been “performing” (really, it’s the most appropriate term) for at least 11 years while another dating expert by the name of David Wygant has been performing for at least 20. No one on internet forums can really decide who the movie Hitch was actually made about, but Coleman claims that it was him, so I’ll leave the debate at that.

Coleman released a few disclaimers at the beginning of the seminar. The one that really stuck with me was the one where he said he was going to be slightly offensive to “just about everyone who [could] hear [his] voice.” True to his word, he wasn’t shy about mild cursing or taboo topics.

I waited with bated breath as he began unveiling his dating secrets. As it turned out —and somewhat as I expected — it was a lot of common sense stuff that anybody who has ever had a relationship could probably tell you. He talked a lot about how to know if someone of the opposite sex is into you and how to make yourself a better lover. Again, something most people know by college. On the plus side, despite all of the information being for the most part confirmation and review of known material, his presentation was flawless and he never lost the focus and concentration of his audience. One original thing about Coleman’s advice was his plentiful use of acronyms. A hand-out given out at the beginning of the show featured such pleasant snippets of advice as the ABC’s of Initial Interest (attraction, believability, chemistry, and desire to learn more about them), the Five Stages of a Relationship, and the Five Characteristics of a Healthy Relationship. But after careful analysis of his clever acronyms, it seems to me that all of this advice is just common sense that you recognize but can’t put a name to--certainly nothing I would pay $20 dollars for (the price of his book).

But if you sift through all of the acronyms and sex advice, David Coleman’s main goal seemed to be in helping people with their confidence — a noble goal to be sure. He made sure everyone knew that they are a good catch and that they are special and they are beautiful and they will find someone. He ended his performance with a very “feel-good” slide show that I’m sure left the audience feeling very... good. All in all, that’s what is important — for everyone to feel their best in whatever relationship they are in; and that, I think, is the “real-life” dating doctor’s true message.