Lane Moore is the Queer Comedian/Rock Star/Love Guru We Need Right Now

· Updated on May 28, 2018

February 14 isn’t the best day to be single, and nobody knows that quite like Lane Moore. Single and sexually fluid, her love life serves as inspiration for her popular standup show, Tinder Live. With the help of friends like Janeane Garofalo and Anna Faris, she puts her online dating efforts on full comedic display, providing a refreshing reminder that being single can be pretty awesome.

A comedian, actress, musician, and writer, she stays busy taking Tinder Live around the country while writing her new book. She can also be seen singing lead vocals for It Was Romance and being particularly snarky to Marnie in an episode of Girls.

We caught up with Moore as she prepares for her Valentine’s performance of Tinder Live at Brooklyn’s Littlefield.

You’re a writer, a singer, a comedian, and an actress. Is there one path you’re focused on right now or do you prefer being well-rounded?

Well, this year I’m releasing my second It Was Romance album, developing some TV projects, a podcast, doing another Tinder Live tour and the NYC Tinder Live shows every month as well, and releasing a book with Simon and Schuster and like 80 other things my brain is too sleepy to remember. I have a comic book called Smarty Pants that I do with my friend Nik. He draws it, and I write it. I design all my stage costumes with my friend Steve Markson, and he makes them.

I guess I just see it as. I’m an artist and I love using so many different mediums equally, depending on what I’m trying to do or say or how I’m trying to make people feel. There’s a line in Six Feet Under where Claire talks about how if you live your life right, you can make every single thing you do into art. She’s supposed to be super high at the time, but I love that quote and that’s how I see life.

You were the dating and relationships editor at Cosmo. Has that always been your focus or inspiration?

Oh man, I guess so, unintentionally? Trying to understand the ways we connect or fail to connect. I’ve been a die-hard hopeless romantic since I was a little kid, and I definitely feel like the last living hopeless romantic in my generation. I feel like the rest of them died, and I’m just chilling here, getting swept up in season two The Office episodes and crying, and everyone else is like, “You’re an idiot. That doesn’t happen and love is dumb.” And I’m like, “Oh… Ok, but I don’t think so?”

I’m writing a lot about that in my book because I know I’m not actually the only one who feels like that at all. And it has definitely been pervasive in my career, but I started out as a stand-up comedian and wrote for The Onion for a long time, and McSweeney’s and The New Yorker, and I was always writing and producing It Was Romance songs while that was happening. So, I guess I come from that comedy/music background, but a lot of what comedy and music explores is love and relationships.

Do you have a lot of people still turning to you for dating advice?

Oh yeah, I’m definitely that person, which I think is lovely. I really do want people to love each other more and be more careful and compassionate with each other. I definitely get emails from people who are like, “I read your article or saw your tweet or something and it helped me dump my shitty partner, and now I’m getting married.” Or, “I read your article and I’m a hopeless romantic, and I keep thinking I should stop it and just have casual sex but I can’t, and you made me feel like that’s ok that I can’t.” I don’t know these people, but also, I really do on some level. It means a lot to me.

You’ve also been doing Tinder Live for some time now. How did that come about?

I created the show literally the first time I went on Tinder and immediately just had a million jokes per profile, and now I’ve been doing it for over four years and it’s touring the world and sells out in NYC every month and it is just one of my favorite fucking things on the planet to do. And when the New York Times wrote this huge story about it, I just felt so fucking proud and seen because I created that show from nothing, and now I constantly have random people I’ll meet on the street who will tell me how much the show means to them and how they never laugh as hard as they do at Tinder Live.

And that’s what I wanted. I wanted it to be the funniest comedy show ever but also to create a sense of community for people to feel less alone in the world. it has been the greatest gift, honestly. and it’s truly created a sense of community for me as well for sure.

You’ve had Janeane Garofalo as a guest, and you’ve brought some of your material to Anna Faris’s podcast recently. Is there anyone else you want to bring on the show?

Oh man, I’d love to have Aubrey Plaza on. Neko Case, Fiona Apple, Chan Marshall, Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Natasha Lyonne, St. Vincent, Kristen Stewart, Kate McKinnon, Leisha Hailey, Mo’Nique, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Lena Waithe, Jill Soloway, Abbi and Ilana from Broad City, Aziz Ansari, Bob Odenkirk, Michael Showalter, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, Cheri Oteri, Ana Gasteyer, Kristen Wiig, Aidy Bryant, Mya Rudolph, Michael Ian Black, and literally anyone from Wet Hot American Summer. Paul Rudd, Jason Segel. Judd Aapatow. Beyoncé. Fuck it, why not? I love so many people.

Is it ever awkward or uncomfortable being so open about your love life?

I don’t think I’m actually that open about it, but I do keep a close watch on how open I’m being because I don’t want to get into that dangerous territory of like “this is a funny tweet” but then it fucks up your actual personal life.

What’s the most memorable online dating encounter that comes to mind?

Pass. (LAUGHS) I need a truly wonderful date to happen this year. It’s so overdue, you have no idea.

As a sexually fluid person, do you find yourself educating people and tearing down the stigma of bi erasure through your stand-up and your writing?

I have some stand-up jokes about it, for sure. I talk about it a lot on Twitter, and I won a GLAAD award for talking about LGBTQ issues a lot at Cosmo, so I hope I’m helping to do that.

You sing about mental health as well. Is that a topic that’s particularly important to you?

It influences everything I do, so it’s going to come through the things I’m creating. Chronic illness is… it’s a lot. And I love hearing people say, “This song really meant so much to me because it’s literally how I feel.” That’s what music and comedy and writing and TV always was for me, something that reflected myself back to me when nothing else did. I feel so grateful when the things I’m making are able to be that for someone else.

Do you find your music to be a therapeutic outlet?

I guess some ideas just come out as songs, and that’s how they’re expressed at that time. Usually when it’s a very overpowering emotion I have no words for, I have a song for it that needs to come out. And I’ll process it that way.

You recently did an Empire Records tribute show, and one of your videos was a tribute to Fiona Apple. Would you say that era has kind of shaped you as an artist?

Absolutely. Mostly because I didn’t really get into the ‘90s during the ‘90s because I barely remember the ‘90s. It was a really rough time in my life, but I remember so many ‘90s bands and TV shows so fucking fondly, it really kind of is a safe space for me that I get trapped in, even though in real life it was not a safe time at all.

You also have a book coming out. What does that explore?

Loneliness in all its forms, hopeless romanticism in the face of having had a really rough past and seeing no evidence that it still exists, and how to be with yourself when you feel like you have no one, or quite literally have no one.

Follow Lane Moore on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For more info on her upcoming shows and books, visit her website.

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