Rebecca De Unamuno

Rebecca De Unamuno is looking for love. It's that journey that's led to her adventures in the bizarre practice that is internet dating, and subsequently given her inspiration for her new show, Kiss My Date.

Initially, De Unamuno was as apprehensive as anyone about internet dating. Who wouldn't be afraid of meeting complete strangers after only exchanging a few emails? But says, “once you get into the swing of it, it's very easy to spot the people you should avoid.”

Once she'd sifted out those obvious psychos, the next thing to look out for was flat-out liars. Of course there are the inevitable individuals that look completely different to their flattering profile pic. “Often the photos are so different. There was one guy who I'm sure had lost about 20 kilos. He was so thin when I saw him, like, to the point of me barely recognising him. I was like, 'Whoa, you can't be the same guy'. I thought it was really strange that he'd chosen to use a photo of when he was bigger.”

Or maybe they've lied through their profile information. “I learnt that a lot of people don't feel the need to be honest when they fill out those questionnaires and will just fill out their profiles to attract someone that they think they want.”

Of course of the few that remain, there'll be a couple that are just downright awkward. De Unamuno says telling people she's a comedian runs the risk of them turning round and saying, “'Oh, you're that one that does that hideous show'. They might have an occupation where there's no chance I would have seen them do their work, I'm not going to say to someone, 'You strike me as someone who would be a really crap dentist'.”

If nothing else, her time in the world of internet dating has provided some great source material for Kiss My Date, in which she plays some of the guys she never got to meet. “I imagine what they would have been like just based on their messages alone. It's quite an honest show; I talk about the whole online dating experience but also my disastrous love life as a whole.”