A Group Date With the Clubhouse-Famous 'NYU Girls Roasting Tech Guys'

On the hunt for post-lockdown love matches (and brand extensions). From left to right: Devin, Lydia, Page, Mare, Mallika, Lauren, Callie, and Sarah. Photo: Barron Roth From left to right: Devin, Lydia, Page, Mare, Mallika, Lauren, Callie, and Sarah. Photo: Barron Roth I’ll be honest: Straights who work in tech are usually not my scene. But last spring, at the height of late-lockdown Clubhouse mania, I took notice of “NYU Girls Roasting Tech Guys,” a room on the invitation-only audio app that became part-dating-game show, part-podcast, and part pandemic-times theater. The backstory was that eight recent NYU grads, trapped inside without nightlife, came up with the idea to turn their chatroom into a “bar simulation.” They invited users to pitch themselves (or “shoot their shot” in the weird Shark Tank parlance of Clubhouse) to potential romantic partners in the room. The NYU Girls emceed, asking probing questions and occasionally roasting the suitors. If there was interest on the grid, it was signaled by the phrase, “My DMs are open.” After Elon Musk entered Clubhouse, sending the app into a glitch that locked 800 people in the girls’ chat room, word spread on Twitter. The next night, they had 5,000 listeners. Soon after, there were…
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