YouTube sensations Dave and Ethan came to Brandeis as part of Winter Week 2015 on Saturday night.

The duo got their start in 2008 when they posted a YouTube video looking for a double date, which resulted in around 200 double dates and subsequent videos of their dating attempts. According to their website, “Their crash-course education made them into bona fide Dating Experts who now employ horror-date reenactments, songs of love, interactive exercises, and instructive demonstrations as valuable lessons on how to attain the perfect evening.” The two delivered these valuable lessons at their show as part of their current “College Dating Coaches” tour.

Improvisation troupe Boris’ Kitchen opened the show and performed several of their own sketch es, some of which were recycled content from previous shows. One highlight of their set was a satirical skit on gay marriage, resulting in an advisory message that approving gay marriage would result in the dissolution of heterosexual marriages completely.

Up next, comedic duo Dave and Ethan took the stage, bringing both their signature jokes and Brandeis-specific quips.

Dave and Ethan started their set with a skit on a typical day at Brandeis, with each comedian playing the role of a ‘typical’ Brandeis girl. From the start, it was clear that Dave and Ethan had done their research on Brandeisians, resulting in jokes about the living conditions in first-year dorms (Cable Hall basement).

The skit lagged a little bit at first but sped up after they pretended to encounter Dean of Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel in the skit and his “three-piece suit” and friendly greeting. The end of the skit found the two girls at a fraternity party on Dartmouth Street, where Dave and Ethan hilariously ended the skit and proved the dating scene at Brandeis was lackluster.

The next skit was much more interactive with the audience as Dave and Ethan called out for accents that they subsequently used while pretending to ask one of the audience members on a date. Dave tried his hand at a Russian-French accent, at a member of the audience’s request, but the result was more Borat than anything else. Overall, this skit and others showed how much chemistry and energy Dave and Ethan can create with an audience—they aren’t just standing on a stage looking out at the audience. They get to know their crowd and interact with them.

Next, Dave and Ethan asked the audience for a terrible first date story, calling one lucky audience member up to the stage to share her traumatic story with the audience. The student first told her version and then Dave and Ethan reenacted the date twice—the first time hilariously depicting the date and then the next showing how the date should have gone. Both versions were hilarious, and the fast-paced and completely improvised skit showed how talented the two comedians are.

I personally liked the second version better, where Dave played the girl and Ethan played the date. This time, the girl rejected the date’s initial plan of going canoeing and instead made it clear what she wanted to do while taking charge of the date—something the date actually really appreciated. Although comedic, the skit actually taught a valuable lesson about the importance of honesty and communication while dating.

The last skit was a simulated dating show where one girl sat behind a divider while three guys played for her pick. The skit included the typical dating show process and Dave and Ethan asked the three contestants four questions. The funniest question was about what pickup line to use in the library, to which one contestant responded that if he had a nickel for every girl he saw as pretty as her, he would only have five cents.

Dave and Ethan also proved their way around a guitar, with Ethan providing the guitar and both comics singing the hilarious lyrics. Dave and Ethan played several songs throughout the show, but my favorite was the last one where they sang about their failed dating attempts throughout high school and college. The song ended with the lyrics “Sex is overrated, get educated,” which the crowd thoroughly enjoyed.

Another song was called “Maybe,” in which they talked about first dates. Ethan took the more classy lyrics, such as “Maybe we could see a concert … maybe I could even sing to you,” while Dave was the more aggressive date, singing “is it time for us to kiss?... alright, I’ll wait till the appetizers are finished.”

Dave and Ethan’s show was a great addition to the start of the new semester, and the duo definitely have an interesting future down the road. In an interview with the Justice published last week, Dave explained that they are working on a dating show web series that is hosted on Above Average’s YouTube page.