Nightlife

The art of introducing friends at a nightclub

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Who likes cupcakes? Rick Lax bites it at Marquee.
Photo: Al Powers

I used to be a pickup artist. Go ahead and cringe or gag or crack a joke—everybody does—but don’t tell me my time was wasted. I learned lots of useful skills from the PUA community, like how to introduce friends in a way that gets the conversational ball rolling.

Marquee at the Cosmo

Monday night, the ball needed a nudge. A couple nudges, actually. I hosted a party in Marquee’s Library room and brought with me a group of 50, many of whom didn’t know each other. Some had just turned 21, others were 60. Some were writers (read: antisocial), some were magicians (read: overly social) and some were Canadians.

When introducing friends in clubs, most people say, “This is Jennifer and this is Paul.” Then they leave it to Jen and Paul to find something to talk about. But the PUA knows better. The PUA knows to say, “This is Jennifer. She just moved here from Germany, and she’s a singer. And this is Paul. He’s a mentalist, and he bends spoons with his mind.” After intros like that, it’s hard not to delve right into conversation.

The other clever thing PUAs do when introducing friends is give compliments. “This is Justin—he taught me everything I know about card tricks.” When you compliment somebody it conveys confidence and it makes you look cool by association.

So if you ever run into me at the Library, or anywhere else on the Strip, make sure I introduce you to my friends. They’re all talented and amazing ... and they taught me everything I know.

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