- I'm trying to be a tambourine on Sunday, okay,
just clap, clap, clap.
That's what I want.
I'm drunk, I don't give a (beep).
Wait, that's me, Joyce.
You might know me for being your local internet bestie,
confidant, or badass (beep).
But there's one thing you might not know about me.
I've never had a boyfriend.
(upbeat music)
Welcome to my room.
You know that I've never had a boyfriend before.
And this week I'm challenging myself to find love,
like in a fan fiction, a romance, a meet-cute,
main character energy.
Fan fictions are stories on like known characters,
that are created by the fans.
Story always starts off so subtle.
Like, that the main character is having their own ambitions
or they're trying to figure out life.
And then they stumble onto that person,
it's that meet-cute moment.
Here's the issue, I have really high standards.
I'm a fan girl, fan fiction writer,
and I've been watching romances
before I even know how to speak.
But I feel like in the moment,
it could be kind of daunting.
You're going about your day
and then you suddenly meet the one?
That sounds intense.
So with the help of my best friend, Lindsay,
we are going to be spending the week
putting myself out there
and creating the most ideal situations to find love.
I mean, why not?
I ain't got nothing else to do.
- Joyce, hi!
- Yes, hi!
- My name's Monique Kelley, I'm a dating coach.
- Wow.
- And I am here to help you live your best dating life.
- It's really hard for me because I've always been
a very much a situation-ship, fling kind of person.
- And why nothing serious yet?
- I just feel like for me as a tall, dark skinned,
plus size black woman, I'm never allowed femininity.
I'm never allowed softness.
And the people that do show interest in me
just want a savior and someone who's strong.
And I've never been with someone that I could rely on.
All the people that I was seeing, I didn't feel it.
I couldn't settle.
I'm a fan girl.
I wanna feel the love and the romance
that I see every day, walking through life.
- I always like to tell people out of all the millions
and millions and millions of people in the world
you just need one, the one that's perfect for you.
So they do exist.
It is possible to meet that guy that's in the rom-com
in your head.
Let's talk about what you are looking for, your ideal man.
- I already know who my dream man is, I already know.
My dream man, the man I dream about.
- [Monique] Okay.
- The man, the man that I want more than anything,
is RM from BTS.
(Joyce and Monique laugh)
- What is it about him that you love?
- I love that he's hardworking, I love that he loves art.
I love that, I'm such an art ho, I love going to galleries.
- So like art, okay.
It is so okay to have a preference of what you like.
A lot of times, people are like,
lower your expectations, lower your standards.
Now, if your list, again, was like, you know,
he needs to have blue eyes, he has to do all this.
Then we would have a lot more to work with.
- I really need advice because I do want to know
what it's like to have that perfect meet-cute.
- You are now the main character in this rom-com movie.
You like reading, you like art museums,
these are all great places to meet men.
I want you to write the first chapter
in the Joyce rom-com movie.
What does it look like?
How does it play out?
Who's the guy that you see from across the room.
I don't want you going into this, Joyce,
I don't want you going into this talkin' 'bout,
well I'm not gonna try this (beep),
I'm not gonna meet anybody, or they're not gonna,
no, we're going into it like,
you know what, this might actually work.
- [Lindsay] There she is.
- Here I am, my belt isn't even on all the way.
The first place I would love to find my dream partner,
is a bookstore.
- So we're headed to a bookstore today.
- And my goal is to have a meet-cute.
Like we talked to the therapist,
and like, I was like, okay, okay.
But now I feel like today I'm like, holy poop balls.
- Do we need to start channeling the open to love?
- Open to love, open to love.
I think the bookstore's the most classic place
to find somebody.
- [Lindsay] It kind of is.
- People who read books, you know,
they're willing to have deep conversations about things.
Also, they're probably financially well off
if they're at a bookstore on a Tuesday morning.
- True.
How are you feelin'?
- I'm feeling good.
It's giving me, you know, the beginning of a, a meet-cute.
Beautiful single girl walks into small town bookstore,
her hand drags over each and every single book.
- Woo!
- She's lost in the story.
And when she goes to pull a book out, the book falls
and then there appear a hand that touches her
as she reaches for the book and the love story begins.
- Chills.
Joyce, go, I'm gonna hide in this corner.
I went incognito, I should have brought my sunglasses.
- You should have brought your sunglasses.
Walking around in the bookstore,
I had no idea what the hell I was doing.
I'm scared.
At least I don't have to worry about my breath smelling
because I'm wearing a mask.
I'm manifesting a six foot three God,
to come into this bookstore.
I feel like on the outside, I seem very cool.
But on the inside it's like wah, bap, bap, bap, bah!
- So when you at the bookstore, you can say, you know,
what are you reading?
Or, you know, that looks good,
someone told me about that, blah, blah.
And start the conversation.
And again, take your time and just be natural with it,
right?
- Dancing my nerves away.
- We waited for anybody to come through the door.
Did anyone come?
- People came.
- See that guy over there with the pearl necklace?
- [Joyce] Oh yeah.
- [Lindsay] Do you like him?
- No, he's cute.
He looks like every TikTok star.
But you know that girl is his girlfriend, right?
- That's his girlfriend?
- Oh yeah, they were holding hand when they walked in.
- Dammit!
We've seen some men.
- We have.
- But one of them had a wedding ring,
the other one is we're questioning the sexuality,
then another guy was too short.
- I know that,
even though I didn't immediately get to meet someone
I was so proud of myself because I feel
like I got a warm up and I felt like I was ready
and excited to see what would happen next.
Will I find love?
- Just playing.
- I love myself, (beep)
- I want you to start looking in the grocery store, there.
- If I find love at Trader Joe's.
- [Monique] I'm telling you.
- I'm at the grocery store and Lindsay is not with me.
I am on my own.
- If a man has a big ass cart, generally speaking,
that means that he's in a relationship or married.
- Okay.
- Okay, small basket, few items here and there,
he is usually single.
- This is hard.
Saw this one guy, but I could barely see his face
and he was wearing sunglasses.
- You go to the grocery store and everyone is, like,
choosing food and you're choosing men.
- A girl's gotta eat.
It's hard in the real world, Tinder's so easy.
Something interesting happened.
I went into the freezer section and then I see this really
really, really, really, really, really cute guy.
What are you looking for?
- [Man] Uh, these pancakes, the gluten-free ones.
- Looking at them, so I was like, I was gonna get 'em.
- Nah, I aint never had them, but people get then a lot.
- I keep a healthy, but what's your name?
(beep)
Joyce, nice to meet you.
Guys, I did it.
I talked to someone cute at the grocery store.
- Okay, well, did you ask for his number?
- No. Monique reminded me that
if they don't ask for my cell phone number
then they're not interested, which is totally cool.
And I know that my tambourines will be clapped
like Sunday morning,
by someone who's probably taller and hotter.
We are outside the art gallery.
- Woo!
- Finding love in the art gallery is peak Joyce.
I love art boys, art boys, art boys.
I love boys who love art.
I just feel like,
this is very much giving RM BTS, art ho like me.
I have the same dream every night
of meeting the love of my life in the art gallery.
I walk into the gallery midday,
because I have nothing to do and I have high credit score.
And I'm looking at the most beautiful piece of art.
Lost in the texture, the design, the collage,
the acrylic paint, and someone comes up to me
and they look at the painting
and they say something beautiful.
And we look at each other and the love story begins.
And no one was there.
- Not a single soul.
Just pretend you're dating yourself, today.
I'm gonna go pretend I'm not with you, and let's do this.
- Let's do this.
- Honestly, we had fun.
I'm scouting for men, but really there's none.
We had a BFF date, kind of, by the end of it.
- What do you see when you're looking at this?
- Something like, death.
- I can definitely see that.
Even though there isn't a lot of people here,
I definitely have to say that this is one
of the most romantic dates I've ever been on.
- These are all just steps to love yourself more.
And to just put yourself out there
in these situations that you wouldn't have before.
- I still kind of got the feeling
that something great is gonna happen.
I'm gonna play both parts.
Oh my God, look at that piece of art.
Joyce, you are the piece of art.
But our love is forbidden.
No, you're forbidden.
And then I run away.
- For our finale meet-cute,
I decided to host a little open mic night.
- I am getting ready and I am definitely feeling the nerves.
I'm gonna perform a poem.
I wearing like this cute all black outfit,
gotta make sure I lotion my legs.
But I feel like this week, like going to all these places
even though there wasn't like people there,
I really felt like I was looking at myself
from a new perspective, you know?
And I'm so excited for this open mic night.
(upbeat music)
- Hello, everybody, welcome to open mic night.
(audience snaps)
- I invited some eligible bachelors
because the pickins' have been dry, thus far.
- We've been in a lot of empty places.
- We have some awesome performances today.
So let's give it up for our first performer.
(audience snaps)
- Hey guys, name's KP,
and this poem's called Perfect.
I don't mean to say it in any way that you had to be,
that I wanted you to be that that you needed to be perfect.
Human means were flawed,
made and created to do great things
to achieve the extraordinary, but we get caught up.
- My first impression of KP is that he was a great poet.
I'm not gonna lie.
Once he said poetry, I was like purr, purr, purr.
- I wasn't looking to this world's test.
Amber tone, curvaceous hips, hypnotic eyes, luscious lips,
no, those things aren't on my list.
Perfect on the screen, that's not perfect to me.
- When he was talking about,
I love you just as you are girl, I said purr, okur?
- You're not perfect.
And you see, that's what makes you perfect to me.
(audience snaps)
- Hey, everybody, I'm Sterling Perez.
Today I'm going to do a little piece.
It's a little bit of, a little hip hop.
I left my notepad and went off the brain.
I got a new passport and went on the plane.
I ran it up, it was part of the plan.
And I shared a world with my brother's, their gang.
- Sterling is cool.
Sterling's like the kind of guy
I would have been obsessed with when I was like 21,
like he wears like the jeans with the zippers.
He has the dreads.
- I put the team on my back, Hercules.
I'm Superman and my chick's Lois Lane.
In every word that I say, 'cause I mean it.
And I dropped outta school, now they think I'm a genius.
- And I loved his rap.
As soon as I heard his rap, purr, meow, meow, meow, purr,
purr, purr, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.
- I ran it up.
It was part of their plan.
Now I'll share the world with my brothers, the gang.
Thank you.
(audience snaps)
- Everyone did amazing performances.
They're doing the thing, they're living in their art,
and I go up there, I was so nervous.
How, oop!
(microphone feedback)
My stomach was in knots, my hands were sweating.
I felt like I was that girl who was 14 again.
Love is a game that I've never really played
but I know what love looks like.
It's a smile my father makes, when he looks at my mother.
The soft kisses of young lovers, outside the club.
My friends holding their hearts in their hands.
To those that can never love them enough.
It's a disagreement with all the wrong words
but all the right intentions, love is wishing
for the right person at the wrong time.
There are parts of myself because of trauma,
that are closed off.
And every word that came out my mouth, it was like
am I allowed to speak?
Is this okay?
Maybe I need to forget love.
Then I see her in the glint of the eyes
of my friend's smiles.
In the moment of which someone reaches out
to someone without hesitation.
Love is a game that I've never really played,
but maybe I should.
Thank you.
(audience snaps)
- I really liked Joyce's poem.
Especially as a poet, I, I love her emotions
and how it was coming from a place of vulnerability.
- She touched on some subjects
that I personally would never do on stage.
I might cry or something, like.
It really opened your eyes to her vulnerable side.
- It felt good.
And I said it, I'm proud of myself for that.
- Everyone wore their heart on their sleeve.
It was just a really vulnerable environment,
and I think it was very romantic, anyway.
- So after the open mic night was done,
I remember what Monique said.
And I started a conversation with the guys.
I really enjoyed your poem.
- Well, thank you.
- There's very, when you do poetry, you're very confident.
- Yeah. That has to do with, like, my art.
And when I did my poetry, it was like a devotion for me.
I'd learned more about myself, the more I did it.
- My conversations with KP were really great.
He told me to keep writing poetry.
- It was really cool.
- So it sounds like in your desperation, you,
you started taking from a well
that you've been filling up.
My advice, keep digging from that well, until it's empty.
So that,
- So that what?
- So that, that well can be filled up with greater things.
So, that's my advice.
- When you speak all that poetry (beep), I mean whoa!
Gonna make a girl cry at the function.
- And then when I saw you talking to Sterling,
you guys were laughing so much.
It was so cute.
- So how did you get into rap?
Like I loved your rap.
- It's a crazy story.
I don't know if you ready for it.
- Hey.
- So when I was younger, I wanted to do music
and my dad caught me rapping one day with my friend,
and he told me
that I would never be as big as Biggie Smalls.
Like, I naturally just became a Tupac fan.
- Yeah.
- And I moved to California.
- He told me his, almost his full life story.
And we had intellectual conversations
about art, and music, and Basquiat, and film.
- Oh, look, this my favorite tattoo.
- Basquiat, have all his books.
I went to his last showing.
- My first impression of Joyce was a really open person.
You know, you can tell where her heart is.
- I really thought she had a very childlike spirit.
She welcomes you into the room.
- It was so interesting because both of them,
individually, asked for my Instagram.
(air horn sound)
- Meeting Joyce tonight made me really feel
like we can definitely be friends.
- Yeah, I would definitely love to hang out with Joyce again
outside of mic night.
Maybe we could check out some art museums or a movie.
- I have seen you go from just making jokes
about this video,
to now fully having put yourself out there.
And it's so magical to watch
because I just feel like this is the beginning.
- Putting yourself out there
and doing it over and over again,
eventually you're going to get a result from that.
Embrace the uncomfortable.
- After this whole experience,
like maybe something will come of it
and maybe something won't.
But at the end of the day, everyone deserves to feel
like the main character in their own fan fiction,
their own love story, their own romance.
- You feel like that, Joyce?
- Hell yeah.
(Lindsay gasps)
- Twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk.
(dramatic music)