On Monday morning, four lucky bachelors took a chance at romance with one of Hollywood’s biggest, most talented, and most beloved stars, joining the Stern Show as contestants on The Drew Barrymore Dating Game. Drew Barrymore is not dating anyone currently. And she’s made it clear that she is perfectly comfortable being single. On the other hand, Howard Stern and his wife are not reassured. They are actively attempting to match Drew with “the man of her dreams. The quartet of suitors was hand-picked by Howard, his wife Beth, and executive producer Gary Dell’Abate and included a popular singer-songwriter, a Broadway artist, a martial arts instructor, and comedian, and Stern Show staffer Jonathan Blitt.
During her multiple interviews on his SiriusXM show, Howard and Drew discussed her relationships extensively. However, they have also done so off the air. Despite the fact that Howard has only recently resumed public socializing, he and his wife have maintained a friendship with the lauded 50 First Dates star. They both want her to be with someone.
While Howard has previously showcased dating games on his show, this one is intended to be taken seriously. Drew has also given her permission. While she doesn’t appear to be desperate for a man, she is open to who Beth and Howard pick. And Howard and Beth are fixated on finding the perfect match for Drew.
Among the contenders is a man Beth briefly dated before meeting Howard. Howard even admitted on his October 19th, 2022, show that he had turned down numerous high-profile individuals. The game involves choosing people with whom they believe Drew would get along. The game’s rules were straightforward, Drew couldn’t see the men, but she could ask them questions in order to find a match. However, before bringing on the renowned 47-year-old actress and talk-show host, Howard and Robin Quivers introduced the contestants to their audiences.
Jonathan Blitt
Howard, Beth, and Gary have put in a lot of effort to find the best candidates for The Drew Barrymore Dating Game. However, some Howard Stern Show employees are eager to get in on the action. Among them is a writer and The Howard Stern Show staff member Jonathan Blitt, a writer/producer. While Howard and Beth quickly dismissed Benjy’s request to compete for Drew’s heart (mostly because he’s always busy), Beth attempted to persuade her husband to allow Jon to participate. But Howard appeared to be adamant about denying his staffers access to the Hollywood star.
“I’m a strong proponent of Blitt being in,” producer Gary Dell’Abate said on October 19th before implying that Jon is “the type of funny” Drew prefers. Some of the other staff members agreed with Jon, while others tried to persuade Howard to disagree.
Joshua Radin
Joshua Radin, 48, is a singer, songwriter, and animal lover who performed at the wedding of Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi. “You have to meet someone and settle down for a while, don’t you?” Howard asked while being inquisitive. Radin’s musical career began in 2004, despite the fact that he had only managed to learn to play the guitar two years before. His first single, “Winter,” was released on his debut album, We Were Here. Radin has since toured extensively throughout the United States, as well as the United Kingdom and Europe. Radin has shared the stage with Sheryl Crow, Tori Amos, Meiko, Missy Higgins, Gary Jules, Amber Rubarth, The Script, and a slew of other artists. Simple Times, Radin’s 2008 release, was a success in the United Kingdom in addition to his American fan base. His song “I’d Rather Be With You” peaked at No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 2 on the US Top Digital Chart.
Joshua Radin was born and raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, to a Jewish family of Polish, German, Austrian, and Russian ancestry. He studied drawing and painting at Northwestern University before working as an art teacher, screenwriter, and gallery employee. When Radin moved to New York City, his father bought him a guitar, and he taught himself to play and compose music. In 2004, American actor Zach Braff, a friend of Radin’s from their days at Northwestern, introduced Radin’s first composition, “Winter,” to Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence, who eventually used several of Radin’s songs in multiple scenes of the television series.
Diego Lopez
“Bachelor #3 is no slouch either,” Howard said during the show, referring to MMA fighter and stand-up comedian Diego Lopez. Diego Lopez is a stand-up comedian and MMA instructor. ” I’m not always sure which comes first,” Lopez said in an interview with Nihilift. On stage, he would riff on his job and the specifics of working out. However, in recent months, Lopez’s comedy has taken on an adversarial tone. He’d scold the audience with suggestions and remarks.
“Long-term would be great, especially with someone like Drew,” Diego assured Howard and Robin. But it seems like Lopez has been living his shtick lately. The act has evolved to include online workout videos dubbed Nihilift. Fully committing to the joke, the comedian insists that the videos aren’t intended to be funny at all but rather a reflection of a society that has grown physically and mentally lazy in its own contentment. They serve as both a training manual and a depressing life lesson. I recently sat down with Lopez to discuss Nihilift and his new approach to fitness.
Clarke Thorell
Barrymore told Clarke Thorell, who video chatted into the studio that she chose him out of four possible matches because he was “the only person who gave an honest answer” when she asked what he was looking for. Clark, who describes himself as “free” and “open-minded,” also openly stated that there was another woman in the picture.
Clarke Thorell joined the Lincoln Center Theater production of My Fair Lady in June 2018, playing Professor Zoltan Karpathy and Henry Higgins as an understudy to Harry Hadden-Paton. Clarke made his Broadway breakthrough in Des McAnuff’s The Who’s Tommy, and he also played Kruger in the Broadway revival of The Front Page, starring Nathan Lane, John Slattery, and John Goodman. He received boos and hisses for his roles as Corny Collins in Hairspray, Jim Farrell in Titanic, and Rooster Hannigan in the 2013 Broadway revival of Annie. Clarke performed in Sinatra: His Voice at Radio City Music Hall in place of guitar virtuoso John Pizzarelli.
His film and television credits include It’s His World, The Post, Chicago Med, Elementary, The Winning Season, The Americans, The Good Wife, The Knick, Kings, House of Cards, Men in Black III, Boardwalk Empire, NYC 2-2, Rescue Me, Law & Order – SVU, and The Sopranos.
Clarke’s off-Broadway credits include the critically acclaimed Cloud Nine (in which he played Cathy, a 4-year-old British girl), Satellites, Lone Star Love, Sondheim’s Saturday Night, and the New York Theatre Workshop’s developmental production of Sondheim’s Wise Guys, directed by Sam Mendes and musically directed solely by Ted Sperling. Clarke has performed with ABBA, Dave Brubeck, Liza Minnelli, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Pete Townshend, Sting, The Red Clay Ramblers, and Michael McElroy’s Broadway Inspirational Voices as a vocalist. “Songs I Wish I’d Written,” his first solo NYC show, debuted at Birdland Jazz Club, and he regularly performs at 54 Below, Joe’s Pub, and other venues across the country. Clarke is very proud of his ear for mimesis and impersonation and aspires to be the best at it. He hopes to be the official voice of Walt Disney’s Donald Duck.
Drew asked the men a few more questions about their relationship histories, what they were looking for in a partner, and what they would do if she didn’t choose them. A couple of contestants stated that they would contact her via social media, but not Bachelor #3, who did not want to clutter up her D.M.s. Drew was having trouble narrowing it down, so Howard revealed more information about each contestant to assist her. She finally made a decision.
Drew chose Broadway actor Clarke Thorell as her Date. Drew would soon meet Clarke, but first, she needed to meet Diego, Jonathan, and Joshua — the three guys she didn’t pick. All three were good sports, and Joshua, who admitted he’d never done anything like this before, said he’d probably contact Drew again sometime in the future. In a blog article following the episode, she commented, “I’m sure there was a point in my life where six months might have seemed extreme, but I’m on the other side of that now,” and went on to explain that as an adult, she has “very different feelings about intimacy” than she did as a child.
It remained to be determined whether Clarke and Drew would fall in love, but the actress was grateful Howard and Beth had cared enough to set her up. “I will never forget this moment in my life,” Barrymore stated. “No one has ever done something like this for me before.”
