The Dating Guy

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Young and Useless, Restless and Wild,"
"We're wasting away, but we do it in style,"

An Canadian animated tv series created by Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg, It tells the story of Mark Dexler, a guy looking for love in all the wrong places (and usually the strange places too)

Mark's friends are:

The series started in 2009. Can be seen on Teletoon at Night and Hulu here's the website. Warning: NSFW.

Tropes used in The Dating Guy include:
  • The Alcoholic - While all of the characters on the show are heavy drinkers, Zorro, VJ's raccoon, takes the cake.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys - Ginger, one of Mark's girlfriends, becomes more interested when he gets involved in a gang war.
    • Inverted, though, with VJ's girlfriend Lily, who became interested in her date when she saw his sensitive side.
  • All Men Are Perverts and All Women Are Lustful - Including a dying boy, who exploits a scheme Sam hatches to touch her breasts.
  • Always Someone Better - For VJ, this is his cousin, Sanjamar, who is rich, attractive, and gets many women.
  • The Antichrist - Sam thinks her date's son is him. As it turns out, he just didn't take his Ritalin.
  • Arranged Marriage and Citizenship Marriage - Both shown in the episode "Deranged Marriage"
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking - To convince a doctor he is insane, Anderson mentions a slew of crazy jobs he has. And that he also worked for one week in Gap Kids.
  • Anything That Moves - While, for the most part, the group dates and does normal people, sometimes things can get...bizarre. At one point, Mark comments being turned on by a pack of wolves.
  • Atlantis - Russell Peters recruits the group in an attempt to find it.
  • Bad Boss - Denise routinely comes on to both Mark and Bryce (the latter of which she actually had sex with), Bryce, while not Mark's actual boss, is an authority figure and actively enjoys humiliating him and VJ, taking a picture of VJ with a golf-putting device on his genitals just to drive up his Facebook traffic.
  • Bald of Evil - Discussed by Sam and Woody when her date, Carl, is bald. According to Woody, all bald men are evil.
  • Bank Robbery - Bonnie does one. The plot of "Bonnie and Mark" deals with the escapade after the robbery.
  • The Bartender - Both Woody and Celia, although Woody goes on his own adventures. The life of one is discussed by Mark and Woody in "Brother from Another Tanning Booth."
  • Batman Gambit - Connie, a weathergirl fired from her position due to a blunder by Mark, engineers one on him. It works.
  • Beastess - Rhonda, a she-wolf. Mark still does her.
  • Betty and Veronica - Mark dates Shari, who is intellectual and witty, and her puppet Malory, who is foul-mouthed, makes sexual jokes, and is downright rude to Sam and Anderson. Mark considers Malory real, not interested in Shari at all unless Malory is a part of it.
  • Big Eater - Vince's superior officer is always seen eating.
  • Bi the Way - Woody is shown actively chasing girls, but he makes a comment about having a number of sugar daddies.
    • Mark also brings a condom when he's up for promotion; he'll do anything for his boss Brian Booyah.
    • Vince comments that his male superior officer has a sweet ass.
    • Captain Steiner
  • Billy Needs an Organ - Marie-Claire, one of Mark's dates, promises him sex in exchange for a kidney to save her brother.
  • Blondes Are Evil - Some of Mark's Girl of the Week's are more evil than others, and, lo and behold, they are blonde. This includes Bonnie (a bank robber), Brie (who commits an insurance scam with her family), Connie (who humiliates Mark on national television) Diana (a gold digger) and Charity (who cheats the boys out of a car). Not all blondes are evil, like Cherry Sundae, or Astrid and Annika.
  • Blond Guys Are Evil - Bryce.
  • Boy Meets Ghoul - The Halloween Episode "There's Something About Amelia" has Mark dating a Werewolf.
    • In another episode, both Woody and Denise have a booty call with ghosts.
  • Camp Gay - Steve Manflesh, a Recurring Extra.
  • Casual Danger Dialogue - Bonnie engages in this when with Mark while she's bleeding from a gunshot wound to the chest.
  • Christmas Cake - Denise.
  • Church Militant - Mark's former girlfriend Gina, who is a nun-ja.
  • Con Man - Anderson is one by profession, although Sam also likes to engage in cons herself.
    • An Irish "leprachaun" and his hot daughter, Fiona, are ones.
  • Conjoined Twins - An opposite sex pair, actually, Derek and Donna, who become interested in Sam and VJ when they are glued together. As it turns out, they were unknowingly joined together by their father, who had a sick sense of humor and died from a heart attack before he could tell them.
  • A Date with Rosie Palms - VJ, constantly.
  • Deadpan Snarker - Ursula and Bryce. Sam also has her moments.
  • Dirty Cop - Mark dates one in "Really Bad Lieutenant."
  • Dumb Blonde - A Girl of the Week, Cherry Sundae, is a porn star who's saving herself for the right guy (outside of work, of course)
  • Embarassing First Name - VJ's first name, Vajeena.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" - Falafel Guy. Parodied in one episode where a name was actually given, but no one called him that.
  • Evil Luddite: The anti-technology amish terrorists.
  • Expy - A Girl of the Week, Charity, is a rather obvious one of Daisy Duke
    • Another girl, Lila, is one of Foxxy Cleopatra.
    • Freida is one of artist Freida Kahlo.
  • Eyepatch of Power - A Girl of the Week, Monica, who is a German spy, sports one.
  • Fiery Redhead - Sam is one, as are a few Girl of the Week, like Fiona.
  • Fish Out of Water - Rina, VJ's finance from an arranged marriage, who is "an illiterate from a pissant village", who draws water from an airplane bathroom. She eventually adapts after hooking up with VJ's cousin, leaving him at the altar.
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul - Bryce.
  • Friends with Benefits - Sam and Anderson's relationship.
  • Girl of the Week - At least one new one a week, sometimes a guy instead for Sam. Each one is exceedingly quirky. Only Brie shows up more than once, although others can be seen in cameos.
  • Good Angel, Bad Angel - When Mark thinks Lila is crazy, little versions of Woody and VJ appear on his shoulder. Woody tells Mark to sleep with her, and VJ says he'd sleep with her if she was a glue-huffing troll.
  • Going Commando - Connie, a weathergirl and one of Mark's dates, has to do this when Mark (unbeknowst to her), steals her panties. A strong gust of wind causes her to flash her audience. After this happens, though, she doesn't put any more panties on, continuing to flash her audience.
  • Gold Digger - Diana, who is only interested in Mark if he has a yacht.
  • Handsome Lech - Anderson and Woody
  • Hooker with a Heart of Gold - Marie-Claire. She offers sex to Mark in exchange for a kidney transplant to save her little brother Gene. Gene is legitimately dying and Marie-Claire does live up to her end of the bargain.
  • Hostage Situation - A few of these came up.
  • Hot Scientist - Roberta, one of Woody's Girl of the Week.
  • Hunting the Most Dangerous Game - One of Mark's Girl of the Week's father does this in the episode "Beaver Fever", if he can survive, Mark gets to do the nasty with his daughter, if not he'll cut off his pinky finger.
  • Hey, It's That Voice! - Ursula is Abby Archer, Captain Steiner is the animated Cranky Kong and Steve Manflesh is Carl the evil cockroach wizard
  • Innocent Innuendo - There are two white-trash, slutty girls who, when Woody asks if he's seen them before, tells him he saw their video: Two Girls, One Cup (a pornographic film). However, their version is actually the two girls dropping sugar cubes into a single cup of tea and the both of the them drinking it. The trope becomes subverted when, in the second scene, they do a gang-bang with a pack of jealous wolves.
  • Internal Affairs - Vince is one of these cops. The person he investigates, Valerie is horribly corrupt and it's treated like a good thing, so not played like the normal Internal Affairs member.
  • Jerkass - Bryce
  • Laser-Guided Karma - Charity, a Girl of the Week uses her feminine wiles to cheat Mark, VJ, and Vikram out of a car, then backs out of her promises and drives away in the car...promptly getting into a car accident.
  • Lovable Sex Maniac - Pretty much all of the characters in the show.
  • Male Frontal Nudity - Happens to Mark when he gets an edible suit wet on camera. Lampshaded by his boss.
  • No Indoor Voice - Not all the time, but Vince is constantly on edge and speaks in a loud term when he talks about the day-to-day hell of police life.
  • Mermaid Problem - VJ had sex with a mermaid, but he didn't wonder how it happened until after the fact.
  • Mrs. Robinson - Denise
  • Nightmare Fetishist - Sam, who becomes increasingly turned on when Vince mentions some of the disgusting things he'd seen as a police officer.
  • Ninja - Shoji.
  • Not What It Looks Like - Denise walks in on Bryce and VJ seemingly having sex on the former's desk. Bryce is actually getting a putting device off of VJ's penis that is stuck.
  • Older Than They Look - Ursula does look Jail Bait
  • Only Sane Man - Possibly Celia, Woody's bartending partner. Her weirdest feature is that she thinks coffee is evil.
    • It's a bit weirder that she's a Mormon working in a bar.
  • Only Six Faces - Sam poses as Danica Morris. No one notices.
  • Papa Wolf - The unnamed merman is one for his underage daughter whom VJ beds.
  • Product Placement - Once an episode, Doctor Love is either mentioned or on a billboard.
  • Psychic Powers - Archangel. Magically made drinks appear, tricked a robber with illusions, and read Sam's mind to figure out her childhood dream was to have Slinkies for arms. Works incredibly, except when he gets Illusionial dysfunction.
  • Refuge in Audacity
  • Refuge in Vulgarity
  • Repetitive Name - Anderson Anderson.
  • Robot Girl - Russell Peters has one, Nautica, on his submarine.
  • Running Gag - At one point, a shoe salesman is shot with a tranquilizer dart three times in quick succession.
    • This show loves having running gags, but one of the biggest ones is one of the background guys always gets hurt in a brutal fashion.
  • Safe Word - "Gooseketeer" is the one Sam and Vince use when out looking for a serial killer.
  • Scarf of Asskicking - Bonnie sports one.
  • Sensual Slavs - Monica.
  • Sexy Stewardess - Astrid and Anika, introduced as "Smoking Hot Swedish Flight Attendants."
  • Shrink Ray - Roberta uses one on Woody, Anderson, and Jeff, the Felafel guy.
  • Shout-Out - In "Woodyplicity", there's several shoutouts to The Dukes of Hazzard
    • One episode is a huge one of 24.
  • Stage Magician - Sam's date Archangel, master illusionist.
  • Stripperiffic - Monica, whose outfit consists of a coat with only one button fastened.
  • Tall, Dark and Handsome - Handsome Tony
  • Team Pet - Zorro, VJ's pet raccoon
  • Those Wacky Nazis - Captain Steiner
  • Truth Serum - Lila attempts to use one on Mark, but accidentally stabs herself with it.
  • Upper Class Twit - The Buxtons
  • Weirdness Magnet - Most of the girls Mark goes out with usually have some sort of quirk. Perhaps the only exception is Janey.
  • Where Da White Women At? - Woody constantly, in the episode "Brother From Another Tanning Booth" Mark and Woody change “colour” when they each get their skin lightened/darkened, black Mark proves this.
  • With Friends Like These...
  • Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs? - Anderson changes jobs on a regular basis. Part of it has to do with him being a Con Man, but others seem to be legitimate businesses he changes in a few days.
  • Why Isn't It Attacking? - Played for laughs when Sam attempts to get a suspected serial killer to murder her, as he only murders extremely good-looking women.
  • Zany Scheme - It's an rare episode when Sam isn't either hatching or roped into one. Almost assured if Anderson shows up.
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