Making whoopee: Live game show tests Santa Cruz locals on how well they know their romantic partners

It’s such an irresistible concept that it’s kept “The Newlywed Game” alive in one form or another for decades: How well do couples really know each other?

But now you don’t have to watch some creaky old rerun of Bob Eubanks smirking about “making whoopee” to enjoy the comic stumbles of people trying gamely to anticipate the answers to intimate questions from their intimate partners.

On Saturday, Sept. 14, at The 418 Project in Santa Cruz, a live show called “Lovers Know Best” puts its own stamp on “The Newlywed Game” formula. Created and co-hosted by Sean Perlmutter, “Lovers Know Best” tests the knowledge of romantic partners — and, in this case, they don’t have to be newlyweds.

“What makes it different,” said Perlmutter, a Monterey-based actor and comedian, “is all you have to do to play this game is be in a loving relationship. I don’t care if you’re in your 80s or your 20s. I don’t care if you’ve been married for 50 years, or dating for five weeks.”

For those with only the foggiest memory of “The Newlywed Game,” contestants are asked questions about their spouses while those spouses are off stage. Then when the couples are reunited, they are asked the same questions to see if their answers match. Hijinks ensue.

“Lovers Know Best” does something similar to that, sure. But it also expands the concept, with six different challenges throughout the night.

“There’s one game,” said Perlmutter, “where they have to make art based on what their partner directs them to. And there’s another one where they’re going to have to dance like their partner.”

Perlmutter, who will co-host alongside Santa Cruz actor Lyndsey Marks, did not want to reveal the nature of each of the challenges of the show: “I don’t want the couples to know what we have in store for them.”

The couples will be local people who have already been chosen but who are largely kept in the dark about what they’ll be asked to do. Perlmutter generally puts out a casting call several weeks before his event and interviews couples by Zoom. 

And the big difference between Perlmutter, who’s been married for 28 years, and the smarmy Eubanks? “I am not out to embarrass or humiliate anybody,” he said. “It’s really more the opposite. I want to uplift people, you know, just to say, ‘Hey, we’re here. We’re in relationships. Yeah, it can be hard, but darn it, it can be fun too.'”

Still, freed from the strictures of network television, certainly “Lovers Know Best” will wander into more risqué territory, right? 

Not really, said Perlmutter: “I don’t push that angle. It comes up only if it comes from the contestants. If the contestants choose to go in that direction answering questions, I might give the old arched eyebrow, or, ‘Oh, that’s intriguing.’ But I’ll never push the sex angle. My show is not really that.”

Perlmutter is doing a version of the live 90-minute stage show that he’s done a few times in Monterey — this is its Santa Cruz debut. “I want to take it to San Francisco,” he said. “I want to take it to Los Angeles, and at that point, I want to start exploring opportunities for either streaming it or pitching it to a network or production company.”

He is a veteran of stage, TV and film, and hosted a radio show for many years. “Lovers Know Best” is, he said, a natural extension of what he’s been doing for years. “When I hatched the idea, it felt very natural, because I can just be up on stage and be my natural, extroverted, witty, smiling self. That’s who I am. I’m that guy at the party that likes to talk to everybody, likes to make people laugh, and people feel very comfortable around me, so I do the same thing on stage.”

Much like “The Newlywed Game,” the three participating couples compete for prizes, usually donated goods from local merchants or businesses. You might think that couples with a longer track record together would have an advantage in winning the top prize. But Perlmutter said that’s not always the case. The show always has a surprise or two. 

“I call this a celebration of love and laughter,” he said. “The show is really very positive and uplifting. It’s really bordering on wholesome.”

“Lovers Know Best” takes place Saturday, Sept. 14, at 7:30 p.m. at The 418 Project in downtown Santa Cruz.

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