David DeAngelo and the “Cocky Funny” PUA Technique

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform summary of "The Game" by Neil Strauss. Shortform has the world's best summaries of books you should be reading.

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Who is David DeAngelo, and what was his role in The Game? How did he know Neil Strauss?

David DeAngelo was a PUA who called his strategy “cocky funny.” David DeAngelo was one of the PUA gurus Neil Strauss met early in his journey into the PUA community, and he incorporated the cocky funny strategy into his own methods.

David DeAngelo: Cocky Funny

David DeAngelo the PUA had entered the seduction community as a student of Jeffries, but he broke out on his own after Jeffries allegedly hypnotized and seduced DeAngelo’s girlfriend.

DeAngelo developed and promoted a strategy called cocky funny, which was a hybrid of arrogance and humor. 

DeAngelo wrote a manifesto on cocky funny and distributed it through an online seduction newsletter called Cliff’s List. It was so well-received, that Cliff—who operated Cliff’s List—convinced DeAngelo to turn the 15-page guide into an e-book, which DeAngelo titled Double Your Dating. He went on to build a business by the same name. 

DeAngelo was unique among the gurus in several ways: 

1. He wasn’t particularly charismatic or emphatic. He was a regular guy who was sharing what he’d learned through experience. But he was more organized as a businessman than the other gurus (for example, DeAngelo scripted his entire seminar), and he was a skilled marketer. 
2. He presented his material in a way that was palatable to the public. He excluded or rephrased anything that seemed creepy or degrading toward women—except his suggestion that aspiring PUAs get tips on picking up women by reading a book on dog training. 
3. He didn’t even use the word seduction, because it implied that he was tricking women into having sex with him. Instead, DeAngelo said he was teaching attraction, which entailed self-improvement that caused women to naturally gravitate toward him. 
4. He didn’t engage directly with the online seduction community. He stopped posting on the underground seduction world’s message boards, and he operated his business solely in the public world. 

DeAngelo’s Background

David DeAngelo the PUA had been an unsuccessful real estate agent in Oregon when he decided to move to San Diego for a fresh start. DeAngelo was lonely in his new city, so he started teaching himself seduction tactics through online research and befriending men who were successful with women. 

Along the way, DeAngelo met Riker, who was a student of Jeffries. Riker encouraged DeAngelo to practice seduction online, because facing rejection via instant messaging was less intimidating than face-to-face. DeAngelo took his advice and developed a strategy based on how women responded to his approaches. 

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• The secrets of the Pickup Artist community in seducing women
• How key Pickup Artist leaders fought with each other and split the group apart
• What author Neil Strauss took away about women from his years of training

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