The worst first dates of N.Y. celebs

The worst first dates of N.Y. celebs

Dateless for Valentine’s Day?

There are worse fates, including going out and having a rotten time.

That’s the consensus from notable New Yorkers who’ve survived disastrous dates on Feb. 14 and beyond and lived to tell the tale. And the one good thing about lousy liaisons? The more hellish they are, the more delicious they are to share.

Ask Katie Couric, who’s been telling anyone who’ll listen about her date with Larry King â€" yes, him. As Couric tells it, Larry lunged. She bolted. Faster than you can say, “Next caller.”

Ex-“Real Housewife” and JZ Jewelry designer Jill Zarin feels her pain. Her dating fiasco went down 25 years ago.

“I was 22,” she says. “Dating a cardiologist. Comes to pick me up at my parents’ house. Tells me he got me something special. I thought an engagement ring. He told me to open in front of my parents. It was sexy lingerie. I died of embarrassment and never saw him again.” Smart choice.

Backstage at her Lincoln Center Fashion Week show, designer Rebecca Minkoff flashed back to a blind date that went weird, and worse, in nearly no time. “Ten minutes in, he tried to hold my hand,” she says. “I thought that was really awkward. ... I didn’t like that. It definitely did not work out.”

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Same goes for a pre-teen tryst for Brooklyn writer/actor Mike Birbiglia, who’s woven dating misfires into his play “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend,” which he’s filming as a concert special in March in New York.

“When I was in seventh grade, I invited Lisa Bazetti to the carnival with me. I thought this might just be the night of my first kiss,” he recalls. “When you’re 12, you don’t know that you shouldn’t eat popcorn and peanuts and ice cream and cotton candy and then step onto a machine called ‘The Scrambler.’

“After 3 or 4 minutes, I threw up like an oscillating lawn sprinkler,” he adds. “Needless to say, I didn’t have my first kiss.”

Broadway star Cheyenne Jackson got the kissoff on a rendezvous gone rotten. The guy had the makings for a Mr. Right. Smart? Check. Handsome? You bet. Rich? Yep. “There was no chemistry,” says Jackson.

There was an upside to the encounter, involving scientist Monty Lapka. “The same guy introduced me to Monty, who is my husband and we’ve been together for 13 years,” Jackson says. “So, worst date, best date.”

Same goes for Anastasia Ganias, who’s appeared on “True Blood” and shudders when she recalls that her first date with her longtime boyfriend was all about overexposure.

“My blouse kept popping open every single time I took a sip of wine,” she says. “He must have thought it was planned for easy access. We’re still going strong seven years later.”

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