There’s no need to bring hand sanitizer along to this strip club.
Die Happy Tonight (DHT), a New York-based members-only strip club “for the modern discerning man,” is launching virtual reality lap dances Tuesday amid widespread anxiety over COVID-19 — completely free for anyone hunkering down at home and hankering for some titillation.
Known for its “wholesome” girl-next-door strippers, the DHT gentlemen’s club has had VR in the works, but the launch “just happens to come at a time where people aren’t leaving their home,” founder Kalin Moon tells The Post.
“The entire world has seen a drastic change just in the last week,” Moon says. “People need human connection and need to be entertained. VR is a great way to accomplish this from the safety of your own home.”
And home is where everyone is since Big Apple nightlife is mostly on pause after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a citywide shutdown beginning Tuesday for restaurants, bars and other venues, which includes DHT’s Rosewood Theater in Hudson Yards.
Moon decided there’s no better time than today to launch DHT’s new “experience.”
Offering up-close-and-personal lap dances with a bevy of beauties gyrating and grinding for the camera, the VR uses a 360-degree video meant to transport the viewer into the club’s VIP room, allowing the user to move around within the space. Unlike cam girl stripteases — which have largely skyrocketed as many isolate themselves to avoid contracting the coronavirus — it’s meant to be immersive: Pan left or right in the videos and you’ll find a fellow patron in the champagne lounge getting a topless lap dance, too.
The new VR dances are available online, on mobile devices and headsets starting Monday for anyone using password “livefree” at signup.
While the technology itself is nothing new — a San Francisco jiggle joint debuted a VR experience in 2017 and there are plenty of online gaming versions to choose from — Moon says strip clubs are learning to adapt since the industry “changed drastically” in the wake of the 2008 market crash.
“I expect more and more adoption of technology to connect with entertainment and people as the world changes,” he says.
Moon claims DHT is “entirely different” than a typical pole palace thanks to a “sophisticated” vibe.
“We may not be the first to offer virtual lap dances, but we are the first physical strip club in the world to re-create our experience through virtual reality by using our venue and the girls that dance at our events,” he says.
Typically, membership to the lap-dance club begins at $1,200, so the free VR offering is meant to give the masses a taste of Die Happy Tonight — which is affiliated with private club WVLS, known for wild sex parties exclusively for New York’s elite.
“VR lap dances is just the start. We’re gonna take it farther,” says a rep, without getting into specifics.