Ali Wong: Single Lady

As a longtime fan of Ali Wong, I enjoyed her previous Netflix specials, "Baby Cobra", "Hard Knock Wife", and "Don Wong", and her award-winning performance in the black comedy "Beef" with Steven Yeun. She's always excelled at balancing raunchy humor with biting social commentary and while I love some vulgarity as much as anyone when it serves a larger comedic goal, her latest special, "Single Lady", feels like a missed opportunity. Exploring post-divorce life and re-entry into the dating world has potential, but the material becomes repetitive quickly. After initial laughs at her escapades, we felt like we were being hit over the head with the same punchline again and again. That said, Wong's stage presence remains undeniable; she's as brash, unapologetic, and charismatic as ever, commanding attention with bold delivery and great comic timing. However, lazy writing and lack of fresher material results in fewer chuckles and chortles than I expected, and it's missing the sharpness and originality that made her previous specials so captivating.

I've been a long-time fan of Ali Wong's standup, so I was excited to see her latest routine. This is far and away not her best work at all. It was nothing more than an entire hour devoted to her divorce, and telling the audience (repeatedly) that she's rich and successful, and how she deserves men who can gratify her properly with oral sex. OK, fine for a short while, but move on. I'm not complaining about the raunchy humor; you expect that from Ali Wong. Just be more imaginative with it. Move on to other topics. That used to be what was appealing about Ali: her talent for observational humor. It's almost entirely missing here.

When I stumble upon this 2024 Netflix comedy special from Ali Wong, I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch it.

While I do find Ali Wong to be a good comedian, I have to say that I found this 2024 comedy special to be a bit generic. It was primarily below the belt material, and that just feels so 1990s. Yeah, I do actually prefer comedy with an intellectual twist to it. Comedy should be more than genitalia and sex jokes. And there was a bit too much of self-glorification, as to her being an Emmy winner and her riches, that was just a tad too tacky and corny, as if she is so much more than everyone else because she is on TV.

Ali Wong does have great on-screen charisma and presence, as she has in each of her shows. She feels very much naturally at home on the screen, and she sets up her jokes nicely and delivers them equally nicely as well.

Watchable for sure, but the contents of the jokes were just not particularly impressive. I like comedy to be more than below the belt jokes. And this was basically almost just an hour of Ali Wong talking about how many men she has been with since her divorce, and how she perceives sex as a very casual thing.

"Ali Wong: Single Lady" was really a disappointing performance in my opinion and she doesn't really portray herself in a good way here.

My rating of "Ali Wong: Single Lady" lands on a four out of ten stars.

Ali Wong's arrogance is on full display in this special. She's no longer able to rely on her pregnancy for comedy, so she shows us who she really is: the female Beavis and Butthead. Ali sees life as a series of men to bone and throw away. She spends the entire hour ranting about boning men: old men, young men, asian men, white men. She never talks about anything else, except how she's a millionaire. You could hear the audience lose interest as she jumps from one hookup to the next, all ending with her leaving the men because they didn't bone her the way she wanted. Ali never shows us who she really is. It feels like watching a cartoon character performing standup comedy. She's the female Beavis and Butthead: her only goal in life is to score.

Imagine being a forty year old adult woman having a child and embarrasing yourself and your family in talking about your promiscuous post divorce relationships in such detail.

Even if it is fiction.

In what universe do you think that your child won't be bullied in school even if it's a private school?

Have a little class.

The problem with this type of "humor" is that it is just cheap, crass devoid of any intelligence.

It is zero uplifting, it is not inspiring it is exactly nothing.

Is this how you want to be remembered by your child?

I get it, sex sells, but were you thát broke that you had to stoop this low?

Lengo en el culo ahorita?

Wow.

Just gross.