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Cover image credit: Thumbnail: YouTube · Ronny Chieng

Love To Hate It

Ronny Chieng

Netflix · 2024 · 65 min

Ronny Chieng vents about modern life, fertility, and his father.

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Ronny Chieng starts his third Netflix special by detailing the clinical humiliation of trying to have a baby, specifically the sheer lack of dignity found in a fertility clinic’s collection room. It is a classic Chieng opening: cynical, sharp-tongued, and completely unsentimental about the major milestones of adulthood. Filmed over a sold-out five-night run at the historic Hawai’i Theatre in Honolulu during the summer of 2024, the set represents a busy year for the comic that also saw him co-hosting The Daily Show and starring in Hulu’s Interior Chinatown. The material moves seamlessly from medical clinic mishaps to broader societal targets, including the online grifters targeting men’s self-help and the gullibility of older generations who fall for basic internet scams. Chieng is at his most effective when his signature aggression finds a vulnerability, which is clearest in the closing bit centering on his late father’s habit of quietly keeping tabs on him via Twitter. In a dark twist, Chieng reconstructs the timestamps to realize that the last message his father ever read was a tweet calling baby boomers on the platform total losers, keeping the show grounded in a dry, unsentimental reality.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Friends and former classmates becoming parents look older and uglier, having given up on their dreams.

    Chieng mocks the toll of parenting from the perspective of someone still pursuing career ambition.

  2. The indignities of IVF and fertility treatments.

    Chieng dissects his role in assisting his wife, critiquing the American healthcare system and recounting an awkward sight gag involving his semen sample and a fan recognizing him from Shang-Chi.

  3. The algorithmic rabbit hole of men's self-help content online.

    Explores how simply wanting to learn weightlifting leads men on YouTube from fitness to Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate, radicalizing them within weeks.

  4. Political division and domestic economic decline in America.

    A stream-of-consciousness rant touching on capital gains taxes, the value of the U.S. dollar, and the erosion of domestic manufacturing for working-class families.

  5. Reflecting on his relationship with his father following his father's sudden death on Christmas Eve 2018.

    A bittersweet personal narrative exploring his father's expectations, parental stereotypes, and claiming victory in a long-standing sibling rivalry.

How it plays

Tone
Venting, biting, centrist yet provocative, shifting into bittersweet self-reflection.
On stage
Astute, vent-driven comedic persona characterized by controlled anger, intellectual sharpness, and vulnerability.
Pace
High-energy, fervent delivery sustained from start to finish, featuring fast-paced rants and physical momentum.
About
IVF and fertility treatments, Men's self-help and online algorithms, American politics, polarization, and MAGA, Parenthood vs. comedy career, Baby Boomer parents, misinformation, and generational differences, Grief, fatherhood, and family rivalry

What the critics said

Widely praised by critics as one of the best specials of the year, lauded for Chieng's sophisticated observational comedy, balanced political awareness, and poignant personal disclosures.

In the room: Energetic, responsive sold-out crowds across five nights at the Hawai'i Theatre, though audience reviewers showed polarization over his political commentary and delivery style.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: mike-o-matic.com, rottentomatoes.com, allmovie.com, nytimes.com, decider.com, axios.com, variety.com, imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, latimes.com, abcnews.com.

Backstory

Filmed in Honolulu, Hawaii (a personal touchpoint from living there while filming Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.) during a five-night sold-out run ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, addressing personal fertility struggles and political/cultural polarization.

Details

Released
Taped
Hawai'i Theatre, Honolulu
Runtime
65 min
Where
Netflix
Director
Cameron Barnett
Honors
Best Special of 2024 - The New York Times (Jason Zinoman)
Topics
Before
Speakeasy (2022)

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