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Single Lady

Ali Wong

Netflix · 2024 · 59 min

Post-divorce dating through the lens of a newly wealthy celebrity.

Ali Wong has spent her stand-up career sharing the intimate details of her life, from performing while pregnant to complaining about monogamy. In her fourth Netflix special, she returns to the stage with a different aesthetic. The signature animal print has been replaced by an airy, vintage-inspired dress, and her husband of ten years is gone. Having finalized her divorce, Wong spends this hour outlining the logistics of being a newly single, wealthy mother of two in her forties.\n\nFilmed at The Wiltern in Los Angeles during the 2024 Netflix Is a Joke Fest, the show caught Wong at a high point in her career, fresh off an Emmy sweep for her dramatic turn in Beef. Back on the stand-up stage, she is navigating a dating pool that spans from 25-year-old Midwesterners who subsist on peanut butter to older men whose cardiovascular stamina she openly questions.\n\nReviewers noted that Single Lady trades the desperate energy of her earlier specials for the lighter, more detached perspective of a self-described romantic. The hour runs on the contradictions of post-divorce dating as a wealthy celebrity. While some fans felt the millionaire-dating material made her less relatable than the frantic housewife of her early work, her sharp timing and physical commitment to dirty punchlines remain unchanged. She closes the set with a pivot that celebrity tabloids had already spoiled: a confession that her single era has already ended.

The set list

4 bits

  1. Breaking up with a movie director after three weeks

    Riffs on his assertion that they had 'communication issues,' executing an on-the-spot act-out she developed during the actual breakup.

  2. Insisting men pay for the first date despite being a millionaire

    Balances immense financial independence and Toto toilets with the traditional expectation of suitors investing in the date.

  3. The 'bat signal' of a celebrity divorce announcement

    Explains how the news made her widely pursued by men ranging in age from 25 to 55 who prized a divorced mom's lack of interest in commitment.

  4. Courtship by an unnamed suitor sending bouquets on the road

    Contrasts female friends viewing massive floral deliveries across Europe as sweet versus male friends deeming him a psychopath.

How it plays

Tone
Wickedly funny, raunchy, debauched, defiant, and joyful.
On stage
A confident, 'romantic hoe' and unapologetic divorced mom floating across the stage in a flowing white gown while delivering explicit, spicy revelations.
Pace
Calibrated physical delivery—from finger wags to twists of a smirk—delivered with unshakable confidence, poise, and palpable relish.
About
post-divorce dating, sexual freedom and hookups, wealth and financial independence, power dynamics in courtship, aging and attractiveness scales

What the critics said

Praised by critics as an entertaining, refreshingly debauched, and triumphant testimonial that upends stereotypical depictions of midlife divorce.

In the room: Ecstatic and cheering crowd at The Wiltern.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: media.netflix.com, netflix.com, hollywoodreporter.com, sfchronicle.com, variety.com, vulture.com, nytimes.com, decider.com, en.wikipedia.org, instyle.com.

Backstory

Filmed during her residency at Netflix Is A Joke Fest 2024, capturing her life post-2022 divorce from husband Justin Hakuta and her re-entry into the dating pool as a wealthy, famous mother in her 40s.

Details

Released
Taped
The Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles
Runtime
59 min
Where
Netflix
Director
Ali Wong
Honors
Golden Globe AwardVulture's The Best Comedy Specials and New Stand-Up of 2024 (#10)
Topics
Before
Don Wong (2022)

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