Ali Wong: Don Wong

I sat down to watch the 2022 Netflix stand-up special titled "Ali Wong: Don Wong" by stand-up comedian Ali Wong. I have seen a single or two of her previous shows, but I can't claim to have been much of a fan really. So I wasn't really harboring much of any expectations to this 2022 show.

And not even five minutes into the foray, I was on the verge of shutting it off to go watch something else. But I opted to stick with it and rode it out to the very end. So why was I about to call it quits? Well, it was painfully obvious that this would be an hour of crude genital and sex comedy. So it was very much something straight out of the 1990s, and that type of comedy has been done and seen to the point of it being redundant and having lost most of its appeal.

So needless to say that most of this one hour comedy special was hard to sit through given the fact that Ali Wong was essentially just spewing sex jokes. Obviously there is an audience out there for that kind of comedy, as you can see in the audience. However, I prefer a bit more mature type of comedy, so I wasn't overly enjoying this 2022 comedy special.

Sure, I will say that Ali Wong does have a great on-stage chemistry and has a very powerful presence. She is good at staging her jokes and delivering the punchlines, no doubt about that. But the contents of the show's material just fell sort of short of finding appeal with me.

My rating of "Ali Wong: Don Wong" lands on a four out of ten stars. It would have ranked much higher if the contents had been of a more mature level and sat above the belt.

Not funny at all. Ok so this needs to be a review longer than first sentence, I like all kinds of jokes literally the darker the humor the better, but this was just not funny I was wondering all the time why is the audience laughing, and sex jokes are funny usually the funniest but not if your entire show is just a joke about sex. Can't believe I wasted an hour of my free time on this.

I feel like I watched this only 'cause I like ali wong because it's not as funny as her first two Netflix specials. This felt more like a rant about equality than stand up which made it more predictable because it's all arguments we've heard before, just coupled with a couple punchlines instead so I did still have a few laughs. Same way I wouldn't want to to hear a rant about women for an hour is the same way I wouldn't be excited to hear one against men. And some of her jokes felt like recycled, rephrased lines from her previous two, where she'll talk crap about her husband or being a breadwinner and then talk about why she loves him in the end. It was funny the first time, the second, not so much.

I liked ali wong because even if she joked about men or did explicit jokes, it was well thought of and actually funny while this was just stereotypical cheap shots at men or how good being single with no kids is. There were hints of her brilliance but too few, you might enjoy this if you don't like or annoyed by men and want to relate, but not because it's funny, unlike her first two which really were. I don't think it's bad enough to warranty all the 1 or 2 star ratings, but watching this just made me wish Netflix gave the chance for a full special to Adrienne Lapalucci from "the degenerates" (on Netflix too) because they're not a lot of women who do that kind of comedy so it was nice to see, for me at least as a dark comedy fan.

I really liked her previous specials. There's no doubt she can be hilarious. But the jokes in this third special were pretty one note, circling around a single theme. Also, her droning on about how she's the breadwinner and her husband is living the luxury wife lifestyle is becoming a bit repetitive. What else have you got?

Ali is a gifted comedy writer! Initially, her comedy seems to be low brow only, but as she continues, her jokes add up to a delightful and vulnerable treat. I must say I also feel a bit better about being single, but maybe not?! Gotta watch and decide!