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Summary
Crude, distasteful, and hardly a good lesson for our young generations.
The opening of Single Lady, Beyonce’s – “Get Me Bodied” says everything that needs to be said about Ali Wong’s Netflix Special. I applaud Ali for a great song choice, at the very least.
Single Lady is the new phase of Ali’s life—you can visit the previous stages of her life via her other Netflix specials: Baby Cobra, Pregnant Era Numero 1, and her distaste for feminism, Hard Knock Wife, Pregnant Era Numero 2, and Don Wong, single FOMO era.
Let’s call it irony that Ali Wong started her rise to fame by discrediting feminism but has come full circle to it in Single Lady by acting as the very things she claimed to despise.
Ironically, I found Wong far more relatable and likable in her earlier show, Baby Cobra. For example, she jokes about how her husband is way out of her league and how she needs to trap him—it was hilarious because it was realistic AND funny!
“And I was like, “Oh my God, I’m gonna trap his ass.”
Anyway, I digress… If you’re anything like me, my expectations for Ali Wong to reach a new level of laughter were colossal, based on her performance in the hilarious and highly-rated Netflix series Beef.
But admittedly, one piece of advice for this series is to take the trailer at face value—and if she can’t make you laugh, don’t bother.
My first impression of the Netflix Special was CRUDE. Ali Wong uses cursive and descriptive language that feels grotesque and masculine. Being a female comedian is hard enough, so why make it harder for yourselves by competing with the men?
Let the men be the perverse and vulgar ones. We all know that men are far superior to us at that humor. So my stance is that we leave it to them.
Ali Wong adds too much ego to this performance. That may have been FOR the performance, but it left a salty flavor in my mouth.
Therefore, Ali Wong: Single Lady, at least for me, hoped to fish in a specific ocean sector but sank the second she hoisted the anchor into the sea.
The theme of Single Lady is all about how you can still become a sexually active woman in your 40s and how divorce can be fun and exciting! But I guess once you’ve had everything and been married for 10+ years, to lose it all, you have to find a way to get back up, right?
And sexual promiscuity, and a lot of it, is the answer in this special. And this theme was rinsed and repeated more times than a washing machine on crack cocaine!
Ali Wong talks heartbreak and promiscuity (Credit – Netflix)
Ironically, as we move towards the end of the stand-up, Ali tells the audience about how she fell in love again, but soon after, he broke up with her and broke her heart. Isn’t it ironic? Do you see it yet?
I would happily bet ALL of my money (granted, we’re talking buttons and Jean fluff, but that’s not the point) that he broke up with her because she embodied being a newly formed feminist—a genuine turnoff for empowered men.
Then, she continues idolizing the life and mindset that (more than likely) lost her the man she loves with more jokes, innuendos, and crude gestures.
I will give Ali some praise. Are you ready? She kept a very good pace and flow with her jokes. And let’s go one step further: I will admit that one joke did make me laugh throughout the entire show.
It was fresh, it was funny, and it was cheeky! If you’re interested, skip to the 48th-minute mark (that’s right – that’s how long it took…). But apart from that, you aren’t missing out on anything if you watch this stand-up.
The stand-up, to me, reeks of too much desperation to idolize an epidemic that women are facing in this modern world. And that idea is that “divorce can be fun” when divorce is, in fact, one of the most unnecessary and heartbreaking processes to exist.
A stand-up on how FED UP a woman is now because of divorce could make for some hilarious content! And that could also be a beautiful way to heal from the mistakes that were made and also to teach the younger generations of wives HOW NOT TO BE!
Article by Naomi Mairs
Naomi Mairs is the Team Leader at Ready Steady Cut, liaising with all members, from writers to editorial staff. With a strong background in publishing and a passion for film and TV, Naomi loves to type away with her favorite latte on the side. Naomi loves a good rom-com in her spare time but also has Gilmore Girls and The Office on repeat.
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