Ali Wong’s San Francisco show was all about her divorce

“I really think that for a woman, 40 is a golden age…” Ali Wong announced to a packed Masonic Auditorium, drawing cheers from the crowd.

“…to get divorced.”

This was the theme of Wong’s Friday night show in San Francisco. The stand-up comedian walked her audience through her escapades as a newly single comedian, taking them through the highs and lows — mostly highs — of divorced life.

Wong and her ex-husband, entrepreneur Justin Hakuta, divorced in 2022. Under normal circumstances, a comedian’s split wouldn’t draw much media attention, even if that comedian has twice made Time’s 100 Most Influential People list. But Wong’s divorce was announced just two months after she released “Don Wong,” a comedy special packed with jokes bemoaning the boredom of monogamy. 

Raised in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood, Wong left town after high school in 2000, first for Los Angeles and later for New York, where her comedy career kicked off. But she continued to pay homage to her hometown in her work. Her romantic comedy, “Always Be My Maybe,” takes place in San Francisco and includes shots of Clement Street, the Heart of the City Farmer’s Market and the Fairmont hotel. 

She took a break from touring in 2022 to finish work on her critically acclaimed Netflix series “Beef,” but now Wong is back on the road — with a backlog of post-divorce experiences to joke about. And while she no longer lives in the city, she still made a point of scheduling a seven-night run of shows in San Francisco. It’s the latest in several extended comic residencies at the Masonic, including a 12-show run by Trevor Noah.

Wong kicked off the evening by admitting that the past year was “intense,” and that the scrutiny over her divorce — mostly from Chinese and Vietnamese newspapers, she said – was challenging. But eventually, she said, she realized that the media outlets covering her split were actually on her side, covertly assisting her by sending a “bat signal” to interested suitors. She began receiving phone calls from old acquaintances, followed by flower arrangements and necklaces. “I became so addicted to courtship,” she said. 

Much of Wong’s routine detailed her recent dating life. She described her experience on an unnamed, exclusive dating app that cost $250 for a membership. She recounted receiving her first-ever “thirst trap” from a 25-year-old bro in her Instagram direct messages — similar to a DM romance in “Beef” — and not understanding what she was seeing. While breaking up with a “big movie director,” she made a joke to him that wasn’t particularly appreciated. She talked about going on a date with a 60-year-old man and telling him that his eyes were uniquely beautiful, only to learn that it was because of his glaucoma.

Wong is at her best when she’s candid. She runs headfirst into perverse territory, boasting unflinchingly about experiences that softer comedians would apologize for. Many of the best jokes of the evening were also the most sexually explicit. Unfortunately, that means that they’re not well-suited for print.

Although Wong made no jokes directly about her hometown, she parlayed a bit about her dating life into a deep-cut joke with the audience about the Bay Area’s housing market. 

While describing her expectations for a fling, she joked about renting out a condo in Antioch specifically to have a romantic partner on-call locally. “Listen, if I get you that 2-bedroom condo in Antioch, California, you better be at that condo in Antioch, California, ready to dick me down.”

“And I better not catch you subletting that second bedroom,” she added.