Ali Wong opened up about her divorce, dating Bill Hader on the Sold Out Comedy Show

After the sale 12 nights at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theater for Netflix's Is a Joke Fest, Ali Wong wrapped up her residency Sunday night by talking about her divorce and newfound dating life in her 40s to a live audience.

In April 2022, the comedian announced that she was separating from her husband of eight years, Justin Hakuta. Even though she's now publicly dating fellow comedian Bill Hader, Wong used her new stand-up routine to discuss and poke fun at her trials and tribulations as a single mom on the dating scene. The packed audience who chose to spend Mother's Day listening to Wong's wacky adventures were mesmerized by her every word.

“I didn't expect the news of my separation to be so widespread and public,” Wong said of the first announcement of the news of her ending marriage. “I felt really embarrassed and ashamed, but I didn't realize that all this media was acting like a bat signal informing all possible interested men. I've never been chased so much in my life.”

When she first split from her husband, Wong said she wasn't looking for anything serious. she joked that she just wanted to “let herself down” because after being married for almost a decade she was “just out of prison energy”. She even went on a dating app to look for prospects, but then told a story about a guy she already knew who contacted her the day after she signed up on the dating app.

“I get a call from this guy I met at a dinner party before and he got my number from a mutual friend,” she explained. “He was like, 'Hey, I just happened to hear about your divorce and I've loved you forever. I told my best friend years ago that you were the girl of my dreams, and I know it sounds crazy, but I want you to be my girlfriend.”

Afterwards, Wong joked, “I was like, 'I just paid $25 [for the dating app]. You look very nice, but I have to get my money.''

She continued her story, saying that she left for a trip to Europe shortly after their phone conversation. Whenever she arrived at a new location on her vacation, the man would send flowers to every hotel she stayed at. When she told her friends about the gesture, they thought it was sweet, but when she told her male friends, they said the man sounded like a psycho.

“That's how cheap and lazy men have become,” joked Wong. “When a fellow human being commits any act of kindness, any romantic gesture, it must be a symptom of an undiagnosed mental illness.”

The audience actively participated throughout her show, cheering and laughing as Wong lamented dating older and younger men. Among the many anecdotes she shared, Wong recounted a date she went on with a white Midwestern man she referred to as Blake. She said she took Blake to meet her college boyfriend at an authentic Chinese restaurant and prefaced the story by explaining that she's an adventurous eater, while Blake didn't have an advanced palette.

“These white dudes from the Midwest, they get diarrhea every time they eat a dish that's not a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” he said, then explaining an accident Blake had while at the diner.

“[He told my friend], “I try to be open to what she introduces me to because that's a form of intimacy for her.” Then I said “Look what Blake just did.” Blake had poured tea for the three of us into our rice bowls. He was like, “I don't understand. Where should the tea go?' [My friend] moved the teacups forward and Blake said, “It's too small for tea,” and I said, “Surely it's too small for rice.”

Overall, Wong told the audience that she had the time of her life dating divorced dads and romantically spending time with men who have already experienced life's hardships. She doesn't want to have to teach a man anything, Wong said. “One woman's trash is another woman's educated trash,” he declared. “I don't want a man who is broken, but I want a man who is broken.”

In a serious moment at the end of her set, Wong leveled the audience and said that ending her marriage is the best thing that ever happened to her, despite the stigma attached to divorce. Wong is still best friends with her ex-husband, she said, and stressed that she wanted her fans to know how much fun she was having.

“I never thought I'd be having so much fun at this point in my life. Divorce is so much fun,” she said. “I just want to get married again so I can get divorced again.”

Wong told the audience that she has a new boyfriend that some people may or may not know about, hinting at her relationship with Hader. He also confessed that he is the man she told a story about earlier, who called her the day after she signed up on a dating app and sent her flowers when he was traveling across Europe.

“Do you want to meet him?” None other than Bill Hader left the stage, joined Wong and gave her a single rose. After they embraced with a cheering crowd, Wong told the audience, “None of the other concerts got to meet him.”

Hader, famous for his time Saturday night live and his HBO series Barryhe joked into the microphone, “It was a very informative evening.”

While the two shared the stage, Hader also revisited a story Wong revealed during her set and told the audience in a blunt admission, “You guys want a secret? I'm the guy who spilled the tea in the rice bowl.”

“And when I did that, the look on Ali's face was a mixture of embarrassment and she was so excited,” he continued as Wong looked at him adoringly. “She had this look on her face like, 'You're in for it, baby.'

Shifting to a more genuine emotion, Hader reflected on the past year as she watched Wong work on her latest routine while juggling motherhood, making her kids dinner and putting them to bed before heading out to The Comedy Store to try new material.

“I have to hit the road [with her] and I've watched her work as she goes up, she tries these things … she takes a lot of notes,” she said. “The amount of work that goes into making this look so effortless, and he's just sold out 12 nights at The Wiltern.”

Before exiting the stage and wrapping up the evening, Hader wrapped up a night filled with Wong dating jokes by declaring, “All I have to say is, Ali Wong is off the market.”