The latest Netflix special from the truly hilarious Phil Wang: Wang In There, Baby! has already dropped onto the streamer and promises even more of the signature humor fans of the British comedian have grown to love. Having premiered on September 3, 2024, this special marks Wang's last stop after his successful Netflix premiere with Philly Philly Wang Wang back in 2021. This considerably raised his profile within the U.S. comedy landscape. Recognized for his quick wit and unique takes on everything from cultural identity to everyday modern life, Wang carries on blending his personal experiences with universals that resonate with a wide audience.

Captured from the intimate yet electrifying Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at London's Shakespeare's Globe, this special brings together the closeness and energy that has become synonymous with Wang's performances.

What to Expect From Phil Wang: Wang In There, Baby!

Now that the special is streaming, here's everything you need to know to watch Phil Wang: Wang In There, Baby!, including its release, content, and what to expect.

Phil Wang: Wang In There, Baby! released via Netflix on September 3, 2024, made the content accessible to subscribers virtually anywhere in the world. The special is now available for streaming, and whether you have been a longtime fan or are new to Phil Wang's comedy, it can be enjoyed at any time.

It comes on the heels of Wang's rising international profile, thanks in part to recent spots on Late Night with Seth Meyers and a sit-down with David Letterman on Netflix's My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.

To watch the special, audiences must have a subscription to a Netflix account and can stream the special on everything from smart TVs to smartphones, tablets, and computers.

What’s the Special About?

In Phil Wang: Wang In There, Baby!, Phil Wang tackles many of the subjects that have defined his comedy to date. This set finds him taking in everything from cultural identity and weirdness for being a British-Asian comedian to finding comedy in navigating minor fame.

His observational humor blended with finesse on serious subjects taken lightly makes this special thought-provoking and also funny. But one of the standouts in the special is Wang's take on those tourists who do not take part in typical tourist activities-a topic which has received rave reviews from early viewers.

The Setting of Phil Wang: Wang In There, Baby!

Filmed in an intimate setting, Phil Wang: Wang In There, Baby! is conversational yet engaging. The audience feels it's part of a continuing dialogue rather than being merely passive spectators.

The special was filmed at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe in London, a locale steeped in unique ambiance and historic significance. The setting is magic for the special because this close design of the playhouse makes Wang closer to his audience.

This venial choice not only suits Wang's style but adds to the beauty of the viewing; a visual treat that effectively contrasts with modern themes he uses in his presentation. The setting, with candlelight and close quarters, is ideal for the playhouse and plays to Wang's strengths in blending personal anecdote with social observation-a fitting choice for this stage of his career.

Is Phil Wang: Wang In There, Baby! Worth Watching?

To fans of Phil Wang, or anyone who enjoys wit with a little cultural commentary, this special is not one to miss. Having recently gone live on Netflix, this special showcases his continued development as a comedian while maintaining the charisma and relatability that have captured the audience's attention.

Whether you like a good belly laugh or more cerebrally apropos comedy on identity and celebrity, Phil Wang: Wang In There, Baby! has it in spades. Add it to your watchlist for a night of comedy both hilarious and thought-provoking.

Phil Wang's Rise to Fame

After discovering a gift for performance while at school in Bath – then taking an engineering degree at Cambridge – Wang decided to capitalise on his humour and heritage to build a career in comedy

“Stand-up is like alchemy”, he muses. “Turning nothing into something. There’s something mystifying about that. To stand on stage on your own and turn that nothing into a room of laughing people – I found that fascinating, so I thought I’d give it a go.”

“The first gig I ever did was at school in Bath”, he says, “when the drama teacher invited people to do five-minute open spots. Me and one other kid said yes. People were surprised, but I found I had the knack for performing. The jokes were mainly stolen from YouTube, but I had the ability to tell them, a sense of the rhythm, the intonation, the punctuation, the musicality of it.

Phil Wang’s fame is relatively new. He’s been active in the comedy scene for years, but now that he’s nabbing gigs in big Hollywood projects and regularly pumping out new material, he has at last graduated to what he refers to as “minor fame.”

Sure, Wang works his new(ish) status as a public figure into his sets, but he balances it with bits inspired by his British-Malaysian heritage. His new Netflix special, Wang in There, Baby!, exemplifies this carefully curated mélange of ideas. It’s both an uproarious illumination of cultural quirks and a self-deprecating acknowledgement of his progress as a comic. When I catch up with Wang via Zoom, he’s exactly what I saw on my watermarked screener: affable, earnest, and passionate, and quick with self-directed, good-natured digs. 

“I don’t think I’m gonna get canceled,” he tells the audience during the special. This is obviously meant to tee up another punchline, but it also reflects his unfiltered thoughts about fame and the illusion of control. “But what you can’t foresee [is] what you’re recognized for or how you are recognized or who recognizes you,” Wang says on our call. “And I think that can be what surprises some people in my position. But I think I’m at, for me, in a pretty ideal level of notoriety. I think I’m well known enough that the people who recognize me like me, I don’t think I ever want to be so famous that people who hate me know who I am. I think that’s real fame, right?”

But saying anything onstage is a different animal. At this point in Wang’s career, ruminating on fame in a way that resonates with unassuming audiences is as difficult as it is thrilling. “If anything, I’m usually more excited about being recognized than the person who has recognized me,” he admits to his chortling chorus. The crowd devours the bit. 

A Comedy Career in Full Bloom

As is often the case with comics on the rise, Wang’s stand-up success coincides with supporting roles in  big Hollywood projects. Most recently, Wang popped up in 2023’s Wonka and in Netflix’s sci-fi adaptation 3-Body Problem.  His first Netflix special, Phil Wang: Philly Philly Wang Wang, aired in August 2021, weeks before the publication of his first book, Sidesplitter: How to Be from Two Worlds at Once.

Like every artist, though, Wang isn’t immune to self-sabotage. He cuts himself down, indulges his imposter syndrome, and judges his jokes before he can polish them. The way to combat these bad habits, Wang says, is to be real about where you’re at—especially if it’s not where you want to be—while nurturing a supportive internal dialogue. Basically? Critiquing your own work should never escalate to self-flagellation. 

“My self-talk is often very critical, which is good for quality control, but not so good for creativity, I think. You need the supportive voice to come up with new ideas [and] to be brave enough to come up with new ideas, but you also need a critical voice to tell you this isn’t good enough,” he tells us.

Before the specials and the Hollywooding, Wang made his rounds on numerous British TV series, showing up on programs such as Have I Got News For You, Taskmaster, and Hypothetical. He has made tremendous strides as a writer, actor, and comedian, but he’s stayed humble through it all. Even now, as he deftly juggles stand-up, Hollywood, and his sketch comedy group Daphne, he knows growth will always be necessary.

“It’s an ongoing process for sure,” he explains. “And dropping routines that made me feel bad is part of that improvement. Dropping the routines that would feed my negative voice by going, this routine sucks. You haven’t worked on this. You’re lazy, you’re bad at writing. Dropping those routines has really helped to break that pattern of negative thinking.”

For Wang, “process” is everything but a neat, obvious, and easily defined thing. He maintains that writing jokes and brainstorming potential sets is still something he does actively, but he also points out that improving his material always comes down to on-stage refinement. 

Wang’s fame seemed to come just in time, too, and he’s quick to point out that the way comedians get big is changing. Gaining an audience and growing a brand, particularly for new comics, has shifted to accommodate shorter attention spans as well as social media parameters.

“I feel like I’m part of a generation that was the equivalent of Indiana Jones grabbing his hat from under; we were the last generation to be able to make a name for ourselves outside of social media,” he explains. “I feel like if you’re starting now, there’s really no choice. You have to keep up this ongoing churn of content and it looks exhausting.”

Wang has been writing and performing comedy for years, but it is only now that he’s fully showing us—and himself—what he can do. As he puts it: “When I was younger—by way younger I mean a year, two years ago—I thought I only had a finite number of ideas in my head, and if I got rid of something that was it, gone forever, I would never be able to replace it. Now I know that I can replace it, so that’s a big step forward.”

Wang in There, Baby! is now available on Netflix.