Women comics talking crudely about their bodies is nothing new, but a pregnant comedian was pretty unheard of until Ali Wongâs Netflix special Baby Cobra. In her opening bit, Wong states, âFemale comics donât get pregnant,â because itâs thought to be a career-ender. HA! Not in Wongâs case. For her, it became a game-changer. In fact, since Baby Cobra, her celebrity status has blown up, and the demand for her comedy continues to increase.
âLast week a cop pulled me over for not having my headlights on and let me go when he realized I was âthat filthy pregnant comedian,ââ Wong tells me. âWhen my husband and I go on a date, we purposely sit in a corner at the restaurant, and have me face a wall to minimize being recognized and interrupted during dinner.â
In that now-famed hour-long special, the Vietnamese- and Chinese-American comic took the stage at 7 months pregnant and spoke on a number of topics: increasingly dry vaginas; dating within and outside of your race; appropriating your own culture via interior dĂ©cor; intentionally trapping your Ivy League boyfriend into a marriage so you donât have to work anymore; and the hairiest details of having to take that dreaded workplace shit. A self-proclaimed control freak, Wongâs onstage persona operates with a balance of bitterness, exhaustion, self-awareness, and wisdomâall made funnier by her casually ballooning belly.
Waddling though she was, Wongâs special showcased her natural ability to walk the line between offensive and funny. She honestly pointed out the greatest parts of dating (and receiving head from) white men, but explained why itâs best to marry someone inside your own race: so you can have fun being racist at home, obvi.
At one point Wong says she thinks âfeminism is the worst thing that ever happened to women,â and goes on to criticize Sheryl Sandberg (âI donât wanna lean in, I wanna lay downâ). She says that by spoiling the secret that women âcan do anything,â weâve given up the opportunity for sponsored days off and being the housewives some of us always dreamed weâd be. And it is fucking hilarious. The irony here, of course, is that the housewife life couldnât be further from Wongâs reality, as sheâs clearly working into her third trimester.
âAnyone who is really paying attention understands that I was joking,â says Wong. âI am clearly very passionate about stand-up and it is definitely WORK. Thereâs nothing that inspires me more than fellow moms that continue to create and speak up.â
Wong points to women like Lauryn Hill, Shonda Rhimes, Alicia Keys, Michelle Obama, Kara Walker, Erykah Badu, and Elizabeth Warren as her inspirations.
âTheir voices, and the nature of them just doing what they do are so powerful,â she says.
In addition to doing tapings with a bun in the oven, Wong has written for the TV show Fresh Off the Boat, which is about culture shock. But since having a child, sheâs had to shuffle her priorities.
âThis past year Iâve been consulting there,â she says. âI am still involved, but I have stepped back quite a bit. But Iâm very close to the writing staff, and love seeing them, and love stealing snacks from the office. I check in with the creator/showrunner, Nahnatchka Khan, on a pretty regular basis for advice. She has been one of the most important mentors in my adult life.â
Now that Wong is a motherâher kid is a little more than a year old and just started walkingâIâm excited to hear about what kind of parent sheâs becoming. Wong tells me that sheâs been bringing her baby girl, her mother, and her husband to most of her tour stops.
âThank goodness I got to the point where I could afford to bring them on the road,â she says. âMy baby sleeps pretty well on the plane and itâs an opportunity to spend quality time with her, since I canât be distracted by house chores or email.
âBut there was one time she threw up on my crotch in the beginning of a cross-country flight. My underwear was soaked in milk and bananas. It was so unpleasantly moist for five-and-a-half hours. I was worried a colony or a species would start growing down there.â
Given this info, I guess I donât have to be too curious about whether her stand-up has the same nasty edge. Among my favorite parts of her special: when she confesses what a âdisgusting pervertâ she is in bed, and makes vivid jokes about things like poop and vagina slime.
âThereâs always going to be poop humor,â Wong says. âIâm kind of obsessed with fecal matters.â
Understandably, Wong wouldnât tell me much more about her new material, so weâll just have to see for ourselves. Luckily, after selling out the two initial shows on Thursday, the Newmark Theater has added two addition- al performances on Friday. And Wong tells me sheâs stoked to come to Portland for the first time, and to dine at a few nearby restaurants.
âIâve never been! Iâm so excited to shop tax-free. My toes are wiggling just thinking about it.â
I think I speak for all of us when I say the feeling is mutual.