Ali Wong. Photo: Alex Crick/Netflix
Despite a tongue-in-cheek condemnation of feminism early in her initial hourlong special, Baby Cobra, which came out on Netflix this past weekend, Ali Wong goes on to tell one of the most powerful jokes I’ve seen in a long time. After 38 mins of stand-up that is notably raw, particularly for television, Wong takes a sip of water, as comedians do to reset. And then: “I don’t already know if you guys can easily tell however I’m seven and half months pregnant.”
Of course, the audience could tell — Wong is making no initiative to hide it along with her tight dress — and that was the point. She continues:
“It’s rather rare and unusual to see a female comic perform pregnant, since … female comics don’t grab pregnant. Merely attempt to believe of one. I dare you. There’s none of them. Once they do grab pregnant they generally disappear.”
That last point is just what Wong is fighting versus here. Television shows generally don’t already know exactly how to manage pregnant women, most regularly shutting the production down until the actress can easily once again be camera prepared or, if delaying the prove to won’t do, making her character regularly carry boxes, large notepads, and houseplants.
With her special, Wong plays along with normalizing the sight of a pregnant woman on TV. She after that takes that a step further by telling a few of the filthiest material you’ll see anywhere, full stop. There’s a chunk regarding exactly how she likes to put her thumb up men’s butts since she’s attracted to the fear men have actually that if they enjoy it it means they’re gay. She pantomimes obtaining choked throughout sex until she’s red in the face. She has actually four very thorough mins regarding shitting at work.
Released on Mother’s Day weekend, Baby Cobra is an all-out assault on the greeting-card perception of the perfect, somehow virginal mother. By being visibly pregnant while saying that women aren’t afraid of anal sex since it could hurt however very since there could be “doo-doo on the dick,” Wong forces the audience to humanize motherhood.
It’s undeniably powerful, which was Wong’s exact goal. “I wanted to usage my pregnancy as a source of electricity and turn it in to a weapon as opposed to a weakness,” she told Elle regarding her special. “As soon as you’re pregnant, you’re hungry, tired, and fat, so you have actually this ‘I don’t offer a fuck’ attitude that lends itself actually well to performance. You allow go of every one of dignity and shame, and it’s beautiful.”
That attitude is more apparent along with exactly how the above joke continues, as she discusses just what happens after the baby is born:
“That’s not the case along with male comics. Once they have actually a baby, they’ll grab up onstage a week after and be like, ‘Guys, I Merely had a fucking baby, that baby’s a little piece of shit, it’s so annoying and boring!’ And every one of these others shitty dads in the audience are enjoy ‘That’s hilarious! I identify!’ And their fame Merely swells, since they’ve become this relatable family funnyman all a sudden. Meanwhile, the mom is at residence chapping her nipples, feeding the fucking baby, and wearing a frozen diaper since her pussy should heal from the baby’s head shredding it up. She’s busy!”
Is she talking regarding Louis C.K. specifically? It’s hard to say, however she rather well could be. Prior to he was lauded for Louie, C.K. was celebrated for his frank means he discussed parenting. Take, for example, his famous bit regarding changing diapers from his 2008 HBO special, Chewed Up (named for the state of older women’s nipples):
“As soon as you have actually kids, as a guy, your partnership along with the vagina Merely modifications completely. It was constantly this mysterious, beautiful, little pouty thing that I only caught in glimpses in the dark, maybe three times in 40 years. And now I’ve got to clean shit from two of them daily. I literally scrape shit from my daughter’s little red vagina a couple of times a day. Every time she takes a shit, it goes straight up her cunt.”
Not to diminish C.K.’s value in raising his kids, and fathers in general, however there is an obvious privilege in being able to leave that baby for every one of hours of the night to talk regarding changing her to strangers. You hear stand-ups say that if they don’t perform for a week, they feel rusty; there is no mandatory leave.
The result is that comedy regarding the time right before, and after, the birth of a youngster has actually been male dominated. And that’s dumb. If comedy is fact telling, after that much better comedy will certainly result the closer you grab to the truth. This sort of honest perspective from women on pregnancy and childbirth is already happening in plenty of non-performative spots online, however it’s a notable step to see it in comedy, and especially in comedy on TV. since if “wearing a frozen diaper since her pussy should heal” is on TV that means it has actually been functioning in front of live audiences for months. That is a shift in consciousness.
In 1967, Joan Rivers performed on TV seven months pregnant. Her profession was hitting its stride and Rivers wasn’t going to slow-moving down for anything. however it “was unheard of,” she told the Telegraph years later. “Every reviewer said I must not be onstage.” She likewise didn’t offer a fuck. 5 months after offer birth to her daughter, Melissa, Rivers was onstage recording her second album, The Alongside Last Joan Rivers Album, performing material regarding the inane means in which individuals talk regarding pregnant women. That was almost 50 years ago.
Wong was on WTF along with Marc Maron this past week, using a breast pump while being interviewed, and revealing that she has actually been able to go onstage already. She’ll be at The Comedy Store tomorrow night. She will certainly not disappear, and hopefully others will certainly follow her lead.