Ali Wong Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
More compared to halfway in to Ali Wong’s stand-up special, Baby Cobra, she says to a silent room: “I don’t already know if you guys can easily tell, however I’m seven-and-a-half-months pregnant.”
Everybody laughs, mostly due to the fact that the joke is that yes, you can easily tell. Though Wong starts her set by making a joke regarding having to pee every one of the time, this deadpan announcement marks the start of the portion of her set that is obtaining the most attention: the pregnancy jokes. She’s already told jokes regarding “trapping” her Harvard Business School–educated husband in to marriage and Sheryl Sandberg (“I don’t wanna lean in, I wish to lie down”). however by spending a significant chunk of her special on pregnancy and parenting-related material, Wong has actually done something unusual: She’s pointed out exactly how funny pregnancy can easily be, while she is actually pregnant.
It’s essential to note from the start that, unlike you or I (speak for yourself, I guess), Ali Wong is rather funny, and she’s been performing stand-up for a long time. She’s likewise a writer for ABC’s Fresh off the Boat. None of this would certainly job if it weren’t funny, however it really, actually is.
It’s likewise worth noting that she is fully aware of exactly how radical the act is. “It’s rather rare and unusual to see a female comic perform pregnant,” she says. “due to the fact that female comics don’t get hold of pregnant. Just attempt to believe of one. I dare you: There’s none of them. Once they do get hold of pregnant, they disappear.” She has actually a point: Most of the well-known women comedians in recent memory haven’t focused their material on motherhood, and they definitely don’t get hold of up onstage very, rather pregnant.
The few notably pregnant performances in history are so rare that they’re nearly iconic. Joan Rivers appeared on The Tonight Show in 1967 as soon as she was seven months pregnant, which was “unheard of” at the time, as she later told the Telegraph. (Of road it would certainly be Joan Rivers, God like her.) A pregnant Amy Poehler rapped along with Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, while MIA performed at the 2009 Grammy Awards on her due date. however the visibly pregnant physique in the work environment — especially a rather public work environment such as a stage — is still a fairly brand-new and uncomfortable phenomenon. Couple that physique along with anal-sex jokes, and you’ve got something for good new.
Wong knows that male comics don’t pull the very same disappearing act as soon as they become fathers. “Once they have actually a baby, they’ll get hold of up onstage the week after and be like, ‘Guys, I Merely had this fucking baby,’” she almost screams. It’s a gag, however she sounds angry for actual as she continues in character as the male comic: “That baby’s a little piece of shit. It’s so annoying and boring.” Then the lesson: “And their fame Merely swells due to the fact that they become this relatable family man.”
What Wong is talking regarding here is true of rather a lot every one of careers: One moms and dad suffers considerably Much more compared to the various other for their decision to have actually a child, and it’s usually not the dad. however the realities of the comic life — executing late at night four or 5 times a week — make it hard to pull off unless you have actually the cash or resources. Or at least a husband to watch the baby.
Wong’s point goes a little deeper compared to that, though. In a recent interview with Elle, she spoke about her decision to film the special while pregnant, saying, “Pregnancy for a functioning woman is generally perceived as a weakness.” In fact, pregnancy at job is legally considered a disability. “I wanted to usage my pregnancy as a source of electricity and turn it in to a weapon as opposed to a weakness,” she said.
And she does. On Wong’s small frame, accentuated by a tight minidress, her big belly resembles the supreme prop. “Empowered” is a tired term, however she does looks powerful up there, making graphic sex jokes and gesticulating about her bump.
The fact is that pregnancy is regularly treated as a weakness due to the fact that it is, in some respects, a fragile state. You can’t actually jinx your child-to-be’s healthiness by talking shit, however numerous otherwise pragmatic women discover themselves thinking superstitiously throughout their pregnancies and in early motherhood. Straight talk regarding pregnancy is taboo partly due to the fact that we’re still uncomfortable along with women’s bodies (“A great deal of women tried to freak me out regarding childbirth by saying, ‘Ali, did you already know you’re gonna poop on the table?” and I was like, “Yeah, I expect it’”) and partly because, well, not every one of pregnancies job out.
Ali Wong deals along with that head on: “Last year, I had a miscarriage, which is rather common,” she says, to a for good silent audience of people that are probably wondering where the joke is. however there isn’t one for a few minutes, as she explains that her miscarriage, which happened rather early, was something she talks regarding due to the fact that they are so common, and due to the fact that numerous young women don’t already know that. Finally, she lets the air from the room by saying she “used it as leverage” for “enjoy a month,” ultimately wrangling her husband in to taking her to see Beyoncé.
Wong has actually said that even though she started performing the miscarriage bit right after it happened, it didn’t job until she was visibly pregnant, a signal to her audience that points turned out okay. That makes sense in the context of Wong’s life, and in the context of this set.
But it likewise explains, I think, why women could shy away from making jokes regarding pregnancy and performing jokes while pregnant: Something in us Merely has actually to wonder if we’re inviting inadequate luck. That’s Exactly what I believed as soon as I watched her special. I thought, enjoy I have actually every time I’ve written a little one-liner regarding wondering if my baby had died of SIDS overnight, “Exactly what if?” Exactly what if we say this thing, if we attract fate and talk regarding our healthy and balanced babies prior to they’re even here Then something inadequate happens? This is, obviously, a silly method to think, however as soon as your job entails making jokes from the material from your very own life, it’s a recurring fear. however Ali Wong, to her credit, has actually turned Exactly what is regularly perceived as weakness in to her strongest material.
Wong is executing again after the birth of her daughter. “I’m still going out at night,” she recently told Vogue. “My daughter is asleep after 8:00 p.m. We stored a bunch of dairy products in the freezer. If she gets hungry, my husband can easily feed her. I don’t strategy on disappearing.” Hopefully, she’ll be weaving brand-new bits of her life as a mother in to her routine. We sure could usage a fresh, filthy take on breast-feeding or sleep training.
