Ali Wong's Milk & Honey Show
***SPOILER ALERT*** If you haven't seen Ali's show and want to remain in suspense about her new content, please do not continue reading.
I recently watched Ali Wong's new Milk & Honey show with some friends at The Masonic in San Francisco. Ali remains, in my heart, a transcendent pioneer of modern day comedy, not just by Asian American standards, but by cleverly brilliant human being standards. Sure, call me biased as a Vietnamese American fangirl who has seen her in small comedy settings twice before her big fame blowout on Netflix. But Ali's not winning with her 8 figure Netflix deals just because she's a petite framed Asian woman killin' it in a white man's world. She's winning because her content is funny, clever and skillful as fuck, refreshingly honest, disgusting, relatable, and increasingly provocative. She's taking risks, pushing boundaries, and it's amazing to witness.
In her show, Ali does a whole bit on cheating on her husband. Her amazing Harvard Business School husband. When she started talking about imagining herself fucking other men, you could feel the discomfort of the mostly Asian audience slowly swell up. People quietly taking more sips of their drinks. People nervously laughing maybe looking sideways at their partners to see their reaction. Ali tells a story about flirting with the idea of sleeping with a beautiful 25 year old culinary consultant who worked on her 'Always Be My Maybe' set. Ali, you really do still got it!
I found this content to be hilarious, unique, open, real, and perhaps the shit that people are thinking about themselves but are too scared to acknowledge to their partners, or even themselves because of the deeply embedded save face norms in Asian cultures. This bit is delivered in the context of her living realities as an exhausted working mother of two, trying to balance all the things in life day after day with her husband, family, and exploding comedy career. Ali even talks about her mom's reactions to hearing about this new content, and how shocked she was that Ali was even considering sharing these thoughts out loud.
My biggest takeaway from the show came at the end, when Ali finally speaks to the question many audience members, including myself, were thinking... what does your husband think about you standing up here talking about wanting to cheat on him?!
Ali drops into a more earnest, sincere tone. She expresses genuine gratitude to her incredible husband, who, after the show would be slinging Baby Cobra merchandise on her behalf. She talks about how, the only reason she can stand up on stage talking about these provocative things, is solely because her husband gives her permission to and supports her to be her full, whole self (hot fantasies of other men included), accepting Ali for exactly who she is.
Also because she bought him a Tesla for Christmas 😊
Thanks Ali Wong for all that you do to tear down stereotypes of Asian American women by just being yourself on and off the stage.
I recently watched Ali Wong's new Milk & Honey show with some friends at The Masonic in San Francisco. Ali remains, in my heart, a transcendent pioneer of modern day comedy, not just by Asian American standards, but by cleverly brilliant human being standards. Sure, call me biased as a Vietnamese American fangirl who has seen her in small comedy settings twice before her big fame blowout on Netflix. But Ali's not winning with her 8 figure Netflix deals just because she's a petite framed Asian woman killin' it in a white man's world. She's winning because her content is funny, clever and skillful as fuck, refreshingly honest, disgusting, relatable, and increasingly provocative. She's taking risks, pushing boundaries, and it's amazing to witness.
In her show, Ali does a whole bit on cheating on her husband. Her amazing Harvard Business School husband. When she started talking about imagining herself fucking other men, you could feel the discomfort of the mostly Asian audience slowly swell up. People quietly taking more sips of their drinks. People nervously laughing maybe looking sideways at their partners to see their reaction. Ali tells a story about flirting with the idea of sleeping with a beautiful 25 year old culinary consultant who worked on her 'Always Be My Maybe' set. Ali, you really do still got it!
I found this content to be hilarious, unique, open, real, and perhaps the shit that people are thinking about themselves but are too scared to acknowledge to their partners, or even themselves because of the deeply embedded save face norms in Asian cultures. This bit is delivered in the context of her living realities as an exhausted working mother of two, trying to balance all the things in life day after day with her husband, family, and exploding comedy career. Ali even talks about her mom's reactions to hearing about this new content, and how shocked she was that Ali was even considering sharing these thoughts out loud.
My biggest takeaway from the show came at the end, when Ali finally speaks to the question many audience members, including myself, were thinking... what does your husband think about you standing up here talking about wanting to cheat on him?!
Ali drops into a more earnest, sincere tone. She expresses genuine gratitude to her incredible husband, who, after the show would be slinging Baby Cobra merchandise on her behalf. She talks about how, the only reason she can stand up on stage talking about these provocative things, is solely because her husband gives her permission to and supports her to be her full, whole self (hot fantasies of other men included), accepting Ali for exactly who she is.
Also because she bought him a Tesla for Christmas 😊
Thanks Ali Wong for all that you do to tear down stereotypes of Asian American women by just being yourself on and off the stage.
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| A tribute to the badass women and baby girls in my life on their own journeys of learning how to be and love themselves |
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