Following the release of her fourth original comedy special for Netflix, Ali Wong tested her luck with extra spicy chicken wings on this week’s episode of “Hot Ones.” The acclaimed comedian, actor and writer took a trip down memory lane to discuss her early days doing stand-up and shooting the hit Netflix series “Beef.”
“I read that the first place you ever did stand-up was at the BrainWash Cafe on Folsom Street in San Francisco,” host Sean Evans said shortly after he and Wong enjoyed their first wing. “Can you paint the picture for what an open mic showcase hosted by Tony Sparks might have looked and felt like for a performer onstage?”
Wong — who was surprised by the question (“Oh my gosh, this is a deep cut!”) — said, “It was like, literally half cafe, half laundromat, 100% homeless shelter. And the show would start at 5 p.m. and you’d do three minutes to people jerking off into their eggs and folding their laundry. And a lot of comics judging you. And it was great.”
After talking about other San Francisco comedy venues, Evans pivoted the conversation to “Beef,” asking Wong what scene from the show was the most cathartic and fun to shoot. She mentioned the scene where her character, Amy Lau, pulls out a gun after discovering that Danny Cho (played by Steven Yeun) has urinated all over her floor.
“I like that one a lot. That was scary because…it was a lot of dialogue and I had never done something like that before and we were really limited on time, so I knew we only had like three takes,” she said.
Wong continued, “I liked getting a piggyback ride from Steven at the end. That was really funny. That was fun because every time I would get on his back, he would ‘pop’ a little bit. So I have fond memories of that.”
Elsewhere in her interview, Wong spoke about having the dress from her first Netflix stand-up special “Baby Cobra” be displayed at the Smithsonian. Wong said her kids, ex-husband and boyfriend Bill Hader all saw the exhibit when they came to Washington D.C. to watch her perform at the Kennedy Center.
“To have all of them with me, just as meaningful as the dress itself, you know, being in the museum,” she told Evans.
“I was shocked I was so emotional. And my daughter Mari, who I was pregnant with at the time, she pointed at it and she was so excited. She was like, ‘That’s me in there!’” Wong reminisced on visiting the exhibit. “I think even more meaningful than that is when people dress up in a striped dress and shove a pillow under there for Halloween. It’s happened every year since, and that’s probably my favorite thing — that’s my favorite superlative that’s happened.”
Wong is currently promoting her new comedy special “Single Lady” along with Netflix’s upcoming animated series “Jentry Chau Vs. The Underworld.”
Watch the full episode below, via YouTube:
