A Note to NHA Readers:
Ali Wong is a comedy hero who’s blowing across the United States with just a year of stand-up under her belt. Fresh from shows in Hawaii and Los Angeles, she’s about to jet off to Atlanta where she’ll share the stage with Jamie Foxx and Cedric the Entertainer at Laffapalooza ’06. She’s smart, raw and edgy, and, as poet Bao Phi said it best, she “push[es] us to the to the edge of comfort, where we think as well as laugh.” To give NHA readers the full Ali Wong, I’ve written a no-holds-barred, behind-the-scenes, look at Ali, the young woman who is winning praise nationwide for mouthing off. I hope spirit comes through in the story, and makes you laugh, as well as think.
—Han Pham.

Ali Wong smells like fish sauce. And men love it.

At least, that’s what she says.

Ali Wong: Man Magnet

Dear Ali:
I’m single again and am about to hit the dating scene with a vengeance! What are my best weapons? Will fish sauce really work as an aphrodisiac?
—Ready and Randy

Dear Ready and Randy:
If you run out of fish sauce, there are some other products you could use, that smell like vagina: warm cucumbers, day old poi or a yoga mat. If you’re really desperate, grab an unwashed pair of panties, and rub them on your neck. People say that applying fragrance there is very effective as it frames your face with sensory aroma.
Ali

*

There is no doubt in my mind that Alexandra Dawn Wong, known lovingly by her fans as “The Shit,” is a man magnet.

She says that she performs on stage with glasses for a reason (“If there’s glasses on a person, it says, ‘I’m not here to take your man,’” Ali confided), but that reason doesn’t work. Every time I see this little comedic firebrand, she’s surrounded by men. Men, big and small. Men, obscure and well-known... like Nguyen Qui Duc.

Now, Nguyen Qui Duc is not a wallflower. He is a man that dresses in black and likes to roll his syllables with a well-trained British accent. And people love him, because he is a dynamic voice in the Vietnamese community, a host of celebrated national public radio program Pacific Time, an author, a poet, an artist. He is a Vietnamese celebrity, on a grand scale.

And when I saw Ali Wong a few weeks ago, it was at Duc’s going away party. Surrounded by his artwork and his fans, he dazzled anyone within earshot. With a flourish, he started a story. He told of how he had met this young girl one day, been captivated by her, spent lunches enamored with her wit.

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