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originally published: 10/29/2021

(RED BANK, NJ) -- Comedian Ali Wong's Milk & Money Tour stops at the Count Basie Center’s Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre on Sunday, November 21 at 5:00pm and 8:00pm.  The shows will be filmed for an upcoming Netflix comedy special. Tickets, priced from $49.50 are on sale through theBASIE.org, the Basie Center box office and Ticketmaster.

Ali Wong is a stand-up comic from San Francisco, now living in Los Angeles. Her first Netflix stand-up special BABY COBRA was filmed when she was 7 months pregnant.  According to the New York Magazine, “The special’s arrival on Netflix is the sort of star-making moment that unites the tastes of the unlikeliest fans.” Elle applauded it as a “comic genius gem” while Vogue called it “The special that everyone is talking about.” Emily Nussbaum hailed it as “funny and refreshingly rude.” The day before its premiere, Wong’s interview with Marc Maron on his podcast WTF was released. He called the special “the most honest, rawest, funniest special I’ve seen in years.”

She soon after became a very popular Halloween costume. Fans, both male and female, dressed up in Wong’s iconic red glasses, black and white striped dress and pregnant belly. The Smithsonian has asked Wong to donate the actual dress, shoes and necklace she wore in the BABY COBRA, to the Museum of American History in Washington, DC. 

Ali’s second stand-up special, HARD KNOCK WIFE premiered on Netflix in on Mother’s Day 2018. Her feature film, ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE, which she co-wrote and co-stars in, debuted on Netflix May 2019 to wide critical acclaim. In the first four weeks, it was seen by 32 million viewers. Last Halloween, fans have continued to dress up as Wong in the striped dress, in the leopard dress and as her character, Sasha Tran, from ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE.

All patrons will be required to be both fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit to onsite rapid testing on the day of show. The shows are also phone- and smartwatch-free; following check-in, patrons will be required to secure their devices in Yondr-brand security pouches, which can be unlocked following the performance.  

 

Advertise with New Jersey Stage for $50-$100 per month, click here for info

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Tickets to see Wong headline live are now known to sell out within two minutes. She recently sold out an unprecedented 13 shows at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. Her book DEAR GIRLS: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life was released October 2019 and became an instant New York Times Bestseller. According to Vogue, “[Wong] spins a volume whose pages simultaneously shock and satisfy. . . . Dear Girls is not so much a real-talk handbook as it is a myth-puncturing manifesto.”

The Count Basie Center for the Arts is located at 99 Monmouth Street in Red Bank.  

Advertise with New Jersey Stage for $50-$100 per month, click here for info

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