Just Acting Natural

The first time she walked into the Punch Line, a comedy club in her hometown of San Francisco, Wong knew she was on to something.

“They were doing a roast for this local comedian who was leaving, and I realized this was a fraternity I wanted to be a part of,” she says. “They were doing these super-mean, personal jokes about each other, really undercutting, and I loved it. I was like, ‘I want to be part of this club so bad.’ It was the first time I ever felt that way. I had finally found my tribe.”

She started performing at open mics and quickly developed a reputation as a “raunchy” comedian, a distinction she says she begrudgingly accepts.

“I guess that’s just who I naturally am,” she says. “Of course I’m a dirty comic. I definitely fell into it because that’s what’s naturally funny to me. Poo-poo. Pee-pee. Penis. Vagina. Ever since I was a kid, [those words were] hilarious.”

Without having released an album or stand-up special, Wong has parlayed her comedy into acting jobs. She did a guest spot on the Fox sitcom “Breaking In” and was a regular on the recently canceled NBC sitcom “Are You There, Chelsea?” She also regularly appears as a panelist on Chelsea Handler’s E! chat show, “Chelsea Lately.” Though Wong had no acting experience before appearing in “Breaking In,” she says she found the transition relatively simple.

“Acting is super easy,” she says. “You just show up and say the words. Especially for me, coming from stand-up. I moved to New York with no money. I was eating beans from a can, living with eight other people and now I have my own trailer. There’s a woman who puts my clothes on. She literally dresses me. She puts my underwear on. She makes space for my leg, like I’m a kid, in each of the underwear holes. All that stuff is cake.”