Refreshing cup o’ Cho

Donald Munro, June 22, 2001
 

Margaret Cho’s recollections of Fresno are a bit hazy. In 1991, she performed at California State University, Fresno, in a raucous show with Matt Weinhold and Ngaio Bealum, two other MTV-featured comedians.  “I smoked a lot of pot that weekend,” she says cheerfully. “That’s the only thing I remember.”  It’s refreshing to talk with Cho. Most celebrity interviews are curious publicity-machine affairs—a stilted mix of forced chumminess and wary limit-setting. Shirley MacLaine nearly came through the phone and bit my head off once during an interview to promote “The Evening Star.” (I chalked it up to the fact that she was grouchy after a long day and, well, that she’s Shirley MacLaine.)  Then there was the time I interviewed Hugh Grant just a couple of months after his celebrated encounter with a prostitute. He was amiable but definitely wary. And who can blame him?  Even when a celebrity is friendly and open, there’s definitely a sense of boundaries—of forced parameters—at work. When I interviewed Tom Hanks last year for “Cast Away,” for example, he made it clear he was there to talk about the movie. There were intensely personal, downright rude questions I wouldn’t have been able to ask even if I’d wanted. (Don’t worry: I didn’t.)  With Cho it’s different. I’m talking with her in advance of her Fresno appearance tonight at the Tower Theatre, where she’ll discuss her acclaimed stand-up concert film “I’m the One That I Want.” There’s something so low-key—so open—about her demeanor that it’s nearly disarming. She’s sweet and subversive. That’s quite a combination.  Is anything off-limits?  “I’m just forward about who I am,” she says.  That sense of life-as-open-book is what gives the hilarious, riveting “I’m the One That I Want” such impact. Filmed in her hometown of San Francisco at the Warfield Theatre, Cho serves up a rich, steaming, sexually spicy and profanity- peppered autobiographical stew.  It’s raw and explicit, yes. Also intensely emotional. Cho’s film celebrates her resurrection of sorts. In 1994, she became the first Asian-American to star in a sitcom, “All-American Girl.” But from the start, the road was rocky. ABC decided her face “was too round.” A crash diet sent her to the hospital with kidney failure.  When the TV show was canceled, Cho slipped into a downward spiral of drugs, alcohol and depression. That she was able to climb out of it is a tribute to her plucky spirit—and for her willingness to just say no to the stereotype that Asian women have to look like sticks.  “The show had a lot of resonance with people,” she says. “There was a real emotional connection with the audience. It felt raw and new and exciting.”  Cho has long had a strong bond with gay audiences. “Being around gay men is very natural and very easy,” she says. “It’s who all my friends are, practically. It’s a very lovely thing.”  In the film she recounts—in suitably candid detail—her one same-sex encounter, which took place when she was the featured entertainer on a lesbian cruise ship.  Yet her audience has always been broader than the gay community. Cho’s appearance is a joint fund-raiser sponsored by Fresno’s REEL Pride Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, the Asian Pacific American Heritage Coalition and the Organization of Chinese Americans.  She often draws large numbers of gays and Asians to her appearances.  Do such diverse groups of people always get along?  “Yes, there have been no riots so far,” she says dryly.  Cho has always made her family an integral part of her life, and in “I’m the One That I Want,” she pokes long and loving fun at her mother. At one festival, Cho sat in the audience watching the film with her parents on one side and a deliriously loyal gay-based fan club on the other.  “It was weird because they were both laughing at the same things,” she says. “That was a really strange experience to be the bridge of understanding between leather daddies and old Korean people. It made me realize that I really do have some sort of gift.”  Cho is working on her new “Notorious C.H.O” stand-up tour, which kicks off in August. But she’s coming to Fresno more as a filmmaker than a comedian. She’ll introduce “I’m the One That I Want,” then take the stage in a question-and-answer session.  And she’s willing to answer anything.  My question for her is this: What’s the most off-the-wall question anyone’s ever asked her?  Cho thinks for a moment, then remembers a gay film festival in Honolulu. Someone asked if she still engages in a specific sexual technique that figures prominently in the film—and if she still does it well. (OK, I’m trying to paraphrase two little words here, but can you tell I’m trying to get this past my editors?)  As the question hung in the air, the audience tensed, as if she might take offense.  Were they serious? This is Margaret Cho you’re talking about here.  “I gave the only answer I could,” she says. “I said it’s a matter of quality over quantity. But I don’t think anyone would ever ask Kurosawa that.”