Margaret
Cho, 32, has you under her spell. This, after all, was the first page in
the paper you turned to, isn’t it? You smiled with familiarity because
you saw her on the cover. You immediately remembered a funny story she
told and began to laugh again.
She doesn’t care who you are, whom you sleep with or what you do. All she cares about is making you laugh so hard you cry and your sides hurt. Margaret wants to tell her stories because, chances are, she’s gotten herself into the same predicaments you have. She’s felt the same way you have about self-esteem, dating and fitting in. That’s the exact reason why you are so drawn to her. “Finally!” you think. “Here is someone who understands me and where I’ve been.”
It doesn’t hurt her popularity that she’s a survivor who has been to the depths of Hell and back, struggling with eating disorders and substance abuse but still manages to laugh about it.
We fell in love with Margaret the first time we saw her body hunch over and her face scrunch up when she imitated her Korean mother shrieking, “You duh gay!” And the affair blossomed when she’s opened her last tour, “I’m The One Want,” proclaiming herself a fag hag while being able to candidly talk about her experiences on a lesbian cruise ship. That was it—she suddenly became a national treasure to the LGBT community.
It’s been a busy year for her since “I’m The One I Want,” a tour that launched her as a triple threat comedian, movie star and author. Following her sold-out tour, her performance at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco was recorded as a concert film. It went on to gross over $1 million on fewer than 10 prints. Airing on the Sundance Channel on Oct. 5, the show will be released on video and DVD on Oct. 9.
In May, her first book, also entitled I’m The One I Want, debuted on the L.A. Times best seller list at number 4. Her book tour brought her to Seattle for a reading at the Broadway Performance Hall that same month, where she read two chapters from the book and answered questions from the largely gay, sold-out audience.
Comedy’s self-proclaimed bad girl returns to Seattle for two engagements of her new show, “The Notorious C.H.O.,” on Sunday, Sept. 16 at the Paramount. This new show that has taken a year to write and produce is described as raw, raunchy and feminist-inspired – thanks to her favorite ladies of rap.
“L’il Kim, Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliot, Eve. I love female rap artists. I think they’re strong and beautiful,” she told me during an exclusive Gay Standard interview recently.
Emerald City Arts is the non-profit responsible for bringing her back to Seattle for her second concert appearance. Paul Bauer, marketing director for ECA, credits Margaret’s success to saying “what we are all thinking, and she’s not afraid to. We are so fortunate to have her back and are excited to add a second show at 4 p.m., on the 16th.”
My interview with Margaret occurred during a rare day off for her. She was just finishing up a run in Provincetown, Mass., before taking “The Notorious C.H.O” to Edinburgh, Scotland, and returning to the States for her North American tour.
I had met Margaret when she came for her book tour in the spring and was surprised how different she was onstage, commanding the audience with her razor wit and humor but then being humble and grateful to meet everyone who was in line to get her autograph. Trying to defuse my nervousness, at the time I offered her an autographed photo of myself in drag and an I.O.U. for past royalties for co-opting her material.
I was extremely nervous to interview her, simply because she has served as a role model for me since 1996, when I first lip-synched her monologue from her tour, “Drunk With Power.”
With slim celebrity pickings for Asian role models, Margaret opens the field contained by the likes of Jackie Chan, Chow Young Fat, Tia Carrera and Lucy Liu. She has been one of the only Asian entertainers who continues to talk about our experiences with such frank honesty.
Jumping into our interview, I asked what her new tour is all about.
“The last show was about drugs and drinking. The new show is about addiction, primarily to sex and food. I want to search for the answers. There’s a lot of the politics of the woman’s body – that we have to look a certain way. I think that the gay men’s culture is the same way. It’s oppressive. If you don’t look a certain way, you get shut out,” she said matter-of-factly.
When I commended her for delivering material that was also socially responsible she answered, “It’s been a spiritual experience to be able to use the negative, the depression, the addiction in my shows. It’s led to so much healing – to learn not to fear pain or self-anguish. There’s more joy and more happiness. But I don’t want to lose sight of being funny, or being stupid and hilarious. I love that aspect, the dirty jokes ...”
She offered me a preview from “The Notorious C.H.O.” In the monologue she jokes she would rather go to a sex club and get fucked with a leather dildo in front of a group of strangers than go through the anxiety of going on a first date.
“Gay men understand my material. I think being a woman I make certain situations more accessible for other people to understand. I can make taboo subjects very likable,” she explained.
Asking her what it was about gay men and straight women that forged such great relationships, Margaret explained, “It’s the idea of us being once removed from the straight male. We’re minorities to them and that creates an instant bond. I also think that straight women have a masculine energy and gay men have a female energy.” After a brief silence over the phone, she added, “I attract a lot of attention from men and it’s not just sexual either. I’m also a great matchmaker. So if you need to meet someone ...”
I deadpanned back, “Margaret, even you couldn’t save my love life.”
The conversation naturally turned to her guest appearance on the season opener on the straight-woman-and-gay-man-cult show, Sex and the City.
“I am definitely a Carrie, with a Miranda rising. It was such a great experience being on Sex and the City because that show is so healing. I watch it and I don’t ever feel alone. But you know, most of the writers on that show are gay men, so it’s like they get to play with their dolls,” she laughed.
We both talked about how the Asian community has reacted to her, and she said positively, “The reaction runs the gamut and the discussion is so great. Amer-Asians get into it and I find it very exciting. It’s great that attention is being brought to our community.”
Margaret’s greatest gift toward improving the Asian community is that she demolishes stereotypes that are set for Asians by mainstream America yet doesn’t make anyone feel guilty for thinking them.
She teaches through laughter and sometimes pain, but at the end of her day, she owes her success to her ability to tell it like is, and for that reason her audience will only get larger with each project.
Tickets are on sale now for the 4 p.m. Sept. 16 show at Paramount by contacting Ticketmaster or by calling (206) 323-2992 or (206) 292-ARTS. A small amount of VIP seats have been set aside to benefit Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Seattle Men’s Chorus; the $100 ticket price includes a private reception with Margaret.