Is
Margaret Cho a queer girl? If you’ve seen her in concert, either on DVD
in I’m the One That I Want or on tour with her more recent effort,
The Notorious C.H.O. you know already know the answer. And we’re
not talking about her account of being fisted by a lesbian dwarf, either.
Then again, that
is pretty different. But besides talking about
her sexual misadventures with men and women, her gay porn-reading mother
and “gay daddy,” and her real upbringing by Polk Street drag queens, Margaret’s
always been that other girl. The strange one. The queer one.
As much as she’s always had a great gay following – thanks to doing stand-up in her native San Francisco before ever hitting the road and cable boxes – she’s been made a patron saint of really anyone who is a bit different. And she’s more of a survivor than Gloria Gaynor, Destiny’s Child and Lifetime Television could ever imagine. She’s a big girl who’s through with being forced into crazy weight loss. She’s purged her drug-bingeing behavior out of her life. She’s a highly successful woman in the male-dominated world of stand-up comedy. She’s a household name in America with an Asian face. And that face. She’s not selling issues of Vogue, but she’s been scowling (and smiling) on the covers of all the magazines the rest of us like to pick up. And Noodle’s lucky to have her gracing the face of our premiere outing.
Noodle
Magazine and Margaret Cho are both San Francisco natives, but she’s made
herself a home in Southern California. We made a road trip to Los Angeles
and played groupie with our favorite queer fag hag.
Noodle: We all
miss you in the San Francisco Bay Area. When are you going to move back
to Northern California?
Margaret: You
know, I loved it there, but I’m so much like a Southern Californian now.
I’ve been here for a very long time, so this is where I’m laying down roots.
I just moved to Glendale – just moved into this house two weeks ago and
there’s all this chaos going on.
N: What’s your
new home like?
M: It’s the
Portola Palace. I tried to recreate Lhasa of Tibet…a Tibetan monastery…but
in Glendale. It’s hard because Tibetan antiques are so hard to find and
expensive! So it’s a combination of Hindu, Tibetan, Indonesian, Chinese,
and lots of Karma Sutra stuff… lots of statues, lots of Buddhas. It’s very
serene and crazy.
N: Does that
mean you meditate?
M: No, but
I buy all the stuff. So that means I do.
N:
All of that in the middle of Glendale. Do you miss San Francisco?
M: Yeah, I
do. It’s changed lots since I’ve lived there. It used to be very bohemian.
Polyamorous and crazy and political. Now it’s got this sense of conservatism.
It’s much more city-like, like Washington DC or something because of all
the computer industry and dot-com stuff. It’s really strange how it’s changed,
but I still love it.
N: Well, Polk
Street, where you grew up, has changed a lot along with the city. It’s
not quite as famous as the Castro district now, but it’s still known as
a queer hot spot, especially for transgender folks. How was it growing
up on Polk?
M: It was great.
I love that I grew up around this gay culture that was so sex-positive
and so wild and flamboyant and really very chic. Seeing films from the
70s like La Cage Aux Folles reminds me of my upbringing. The characters
in those films are so much like people from my childhood. Like Mr. Roger’s
Neighborhood but completely gay – complete with drag queens
and all. It was a good place to grow up because it made the crazier stuff
seem really normal, all of which occupies an important place in my heart.
When I go to gay pride parades all across the country, all around the world,
I notice that a lot of the older guys are bringing back that flaming, feather-boa
culture. I get so emotional about it. I’m touched by it in a really deep
place. That’s what growing up there gave me, this sense of loving the hyper-gay
– way gay. Gay men were much gayer when I was growing up
than they are now. The gay guys today, they’re like, straight compared
to the way that they were then – so nelly.
N:
So what do you think has changed now?
M: The gay
culture has become so meshed with pop culture, it’s become an accepted
way of living – a good way of living. Not necessarily for people of color,
really, but for white gay men, it’s great. They’re having a really good
time out there, just like straight people.
N: There really
has been more visibility of gay men in the “straight” media, though they
are predominantly of white men. In the gay media, it’s the same, though
perhaps more body-conscious. M: Well, it’s oppression that women
are very familiar with. It’s the notion that there is one ideal that we
must adhere to and it’s especially oppressive if you are not a white male.
I think for gay Asians, it’s doubly worse. It’s one thing not having the
visibility in the gay community, but it’s worse when you have the same
fight within our own inherent culture. In Korean communities, there’s this
denial of the existence of homosexuality. I know that my Korean friends,
when they come out of the closet, have a really hard time because their
parents just won’t accept it. They’re like, “gays don’t exist, they just
don’t.” It seems like this attitude occurs across the board in Asian cultures.
It’s a double-edged sword. They come out and find they have to deal with
non-acceptance from their family, but non-acceptance in the gay community
as well.
There
is acceptance for Asian males in the gay community on a certain level.
Like when they’re in Passport or OG magazines – that sort of sexualized
image. The accepted image of gay Asian males is so oppressive. Your only
choices are to be either invisible or a sexualized object. I think it’s
fun to play with sexual stereotypes but it’s not good for a way of life.
I feel sorry for people having to deal with that because I know I had to
deal with it in my own way. I remember a place that I went to on Polk Street.
I remember being a bar for Asian men and their admirers. There would always
be beautiful young boys from Laos and Thailand that just got to the US
and then these really gross, older men. It was just this nasty scene.
N: It’s pretty well known at this point that you went through a phase where you were really taking drugs. It’s a big thing in the gay Asian community right now, and we’re wondering how your experience might relate. M: There’s a stereotype of Asians that we don’t do drugs. It’s weird how stereotypes can influence your life. I always thought that I could never go that far. I can’t overdose – I’m Korean! I always thought that I would somehow be saved by this stereotyped notion of what I’m supposed to be, like, because I’m an Asian American, I have this inherently responsible nature that would exempt me from overdosing, becoming an addict, all of that. In rehab, there were hardly any Asians anywhere. If by chance I came across one or two, they told me that they always thought because they’re Asian, they would never have a problem. That’s a dangerous thing. Stereotypes can make us feel invincible in some ways and in other ways close us off. We have opportunities closed off for us because of what we think of ourselves.
N:
Like an opportunity to get into drugs? Why did you go there? M:
It’s a weird cultural question. I think drug use is about looking for a
way to be in the world. That’s something that gay Asian males are constantly
striving for – looking for an identity. When you’re on drugs, it’s so easy
to find a place to settle because you’re relaxed into it. I wish there
was more of an awareness of the dangers of drug use.
N: You always seem pretty open to talk about these issues. M: It’s important because Asian Americans are ignored when it comes to things like drug education and AIDS awareness. We’re really ignored by the organizations that are supposed to keep us sane and straight. You know they pay a lot of attention to other minority communities that have those problems, but we’re overlooked because of the stereotypes around us.
N: Let’s shift
gears and talk about your show, The Notorious C.H.O. Some of us
at Noodle saw your show in Cupertino, in the Bay Area, and we couldn’t
help but notice the diversity of the crowd. There were leather men, lesbians,
visibly “straight” couples, and all sorts of people. Is your audience usually
this diverse wherever you go?
M: Yeah, it’s
always different people. Really diverse.
N: Is it a Bay
Area phenomenon?
M: What’s great
about my shows are that they create a Bay Area phenomenon in every city
in the world that I perform in. It’s great.
N: Some have
criticized in the past that your stand-up seemed to constantly rehash old
material. What is the difference between Notorious C.H.O. and
I’m The One That I Want?
M: I think
it’s a progression. I just needed different material, different work. So
it’s just a progression of what I was doing then and what I’m doing now.
It’s different in content, different in structure.
N:
Which is easier material source, being drunk or being Korean?
M: Being drunk
is not good material source because you don’t remember anything and it’s,
like, messy. And not funny all the time. So being Korean is a better source,
for sure.
N: In Notorious,
you seem to always rag on your bad lays. How about talking about your good
ones?
M: Bad lays?
Oh, I get some really good lays. I mean it’s like daily – really
good. I only mention the bad ones because you just don’t mention the good
ones. It’s very Korean, you know. If you mention the good things, it’s
almost like you’re showing too much pride. So you kind of downplay the
good and complain about the bad. I guess that’s not just Korean. All Asian
people do that.
N: Are you a
femme top or a butch bottom?
M: Oh, I’m
a femme top! That should be obvious! How could anybody even ask that?
N: With all
your fame, can you walk down the street without being harassed?
M: Oh, absolutely!
In LA, people don’t really care. It’s not a problem.
N: How about in a gay bar? Do people just stop and stare? M: Yeah, but nobody believes it’s me. They think “Oooo, that girl thinks she’s Margaret Cho! Look at her!” (Hand motions) “Don’t even!” Guys have really been bitchy to me at bars. I’m like, “I am Margaret Cho!” and they’re like, (neck pivoting) “Oh, no you ain’t!”
N: Your DVD for I’m the One That I Want is out, and, of course, your best-selling book of the same title is going to be coming out in paperback. The CD and DVD of your Carnegie Hall performance of The Notorious C.H.O. is on the way. Does this make up for the shit you went through with your short-lived sitcom, All American Girl? M: Yeah! But I think that failure is just as important as success. In a way, failure is a kind of success if you can look at it in the right way, if you can accept it and enjoy it in the right way.
N:
Ming-Na [ER, Mulan, The Joy Luck Club] is working on a sit-com pilot
now with Asian American characters. What advice would you give her and
the show?
M: I would
tell her to just have fun! And make it funny. Do what you would
do with any show. That’s what I didn’t do. I paid too much attention to
what it meant politically and all this stuff that really didn’t matter.
N: Would you
want to be part of something like that?
M: Yeah, maybe.
I would love to be a guest star – an Auntie Mae of the show. But I’m not
sure if I would be part of something like that these days. I’m so into
doing my own work and doing my own shows and writing books. I’m living
the kind of life I like.
N: You’re a
household name in comedy now. Would you ever want to host the Oscars?
M: Yes, I would
love to do that. I love it when Whoopi Goldberg does it, and I think I
would be very good.
N: How about
being nominated? You’re now a bona fide movie star with all kinds of critical
acclaim for I’m the One That I Want. Out of all the 5 films nominated
for Oscars this past year, which would you have wanted to be in?
M: Lord
of the Rings. I’d play Frodo, the Hobbit. I want to see myself that
short.
N: The notorious
F.R.O.D.O. huh? People know you as being raw, but what’s the softer side
of Margaret? Do you like kittens?
M: I like dogs.
I’m allergic to cats. I love them, though. I’m a big animal lover.
N: What kind
of dogs do you have?
M: I have two,
a German shepherd mix called Ralph, he’s my big baby. You know, I raised
him from being a tiny baby. He’s almost 5 years old now. And I just got
another dog yesterday, Bronwyn Cho. She’s such a good girl! She’s a little
dog I rescued and I don’t know what she is. Somebody found her in their
yard or something, and then dropped her off downtown and I took her in.
So now I have two babies. That’s my soft side.
N: I read that
you have a boyfriend. Do I hear wedding bells?
M: I don’t
know. He took my dog to the vet today, so he’s is in the black. He’s doing
well. But I don’t know.
N: So what’s
next for you?
M: I’m writing
a new show and I’m promoting the film of The Notorious C.H.O. that
comes out July 4th in theaters.
N: When do you
start your next show?
M: I think
probably in about a year. I don’t know what it is yet.
N: Come on,
give us a hint.
M: I think
it’s all racial, it’s all Asian. The last show was very driven in this
kind of spiritual happiness, but this one is just kind of looking toward
a racial idea. I think that’s what it is... I don’t know.
N: Well, we’re
definitely looking forward to it, and we’ll be checking out the film this
summer. Thanks for talking with us. Have any final thoughts?
M: Yeah – READ
NOODLE MAGAZINE!