Cho's opening act, Bruce Daniels, is a very laid-back comedian -- almost too laid-back. Yes, he's black, yes, he's gay, and his act touched upon typical material in those genres. His funniest bits involved his outrageous flaming drag queen friend's coming out to his family. It was a short set, and led nicely into the outrageousness that followed.

Cho Digs, Digs Into Cornell

After playfully scaling down the aisle on her way to the stage, Cho started her performance by extolling the virtues of Cornell -- such as the fact that there's a big, shiny statue of an anatomically-correct nude man on campus... and that he's clearly "a grower, not a shower." She talked about Cornell's library, how they have "THE f_cking Gettysburg Address" written by Lincoln himself with a leaky pen. (From reading her blog she apparently spent a good bit of time perusing gay and lesbian items in the library, as well.)
That pretty much sums up her show: political commentary, sexual and intimate anecdotes, and a delightful sprinkling of expletives. Cho did over an hour of material, and she had a lot of ground to cover. Her topics were very current; this wasn't a dry rehashing of material. There was much more political and societal commentary than her previous tour, Notorious C.H.O. (Cho's mother only featured in two anecdotes; she's had a larger presence in other shows.) It should come as no surprise that her positions are extremely liberal. Considering that she was playing to a crowd with a significant gay and lesbian component... at Cornell... in Ithaca... well, she was preaching to the choir. Still, her take on everything from the California recall ("Californians really believe that Arnold is a robot from the future.") to gay marriage were right on the money -- in particular, her arguments against what the Religious Right calls the "sanctity of marriage." "Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman got married. Lisa-Marie Presley and Michael Jackson got married.... Liza Minella and David Gest got married... which is kind of a gay marriage."

The Richard Pryor of the Queer and Asian Communities

Cho has mentioned Richard Pryor as an inspiration on more than one occasion, and that becomes evident when she talks about her personal life. Nothing is taboo -- whether it's industrial-strength vibrators or discovering that you are about to defecate while you're driving on the highway. This latter bit is told with the same level of candor that Pryor used when talking on-stage about his heart attack. She completely humanizes herself with this story, and we love her for it. At one point in her act she reveals the obvious: "I am a highly inappropriate person... which makes me a very unpopular dinner guest." When warned, "Too much information! Don't go there!" she simply replies, "I live there." Part of her message for this tour was that we should all "go there" in what we say and what we do, that to do so would be a revolution.
Cho focuses as much energy on queer rights and sexuality as she does on being an Asian American. She rails against stereotypes ("You will never see me in a musical with a helicopter.") and other people's perceptions of Asian Americans (breaking into a Kabuki drama about how the Asian Chicken Salad served on an airplane, "is not... the salad... of my people!").

Fun Performance

Margaret Cho appeared to be having a blast on-stage. Her black-and-yellow striped top made her look like a hyperactive bumblebee as she buzzed from topic to topic -- sometimes faster than even her mouth could keep up. While you could listen to most of her routine with your eyes closed, it's better to keep your eyes open to revel in her prowess as a physical comedian.
I had a great time at the show and would love to see her perform again. Margaret Cho is one of a small number of comedians that I have wanted to see live, and I am thankful that the Cornell University Program Board brought her to Ithaca. Now if they could just get Eddie Izzard....

Margaret Who?

Margaret Cho is an insanely funny comedian. Her material covers a wide range of topics -- from growing up as an Asian American to frank discussions of sexual experimentation and everything (and I do mean everything) in between. She was born in 1968 and raised in San Francisco -- surrounded by "old hippies, ex-druggies, burnouts from the '60s, drag queens and Chinese people." She began her career at the age of 16 performing in a comedy club above her parents' bookstore in San Francisco.

She moved to Los Angeles in the early '90s where she shared a house with several other young comedians. She moved out when she realized she "wasn't the most famous" person in the house. In her early twenties Cho began touring college campuses by performing over 300 concerts within two years. This hard work earned her a nomination for Campus Comedian of the Year and won her the American Comedy Award for Female Comedian in 1994. At this time, she starred in the "ground-breaking" ABC sitcom, All-American Girl (1994). Cho dealt with a number of well-publicized issues during the run of her sitcom -- being criticized by the network for being overweight, told to act "more Asian" and eventually being told to act "less Asian" on her show.

After the show was cancelled, she went back to standup. In 1999, she began her one-woman show I'm The One That I Want, which toured the country to national acclaim and resulted in a best-selling book and feature film. Cho embarked on another national tour in 2001 for her second show, Notorious C.H.O., which also resulted in a best-selling concert video and CD.

Cho has also received recognition off the stage from such groups as: GLAAD, American Women in Radio and Television, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the National Organization for Women.

"I didn't mean to be a role model. I just speak my truth. I guess speaking from your heart really creates a huge impact, and if I can encourage people to do that, then I would love to be a role model. If I could encourage people to use their voices loudly, then that's my reward."

Get Some Cho!

If you missed Margaret Cho's performance in Ithaca, keep your eyes open in 2004 for the tentatively titled Behind the Revolution -- a documentary on her Revolution tour that she describes as "like Madonna's Truth or Dare except that Bruce Daniels is my only dancer." Her crew was filming, so perhaps some bits of this performance will make the documentary. The concert film for Revolution will also be out next year. If you just can't wait that long, the Revolution CD is available now, as are DVDs and CDs for Notorious C.H.O. and I'm The One That I Want.