No
wonder the GLBT community adores Margaret Cho. This hilarious comedian
is the very essence of being unapologetically her own person. At the Toronto
portion of “The Notorious C.H.O,” tour on Friday November 23rd, a glance
at the audience streaming into Roy Thomson Hall, illuminated the wide appeal
for this fabulous comedian. There were gay couples, lesbian couples, straight
couples, and groups of friends of all orientations and ages. And from start
to end of the show, everyone was howling with laughter.
The “Notorious” theme was quickly established with the opening act. Vaginal Davis, an outrageous and musical (are there any other kinds?) drag queen. Ms Davis chose a cute young gay boy from the audience as a prop for her musical serenade. Squeals of disbelief mixed with laughter when cherries, syrup and whipped cream emerged from her Mary Poppins-like bag and were added as visual embellishments to each verse. I won’t tell you how the song ends, but for those of us with “below the ankle” issues had to watch the last verse peeking between fingers.
A
short break later, Margaret came out to rapturous applause. Margaret Cho
has a natural conversational style; she is like your funny best friend
with whom you hoot with laughter and amazement as she tells you about her
latest love fiasco over the course of many dinners. We are swept along
with Margaret as she wonders, “what if gay men had periods?”, recalls her
visits to sex clubs and recounts quite a few more subjects that you wouldn’t
share with your elderly aunt Bertha, including the curious mystery of the
G spot. As Margaret pleads, “Any of you woman in the audience know where
it is? I will follow you in my car!” Margaret’s life is an open book and
no detail is too intimate to share when it can be retold with laughter.
Such as the time she rented a porn video and asked her forgetful friend
to return it - and then had to come home to an awkward phone message from
a squirming, yet curious Video store clerk wondering why she would need
to have “Beaver Fever” for 5 days.
Margaret’s brilliance is such that despite the laugh-out-loud humour, her stories aren’t fluffy cotton candy witticisms that float away the minute you leave the show. The issues of racial and sexual stereotypes, personal demons, relationships fiascos, misplaced lust, prejudice and family acceptance weave through much of her material and give it depth that many other comedians lack. Walking the fine line between painfully personal revelations, and truly funny entertainment is no simple task. She succeeds, simply, hilariously, and many times, touchingly. Her story about her two drag queen high school friends, who have since passed away, and who she believes watch over her as fashion and dating guardian angels, is an example of one of the many entertaining and yet poignant moments in her show.
Margaret’s
talents and integrity have not gone unnoticed. She was recently awarded
a Lambda Liberty Award and is also the proud recipient for GLAAD’s first-ever
Golden Gate Award - honouring her as a “pioneer who has made a significant
difference in promoting equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation
or gender identity.” And in the latest issue of “Out” Magazine, Margaret
Cho was honoured as one of their “Out 100” and given a “Standing 0” for
her “The Notorious C.H.O. “ tour.
And Notorious she is. Notorious, hilarious, shocking, engaging and intelligent. On Friday at Roy Thomson Hall, they laughed their butts off from beginning to well-deserved standing ovation at the end. Catch Margaret Cho wherever you can. Highly recommended.