Margaret Cho is talking about a revolution, and when it comes, it's going to be loud -- and messy. Cho will make it so, for as the stand-up comic proudly proclaimed from the stage of the Mondavi Center on Sunday night: "I'm highly inappropriate."

Often accused of giving too much information, she's frequently told, "Don't go there," to which she responds: "I live there. I bought a house there. ... To live as a minority in this country is like dying of a thousand paper cuts. And I'm not going to live that way."
There were few empty chairs in the 1,800-seat Jackson Hall for Cho's stop on her national "Revolution Tour." A highly receptive and enthusiastic crowd whooped and cheered throughout the 75-minute set, which included some biting political and social commentary along with Cho's personal -- very personal -- revelations

Cho took the stage wearing a pale-pale pink, very short ruffled dress (that could have rivaled Lara Flynn Boyle's tutu at the Golden Globes); a black, Stevie Nicks-style witch's hat; fishnet stockings with embroidered roses; and high-high-heeled "hooker shoes." Her long, straight hair was fire red, and her lipstick close to black.

"I think I'm too Goth," she said, before eventually losing the wig (revealing her own black hair in pigtails) and the shoes. She took the opportunity to blast fashion designers -- even as she is about to become one herself -- who, she says "hate women."

Much of her show was devoted to commentary on the tyranny of fashion and the pressure felt by young girls, particularly, to conform to an impossible standard of beauty. She used her own experiences with dieting (she admitted to suffering eating disorders "for more than two decades") to illustrate the dangers.

Women have a long relationship with eating disorders, Cho said, but she is saddened now to see young gay men suffering, too. According to Cho, many gays are choosing drugs over sensible eating. "Why diet when you can take crystal meth?" she asked.

Cho was most outspoken on the subjects of war and gay rights. She ripped the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy with a withering, "How dare they ask you to die for your country and yet not allow you to be who you are?" And then compounded the slam with a sly, "As if you could win a war without lesbians."

Racism and homophobia "are the same thing," Cho said, and in the face of them, "Silence equals nonexistence."

"The INS and FBI are arresting people because they have the wrong last name," she said. "I'm heartbroken about the war over there, but I'm more heartbroken when someone is attacked here just for who they are."

Bruce Daniels, an African American comic who is gay -- "What, you couldn't tell from the jeans?" -- opened the show with a short, funny set in which he challenged stereotypes. A well-spoken young man, Daniels said he is sometimes "accused of being white" by other African Americans because of the way he speaks.