Margaret Cho is ‘Live & Livid’ about anti-queer politics
Comedian Margaret Cho has a lot to be livid about, and she’ll be sharing the particulars with her fans at the Wilbur on April 13.
Cho began performing comedy when she was 14. Later, she starred as Margaret Kim in “All American Girl,” the first primetime sitcom revolving around an Asian American family, from 1994-95. Her numerous film and TV appearances have also included six seasons on “Drop Dead Diva,” playing Teri Lee. Recently, she’s appeared in Hulu’s LGBTQ rom-com film “Fire Island” and as guidance counselor Ms. Chen in the Disney+ film “Prom Pact.”
“Live and Livid” is the latest of her many stand-up tours, but it also represents her post-pandemic return to the stage, which, she says, “I’m super excited about.” On a Zoom call with the Globe, Cho sat back in an armchair in her home in Glendale, Calif., with her chihuahua Lucia, to discuss what she is angry about, her advice for young comedians, and how women don’t have a “prime.”
Q. Why is your tour called “Live & Livid”? What are you livid about?
A. It’s a celebration of going back to live performance. It’s a big part of my life, I think everybody’s lives, that was missing during the pandemic. I’m livid at all of the anti-trans, anti-drag queen legislation happening. It’s so sinister. And these bills that Republicans keep putting up like we’ve got to not talk about periods at school, not talk about critical race theory. Like what? It’s so backwards. They’re trying to erase all of the achievements that we’ve made in society and culture and equal rights. I just don’t understand what business it is of theirs to police other people’s identity.
Q. You tackle a lot of difficult topics like death, sexual abuse, and anti-Asian hate. How do you balance that with comedy?
A. I find that humor is a coping mechanism, and we’re all trying to cope with fear. And these are the things that people are most afraid of, whether that’s violence, death, disease. Those things need coping with more than anything. So I think humor is automatically the response, where it’s not [that] they’re making fun of the person that’s victimized by it. It’s actually coming from the space of being victimized by it. So there’s a way to heal through that sense of humor, where it’s a kind of cauterizing agent where you can stanch that bleeding and allow yourself to heal from the wound of that violence.
Q. I recognize where you’re sitting from some of your TikTok videos. Tell me about your TikTok content: Are the videos about whatever comes to mind or do you plan them?
A. Oh, I never plan them out. It’s usually like I sit here because I fill the bird feeders behind me in this window, and this is where my cats like to watch the birds and so I do, too, and my dog, too. So we just sit here and watch them. And then I start scrolling on TikTok and either I’ll see something that’s funny to me that I want to respond to, or I’ll just make something up on the spot, but this is my most comfortable place.
Q. What advice do you have for young women who want to become comedians?
A. Well, the advice is just do it. We’re really in need of more women in comedy in general, but also we need queer voices, nonbinary, transgender, non-conforming voices. We need a mix of diversity from women’s perspectives and beyond. There’s so much male energy in comedy that we need to disperse a bit, but I think it’s a really important art form. I think it’s really a great life, and I’m grateful to be in it.
Q. Tell me about your role as Ms. Chen in “Prom Pact.”
A. I was so excited to make this movie. I’m a guidance counselor, which is really cool because I’m queer, in the movie, and in life. [I’m] very interested in helping this one student find some balance
in her life. It is a uniquely Asian American story because it’s really about this idea of going to an Ivy League school, this Harvard ideal, and that takes precedence over everything else, including being a kid. So it’s really about having balance in your life when you’re in that very driven Asian American educational mind-set. There’s more to life. There’s actually friendships, there’s other kinds of relationships that you’re meant to have. And so this film is all about that. And I love that.
Q. In Michelle Yeoh’s Oscar acceptance speech for best actress, she told the audience, “Ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime.” What does that mean to you, especially with CNN host Don Lemon’s recent comments about when women are in their “prime”?
A. Well, there is no “prime.” The idea of “prime” is a myth. It’s like the idea that women should become invisible at a certain time when they’re not viable as mothers or something. I don’t know what society has against age and women. But I love Michelle Yeoh. I really was so excited at the Oscars because of her win, it’s so inspiring. And I really felt it, and I really love it. And there’s no “prime.” It’s all “prime.” It’s like Amazon, it’s all “prime” — not sponsored.
‘There’s so much male energy in comedy that we need to disperse a bit.’
MARGARET CHO