Topics serious, but Cho still going for punchline
Comedian unafraid to speak her mind resumes 12th tour
Margaret Cho has a lot to say these days about a lot of things. Racism, Roe v. Wade, gay rights, women’s rights — all topics she’s delved into in the past. But this time, it’s different.
“There’s so much to say about everything — everything we’re going through right now,” the comedian-actor-activist said days before hitting the stage recently in New York for the latest leg of her “Fresh Off the Bloat” tour, which was sidelined by the pandemic.
“The overturn of Roe v. Wade has been devastating,” she said. “Just incredibly shocking, but in a way, not really. You could see it coming. There’s a real sense that our liberties, our democracy are in danger. We are a free country, but things are changing. And I’m going to talk about that. I’m going to take advantage of the fact that we still have free speech.”
For nearly 30 years, Cho has never shied away from saying what she thinks. Her self-deprecating comedic style has long been a hallmark of the Margaret Cho brand. Her stand-up shows stand out as much for her ability to hit the punchline as her candor. Not much is off-limits, especially when it’s about herself. Part stand-up, part confessional, if you will — zingers delivered with laser-focus aim.
It’s an approach that’s worked well for Cho, who launched her comedy career at 14 in her native San Francisco. In the early 1990s, she won a comedy contest and opened for Jerry Seinfeld. In 1992, she appeared on an episode of the “Golden Girls” spinoff “The Golden Palace.” By then, she was a hot ticket
on the college comedy circuit.
Two years later, she entered America’s popculture consciousness when ABC premiered “All-American Girl,” about a Korean American daughter whose values clashed with those of her ultratraditional parents.
It was groundbreaking because it was promoted as the first prime-time show to feature an Asian American family. But for critics and viewers alike, that didn’t seem to matter. The show, criticized for its stereotypical portrayal of Asian families, didn’t make it past the first season. Cho always regretted giving up so much control to executives who were initially attracted to her non-conformist style but later asked her to “tone things down.”
For Cho, who was 26 at the time, the cancellation initially was a crushing blow to a television career
that had so much promise.
The “All-American Girl” debacle notwithstanding, Cho has had a wide-ranging television career that has included guest appearances on everything from “The Nanny” to “Sex and the City.” From 2009 to 2014, she appeared as one of the main characters (Teri Lee) on the Lifetime legal comedy-drama “Drop Dead Diva.”
These days, Cho, 53, may have some more serious material to deal with, but she’s still going for the punchline.
“Humor is hope and finding light in the darkness,” said the five-time Grammy nominee, most recently in the best comedy album category for 2016’s “American Myth.” “It’s finding the courage to keep on continuing on. There’s where the key is, and that’s what’s helping me with all of this. I have to find the humor. That’s what comedians
do, and with all that’s going on these days, we’re working overtime.”
Cho continued her 12th tour on the heels of a gratifying experience filming the Jane Austen-inspired, gay-themed rom-com “Fire Island,” which premiered on Hulu in June.
Even before she joined the cast, Cho knew the film would turn out to be something special. Directed by Andrew Ahn and executive produced by Joel Kim Booster, it was one of the rare gay rom-coms distributed by a major studio (Searchlight Pictures). It broke new ground, too, by casting a predominantly queer cast.
In the early days, Cho felt alone because there weren’t really a lot of people like her: an Asian American comic who incorporated Asian American stories into her material, often at her own expense. She was doing “representation” before it became a buzz word. Through the years, her platform and reach went beyond the stage or the screen. She became an author, launched a fashion brand and dove into the world of podcasts. Amid all of that, she took on advocacy, using her fame and her voice to make sure everyone has a seat at the table.
That sense of belonging — or, in her case, not belonging — is a theme that runs through much of her work. “I always felt like an outsider growing up,” she once said. “In school, I felt like I never fit in. But it didn’t help when my mother, instead of buying me glue for school projects, would tell me to just use rice. Soooooooo Asian.
“In America, I’m a foreigner because of my Korean heritage. In Asia, because I was born in America, I’m a foreigner. I’m always a foreigner.”
During a recent interview, Cho sounded uncharacteristically serious, philosophical even — a stark departure from her usual loud, animated and often bombastic persona onstage. Never has she been more afraid, she said, of being Asian American.
“There’s been so much talk about anti-Asian hate in the last couple of years, and we’re still seeing that daily. That’s a big part of it. I understand that being a gay person and being a woman, historically there has always been violence there. But now add to that racism. And I know it always has been there, but now it’s way more out in the open.”
It’s a struggle, but somehow “you have to find hope,” said Cho, who has recorded dozens of podcasts examining the historical background of the onslaught of violence against Asian Americans.
The intersection of identities — as a woman, as an Asian American, as someone who identifies as a member of the LGBTQ community (“I’m the B in LGBT”) — used to bother her. Juggling all aspects of her self and presenting the right version to the appropriate audience? That proved exhausting.
“You reach a point where you are comfortable with who you are and don’t care what people think of you or expect of you,” said Cho. “There is real power in embracing your true self — all of it — and meeting everyone at those intersections. I used to meet all that with a lot of frustration.
“Now, I’ve realized that gives me a wealth of stories and experiences to share.”
That realization, she said, is a gift in and of itself.
Another gift? “That I’m still able to do all this — to do what I love,” said Cho. “It’s a wonderful progression that I’ve been able to do this for so long and continue to.”