Cho Knows
Yet there's much more to this show, as Cho explains: "This is not my act, it's a show that I have been writing over the past year and it's not comedy. There are humorous things in it but it's not like anything I've ever done before. It's something that I always wanted to do. It's not that I'm doing it instead of stand-up; it's a side project. I'm working on it gradually, getting it better and better, changing it and writing it. It's about life's sad things. It's insightful and touching, I enjoy talking about it and performing it. It's very personal. The principal thing about it is that I can't believe my parents had a life before me. And I think everybody thinks that -- there was a point in their lives where they didn't know you or each other, it's a strange thing. The show explores that."
The show also displays the maturing of an artist who was just thought to be an airhead "valley girl" a couple of years back. Opening her act with, "Don't I look like Connie Chung's slutty younger sister?" she cruised through the part of an edgy and desperate mall doll. "I've got a good opening line for when I'm at bars. I'll smile at a guy, and if he smiles back and I'm feeling comfortable I'll go up to him and say STICK IT IN!"
The act got her a charming but short-lived TV show on ABC called All American Girl. Based on her family life the show was the first Asian American sitcom. But sadly it came to a quick end and Margaret Cho was left to pursue other projects . . . Goblin Magazine: What have you been doing lately?
Margaret Cho: I have been doing some films. I just finished a picture called Sweethearts this year with Janeanne Garofolo, it was an independent, interesting project, and after that I did a movie called Faking The Funk, with Pam Grier which was also a quirky independent film. Now I'm in training to do Face Off which is the new John Woo Film. That comes out next summer but we're going to start shooting it in a month or so. That's with John Travolta and Nicholas Cage so I have to do some heavy duty running and shooting.
Goblin: Why do you think All American Girl didn't work out?
Cho: I think it's all stacked against you if you're on television anyway no matter what. It's a very difficult medium to succeed in. The whole reason TV is there is not for entertainment, it's all about selling products and sponsors. It's a very corporate venture. I was having problems with the whole idea of it. The mentality of what it
takes to do a show and what they need from you the artist, and we were dealing with all these different elements that had nothing to do with comedy. It was dealing with people's perceptions of what an Asian American family is and what they would act like. It was very difficult, there was no end to our misery.
Goblin: Would you have changed anything with the show?
Cho: Oh yes, definitely. It would have been a completely different thing. If I had known back then what I know now I would have approached it all in a different way and been a lot more forceful about what I wanted. I think what it requires is a strong hand and a real self-knowledge. And it's all about knowing who you are and what you're doing. Goblin: Did the Asian community have problems with the grandmother speaking in dialect? (Qoute: 'Kim Chi - fiber. Rice - binding.")
Cho: No, I think everyone had a different problem -- wherever you enter anything that has to do with race and identity you enter a minefield because everybody's questioning you. As far as I'm concerned everything is right no matter what I do. It is Asian American because that's who I am, so everything that I do by definition has to be. So I never looked at it that closely. Everyone had problems. There were a lot of questions to why all the actors weren't Korean -- which was mainly because I don't know any Korean actors.
Goblin: Did the Korean audience accuse you of Tomming?
Cho: Not really, but they wanted to see more Korean faces. They wanted Korean actors - but there aren't any. Everyones opposition was about small points.
Goblin: How much did the Asian community watch your show? Did they make a point to support it and phone the station?
Cho: We had a lot of different supporters, and even people who didn't like the show watched it too, just because they felt they should support it. I guess it was positive in those ways. I wish it was still on, but I don't know if it would be the same thing. And I don't know if I will do television again just because it was such a bad experience. Goblin: Do you think comedy is a way of humanizing minorities?
Cho: I think if it has that high of a purpose, then that's great. I think that it can. I'd like to help it along. Yes, definitely, but only in its best form. I don't think about it in those terms enough. I spent so much time thinking about it in those terms when I was doing my TV show, but now it's all about being funny and doing it.
Goblin: Are you into any of the Japanese pop groups that are happening now?
Cho: I like Cibo Matto. They're so good! And Pizzicato Five. I don't know anything else though out of there. I love Chinese pop stars like Leslie Chung, Joey Wong. They're very famous in the Chinese community -- they're all also film stars. Almost every young person you see in Chinese films are also pop stars. They're singing sensations.
Goblin: You said something once about wanting to be the Bitch on Melrose Place?
Cho: Yes. I don't know, if they'll have me. I'd definitely love to do it.
Goblin: What comedians influenced you when you were growing up? Richard Pryor maybe?
Cho: My parents wouldn't tolerate him. I have a great appreciation of Richard Pryor now. He's so funny, and he really is such a great persona and story teller. Who I really like, too, is Bill Hicks. He died a few years ago. He was very influential, especially among the comedians I hang out with now. He's very raw, intelligent, hard, and dark and all the things comedians really appreciate.
Goblin: On the internet you're on the top 500 outed celebrities list, but in interviews you always discuss your boyfriends.
Cho: The top five hundred? That's great. I think because I have such a rapport with the Gay & Lesbian community that I feel a part of it in so many ways. People always think I'm a lesbian and ask me about it, and I'll do an interview with a gay paper and they'll ask me if I'm going to come out now. Well, I would . . . but what irks me is that I'm such an honest person about so many things and I'll talk about anything and everything in my life. Don't you think I would tell the truth about that too?
I think I got that because I used to perform at gay bars, and whenever I went there I would never say that I was straight because I hate when straight comedians play to Gay audiences but really emphasize that they're straight because they believe everyone wants them. I thought it was really presumptuous so I never said. So people just assumed I was Gay. I think I am a very mannish woman anyway.
Goblin: Your show used to be famous for its raunchiness, but now you're going in a new direction -- how do you think your act has changed over the years?
Cho: I just think I've gotten better. It's not a matter of being raunchy or off-color; it's just I've developed it as an artist and I care about what I do. It's become more important to me to do better material, be smarter and more creative.
Goblin: Didn't you used to do a lot of S&M jokes?
Cho: Yeah. I worked at a lesbian S&M store south of Market. It was just material for S&M jokes although I don't know anything about it. I would go to those clubs but I would talk about it in a third person sense. All that material which I thought was really funny . . . I think it's not really dirty. That's because it's about a dirty subject but it comes from a place of innocence since I am not as worldly as I would like to be. If I was I could talk about these things with a kind heart. I was at a time in my life where I was wild and seeing all these things I didn't understand.
Goblin: Does becoming a celebrity lead to problems in establishing stable relationships?
Cho: I don't consider myself a celebrity by any means. I don't have it in my life to the extent that it would affect my personal relationships. I think that my job is more arduous to the state of my relationships because I have a tendency to be able to talk about things on stage that I can't confront in my real life. I can come up with something in a public forum that I couldn't tell my significant other.
Goblin: Have you had boyfriends that were mad that you made jokes about them?
Cho: It's more that kind of inability to communicate on that level of really needing to get feelings out - and not being able to face them one on one, but really needing to get it out to 500 people. And that's something that is intrinsically wrong with me. That's my problem.
Goblin: Who do you think is better -- Ren & Stimpy or Beavis & Butt-head?
Cho: I love them both, but I tend to side with Beavis & Butt-head. It's so good and it's funny in a way that you don't expect. They dig up these insane videos to make fun of. But Ren & Stimpy is just gross and mean.