Notorious

By Howard Ho
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
[email protected]

  Wellspring

Cho’s newest concert film,
“Notorious C.H.O.,” is currently playing at the
Landmark Nuart Theater.

In Margaret Cho’s new film, “Notorious
C.H.O.,” she describes a cross-dressing, homosexual couple
that mentored her through high school as “crouching drag
queen, hidden faggot.” Though hilarious, Cho’s
statement mixing Asian and gay culture is just one example of how
her multiple identities play out on the stage.

Cho’s “Notorious” show is her take on
feminism, represented by rap artists such as Lil’ Kim and
Missy Elliot. Like those artists, Cho takes explicit female
sexuality and serves it up with style.

“I love hip-hop. “˜Notorious’ is kind of just a
funny moniker because I don’t seem notorious at all. I
thought it would be good to sort of pretend I was cool,” Cho
said.

This seems strange coming from the woman who is often seen as
the epitome of Asian cool. After all, on the short list of Asian
Americans in media, she ranks high, having been in several movies
and her own sitcom and having written a best-selling book.

www.margaretcho.com

Margaret Cho pushes the boundaries of comedy
with her newest show, “Notorious C.H.O.”

Her stand-up is not for the faint of heart. She talks about
fisting, female and male genitalia, and going to a straight sex
club that specializes in sadomasochism.

“As a performer, I’m really strong and powerful and
aggressive. I can be really mean, but also really funny and
energetic. In life, I’m not really like that. I’m
really shy and quiet and kind of boring. All the stuff I talk about
in my show is true, but it’s not the same person
onstage,” Cho said.

The issue of identity is very important for Cho, who is Asian,
female, bisexual, and overweight. In other words, she is the
repressed minority on almost every level. Yet, this also gives her
material for her shows, which often deal with her various
identities, and gives her more credibility when she encourages
others to accept themselves for who they are.

“Everyone else’s comedy is all just jokes, but I
have real agenda there, which I think is a really great thing.
It’s all about finding peace with ourselves and finding a
sense of equality in the world, no matter what our race or our
gender or our sexuality,” Cho said.

www.margaretcho.com

As an Asian, Cho wants to help break through all the stereotypes
of Asians. She deals with racism in her show with a comment on how
her greatest dream as a child was to be an extra on
“M*A*S*H.” Her next show, which she is currently
working on, is prospectively about being Asian.

“My new show is a lot about racial identities, but
it’s still in the beginning processes,” Cho said.

“I think there needs to be more of a push for Asian
American men in the entertainment industry. Jackie Chan and Jet Li
are these weird superheroes. They’re totally not human
beings, and they’re also not Asian American,” Cho
added.

Certainly, Cho has done her fair share of putting Asian
Americans into mainstream media. Her short-lived sitcom on ABC,
“All-American Family,” was the first to have an entire
Asian American cast. During the show’s run, Cho dealt with
tremendous pressure, such as a crash diet that damaged her kidneys
and dealing with an expert who was supposed to make her show more
authentically Asian. The cancellation of the show led to a period
of depression for Cho until she came to terms with it in her
monologue, “I’m the One That I Want.”

That show became a hit film, a best-selling book, as well as the
revival of her career. Its success is something Cho hopes to
reproduce with a book version of the “Notorious C.H.O.”
as well as the film version, which was shot documentary-style in
Seattle.

In the film, Cho does not shy away from anything, even the
potentially touchy subject of the Sept. 11 attacks, which she used
in her stand-up act just a few days after it happened.

www.margaretcho.com

“There was a lot of sadness and this idea was that there
was going to be a death of irony and that people weren’t
going to be allowed to joke about stuff. I didn’t want to
make fun of anyone necessarily, but to joke about it in a way that
could break up the tension around it,” Cho said.

Cho is currently at peace with her life. Her parents, who also
make an appearance in “Notorious C.H.O.,” have accepted
Cho’s act and even seem to enjoy their newfound celebrity.
Cho also made a guest appearance on the show “Sex in the
City” and hopes to do so again. Perhaps more importantly, Cho
is settling down with her life and finding happiness in her quiet
home.

“I’m rebuilding this house that I bought in the
early part of the year. It’s slowly being turned into a kind
of palace. I always have been a homebody because I travel so much
that when I come home I want to stay home,” Cho said.

As for whether she could do another sitcom, Cho does not rule it
out entirely but she has clearly learned lessons.

“It would have to be the right thing. I wouldn’t
take something unless I had complete control over
everything,” Cho said.

With the kind of power she exudes in her show and the
self-acceptance she embodies, Cho is in her prime.