Margaret will be on The Mortified Sessions on Sundance on Monday, January 2nd – 8pm!
From Huffington Post TV: On Sundance Channel’s “Mortified Sessions,” celebrities reveal their dirty laundry. From how they learned about sex to childhood crushes, they’re not holding anything back. On the upcoming new episode, “Suburgatory” star Cheryl Hines and comedienne Margaret Cho are next to spill their secrets.
For Cho, realizing she wasn’t white was a shock.
“When I was maybe six, I was really angry that I was not white. When I realized I wasn’t white I was so furious … I still have deep fantasies about being white — it must be so relaxing to be white. I wish I could go to the spa and just be white for an hour,” she said.
Last week, we watched Das Racist drag their parents to Bumbershoot. Today, to herald the release of Margaret Cho’s stand-up concert film, Cho Dependent — and say farewell to SPIN’s first-ever “Funny” Issue — we have footage of the comic and friend-of-indie-rockers everywhere bugging the shit out of everyone backstage at the 2010 Bonnaroo festival to the sounds of her “Baby I’m With the Band” (featuring Brendan Benson). Watch carefully to see who embraces the Cho, and who eyes her warily (the list of guest stars includes Conan O’Brien, Reggie Watts, Doug Benson, The Flaming Lips, Weezer, OK Go, the Gossip, The Punch Brothers, and GWAR).
It doesn’t need to be said that Margaret Cho is a comedian who just keeps getting better, but what some people may not know is that she is mulitalented and her new DVD, Cho Dependent, will surprise many. Besides the fact that it is one of her best stand-up routines that she has been performing to sold out audiences, the show incorporates music she has written and performs. While it is with the intent of being comedic, her music and vocals stand on their own and proves she is much more than just a great comic. For those who didn’t get to see the live show, or those who wanna relive the live show, the DVD is now available!
Comedian Margaret Cho performed a yearning cover of Sugar’s “Your Favorite Thing” with singer-songwriter Grant Lee Phillips on jangly acoustic guitar. She was a convincing rock vocalist, delivering the lyrics with personality. “People don’t expect it to come out of my face,” Cho joked from the stage. “I’m a lot like Susan Boyle.” READ MORE HERE.
In this Face to Face with Fredricka Whitfield she interviews comedienne Margaret Cho. Cho speaks candidly about her life growing up as an immigrant, finding her place as a female minority comedienne, and her sexuality.
Edinburgh has missed out on a big chunk of Cho’s career. When she was here last, it was 2001 and things were just taking off thanks to her breakthrough second show Notorious C.H.O. Since then, that show has been released as a film, she has founded her own clothing line, hosted the True Colours Tour (for the Human Rights Campaign), and she’s had two further comedy shows. READ MORE HERE.
Watch Margaret on The View on October 7th, 2010, with her DWTS partner, Louis van Amstel, talking about her time on Dancing with the Stars and fighting to end anti-gay bullying after the rash of recent gay suicides:
Margaret Cho can’t help but be brutally honest. It’s her nature. But there’s something else about her the audience clung to Friday night at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay; something that keeps gay, straight, young and old people of all races coming back for more.
It’s generosity.
Whether she’s talking about “spit roasting”, a sexual act that involves at least three people or her feminine nether regions being the site of Oprah’s newest school, Cho exudes generosity.
Opener John Roberts is no stranger to that artistic altruism. Dressed like a gay Gallagher, his multi-character Carrot Top with wig props routine was just enough to get the audience in gear. Looking a bit worn when she took the stage, she kicked off the show talking about the difficulties of being a competitor on “Dancing With The Stars”, a bit that wouldn’t be complete without the voice of her mother chiming in, “Ohhhh, it so haaaaaaaaaard.”
Sex and politics are major staples of her act. She touched on gays in the military and Proposition 8 then offered the audience a glimpse of her many “fellationships” and sexcapades including accidentally sexting Mrs. Cho.
Probably the most poignant bit of the night came when she spoke about her grandfather, a man she says suffered disfiguring facial burns when he rescued his adoptive children from a burning building.
Grandpa was her biggest fan. The cancellation of her 1994 sitcom “All American Girl” took a toll on him and he died shortly thereafter. In true Cho fashion, that moment went from poignant to gut busting funny when she told the story of how at Grandpa’s funeral several of his grief-stricken girlfriends jumped into the casket with him.
Because it’s still early on in the tour and the act has not quite settled into its groove, songs from her musical comedy CD “Cho Dependent” gave the unsteady show a much needed balance.
By far the highlight of the evening was Cho singing the song about the human male genitalia. She brought in the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus to sing backup and with a ton of heaping liberality shared her dance partner Louis van Amstel with the audience.
Cho is not a woe-is-me kind of comedian. She’s the kind whose entire show subtext simply offers this: I
stand before you fearless and steady, anchored in my experiences, ready and willing to share with you exactly who I am.
You may wince and cringe at the overt vulgarities, but once acclimated you’ll double over with laughter and be grateful you spent an hour and a half accepting her generosity.
The Hype: Gays and straights packed the house and laughed in perfect harmony last night at Margaret Cho’s “Cho Dependent” comedy show at the Grove of Anaheim. For a Thursday “school night” the size of the crowd was pretty impressive. Then again, this is fast talking dirty girl Margaret Cho we’re talking about. And last time I checked, she’s pretty impressive herself (If you missed the show, you can always catch Margaret on TV: she’ in this season’s Dancing with the Stars and Drop Dead Diva.)
The Show: Opening the show was tour mate John Roberts and his array of wigs that all came complete with impressions. And the way he moved those hips while singing a song of his own? Well, he makes a straight girl wish she was a gay man.
Speaking of … The audience was hooting and hollering for the 41-year-old headliner Margaret Cho as she admitted she has a goal of her own. The goal is to keep having sex. Spoken as only Margaret could put it, “I want to be so old that when I’m fucking and I ask my name it’s because I really need to know my name!” I guess everyone needs a goal. ‘
With a sharp tongue and amazing stage presence, Margaret touched on subjects like politics, strip clubs, religion, and actually shitting her pants a couple of weeks ago. Hey, no one said she was lady like–but maybe that’s what draws you in to her. It was like having a conversation with Margaret Cho; I literally became “Cho Dependent” on her every word and couldn’t wait to hear what she would say next.
Showcasing music from her album also named Cho Dependent, Margaret belted out tunes like the hysterical “My Dick,” “I’m Sorry,” and a duet with John Roberts (done while impersonating their moms) called, “My Puss.”
Laughing tears came out of my eyes, it was so great. Not wanting to only shock the crowd with filthy songs and jokes, Cho’s Dancing with the Stars partner Louis van Amstel surprised and then dazzled the crowd while spinning across the floor with prop wings from DWTS, which the judges hated by the way. But not this crowd. They loved every minute of it. I
The Crowd: A lot of laughs mixed with the sounds of clapping along to parody singing. While the show was two hours in length, the crowd remained responsive and eager to hear the next bit of raunch to come out of Margaret’s mouth the whole time.
Overheard: “I can’t wait to check out that ‘Grinder’ app she was talking about for my phone!” Sorry folks, you just had to be there.
There’s not a lot to say about a Margaret Cho standup show when the majority of the content focuses on male genitalia and fecal matter, clinical terms that aren’t used in Cho’s live show, and one works for a company in which profanity is verboten, except sparingly in Las Vegas Weekly.
The Korean American comedienne, a longtime favorite since I’m the One That I Want and seeing her live for the first time in Long Beach, Calif., in the late 1990s, took to the stage with her Cho Independent Tour stop at The Pearl in the Palms on Friday night, three nights before her debut in the cast of 12 celebrities on Season 11 of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars.
Cho’s first topic was DWTS, in which she praised her professional dance partner Louis Van Amstel and talked about her strategy for winning. She’s said it’s OK if she goes home the first week, but she’s going to showcase her showgirl style and stripper moves (“I’m magic on the pole.”) And if that doesn’t work? “I’m going to cannibalize the others! I’m going to go all G.I. Jane and shave my head!” (Many pundits had Bristol Palin or her getting the ax first, but they were safe in last night’s results show.)
Other topics included olive oil, for vocal chords, that eventually exits the body; Grinder (Google it if you must); Prop. 8 in California outlawing gay marriage; living part time in the Atlanta area; combating homophobia with The Advocate, Italian Men’s Vogue and gay porn; sending sexy messages via texting (sexting) that inadvertently are delivered to Mom; Asian Girls Gone Wild (“They aren’t studying, and they are wearing shoes in the house!”); stoners as the true Christians and Good Samaritans; and, of course, her mother, an impression in broken English that fans love and that Cho does out of love and admiration for her mother.
What was different from previous standup performances was the incorporation of songs from Cho Dependent, her first album of comedy and music released last month. Cho has a strong and clear voice, and it worked well with her acoustic guitar work and topics about killing someone, female genitalia (see the paragraph below) and male genitalia in the three songs she performed Friday night. The Las Vegas Men’s Chorus accompanied her in the final song, her finale before an encore, which was another song from the album.
John Roberts served as the evening’s 15-minute opening act consisting mostly of impressions in various wigs. His impression of a female porn star received the biggest laughs, and he returned to sing, in arguably the evening’s highlight, a song about female genitalia with Cho as Mrs. Cho and he as his Jewish mother Margie.
Check out my family friendly interview with Cho posted last week, in which she discusses her new album, Drop Dead Diva, gay marriage and living in L.A. and Atlanta.
Cho competes in Week 2 of DWTS with Van Amstel on Monday.
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