By Andrew Hamlin
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Courtesy: Ken Phillips Publicity Group Inc.
She’s gone all over the world outraging, inspiring, and leaving crowds laughing in their seats. When it comes to Seattle though, comedian/actress/activist Margaret Cho is looking for suggestions.
“I’ve performed at the Paramount and the Music Box,” said Cho, “and seen lots of coffee shops and theaters, but I’m never there long enough to know where to go for food, etc. Give me tips!”
Cho, who visits Town Hall on May 1 for a moderated discussion with the University of Washington’s LeiLani Nishime, grew up in San Francisco, where her Korean parents ran a bookshop.
A feisty self-starter, she took the stage for standup comedy for the first time at age 14.
“I wanted to make friends and be a grown-up. I was really young and really brave, but I have no idea what my jokes were, or if it was funny. But I did get invited back.”
Not all of her standup sets go well, but Cho developed a thick skin when it came to “bombing,” or being rejected by the audience.
“I try new material frequently, so it’s common to bomb within a set that’s going well, but you can usually pick it back up again. I say, just don’t take bombing personally. Usually it’s because the audience needs more information.”
Asked about highlights and lowlights from performing standup, she insisted, “It’s all a blur.” But she rolled out some colorful stories about acting in film and television.
“The morning after a night shoot on Gregg Araki’s [film] ‘Doom Generation,’ I drove home in morning rush hour traffic covered in blood and no one noticed.”
Later, “I almost tripped over David Hasselhoff’s legs while he was doing pushups,” during their mutual stretch on the eleventh season of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”
Her reputation as a trash-talking, shoot-from-the-hip outlier seems well-deserved. Still, the world seems to be catching up with her ways.
Asked if she performs in front of Korean-only crowds at times, she answered, “Yes. I’m an elder [now] and get a lot of respect from Korean audiences and I really love it.”
Her own parents, who frequently come up less than respectfully in her work, have their own views, naturally.
“They’re really happy that my career has been so successful. And they’re also really happy they are losing their hearing.”
So far, she’s run her fearless liberal motormouth through eight years of Ronald Reagan, four years of George Bush Sr., eight years of George Bush Jr., and four years of Donald Trump.
“They are all bad for different reasons, and some of the same reasons. But it’s the idiocy of Trump that’s the worst.”
She doesn’t believe, in her final analysis, that Trump can get the White House back.
“But it’s scary the hold he has on some people.”
She’s coming to Town Hall as a brief respite from her new tour, which she calls “Live and Livid.” She hasn’t changed her tune, but she mentioned a distinctive agenda for this tour: to protect drag queens.
“I love the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” she explained, referring to a long-running band of drag queens who dress as multicolored nuns, to raise funds for charity.
She called the Sisters “incredible, and I’m actually one of their patron saints. Drag is constantly inspiring to me and I’ve made it a lifelong goal to protect them and their amazing work.”
Asked about activist obligations in this day and age, she responded, “To remember that we still need more representation and to put our voices out there.”
As for any secrets she’s got after a lifetime of baring her soul onstage?
“I’m a big homebody. I love to bake bread and tend to my garden.”
Margaret Cho comes to Town Hall Seattle on May 1, in conversation with Professor LeiLane Nishime from the University of Washington.
For tickets, directions, and other information, visit https://www.washington.edu/lectures/events/an-evening-with-margaret-cho.