Margaret Cho is “Beautiful” and So Are Her Gay Fans
by Michael Shinafelt
January 28, 2008

Margaret Cho has been breaking down the myths and stereotypes of society for years. After last year's successful Off Broadway run of her burlesque style show The Sensuous Woman, Margaret has come home to her stand-up roots.

Her new stand-up tour, Beautiful, debuted February 27th in Sydney Australia, marking the first time Ms. Cho has premiered a show abroad. But before heading out for Down Under, Cho talked with us about gay men’s body image issues, why she’ll vote for Barack Obama and her upcoming role on Sordid Lives.

AfterElton: For the first time ever you’re starting your tour abroad in Australia. Is that because Australia is so gay?
Margaret Cho: Australia is so gay! I am really excited to go to Mardi Gras which is why I am premiering my show there at the same time. It’s the biggest Gay Pride Party. Cyndi Lauper, who I love, is going with me. It’s going to be rocking!

AE: Hot! Let’s talk about the show you are debuting during Aussie Mardi Gras - Beautiful.
MC: The show came about because I was on this radio show and the DJ asked me: “What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and you were beautiful?” I was like “What?!” He’s like “What if you woke up and you were blond, blue-eyed, 5’ 11 and weighed 100 lbs and you were beautiful, what would you do?”

I told him I probably wouldn’t get up because I would be too weak to stand! [laughs]

It upset me because I thought if that was the only person he thinks is beautiful, he must not see much beauty ever. I wanted to do a show about how we are all beautiful. It is something I have to constantly tell myself. So the show is about that and it is also a salute to the vagina. About half of it is vagina related.

AE: How do your tattoos relate to your being beautiful?
MC: They are a part of my thing. I am in my 30’s and women my age in Los Angeles are getting plastic surgery. I thought: I am going to get tattoos instead so, when I am old, people won’t be looking at my wrinkles, they will be going: “Oh my God, look at that lizard!” [laughs]

AE: What is the gayest thing in Beautiful?
MC: The gayest thing about my show is I talk a lot about my Fag Hagness, and how I love going to gay bars. Being a fag hag is great, until it becomes about dick o’clock. That’s about 12:15 at night. That’s when fag hags don’t exist anymore. If you don’t have a dick you had better leave the bar! You could be Judy Garland coming back from the dead at dick o’clock, and no gay man gives a sh*t! [laughs] If you don’t have a dick, leave! They should organize a fag hag shuttle to pick up all the fag hags when the clock strikes dick!

AE: I caught a repeat of the transgender show you did on “Tyra” the other day.
MC: How cool! The transgender community is a really important community for the rest of the queer community to support. The reason is they are the victims of most of the hate crimes, violence and homophobia, yet they are never really supported by the rest of the gay community. The world is much harsher for transgender people because they wear their homosexuality on their skin. It is a very different life experience; it is something the world is not comfortable with. I do a lot of work with them and think they should be supported more.

AE: Absolutely! Let’s talk some about Rick & Steve.
MC: I love that show! It’s so funny and cute, I really love being on it. It’s just a hot show. It airs on Logo [AfterElton.com’s parent company] and I love Logo because they are doing all these great and different things. Besides Rick & Steve I am also doing another Logo show Sordid Lives that I really love too.

AE: Very cool! Tell us about your role on the show.
MC: I play a therapist, it’s really a lot of fun. They have some great cameos and a great cast! Actually, the cast is like a fag hag jamboree. There’s me Rue McClanahan and Olivia Newton-John.

AE: I love Olivia; I was the biggest fan of hers in her heyday!
MC: Me too! I know all the lyrics of the album Totally Hot. Do you have her video album, the one that starts with the video for “Landslide?”

AE: No, but I’ve seen it.
MC: The video for “Landslide” is so great because Matt Lattanzi is in it! He is so beautiful. I did a movie with Olivia in the early 90’s called It’s My Party.

AE: Oh yeah, the gay love story written and directed by Randal [Grease] Kleiser.
MC: He’s really good friends with Olivia from them doing Grease together. I loved doing that movie. He is such a lovely man.

AE: How about the movie you did with two other fag hags, Dixie’s with Janice Dickinson and Kathy Griffin?
MC: I love Kathy Griffin! She is amazing and I love her show, The D-List. She is someone I am very fond of and have a lot of respect for. Reality TV is a perfect fit for her, because that’s how she is in real life. Kathy is classically Kathy all the time, on stage or off.

AE: What about Janice?
MC: She is great! I have never actually met her. I have talked to her on the phone. It was really fun as she is a fan of mine and I think she is awesome!

AE: Give us something political: what’s your take on the feminist versus race issue between Hillary and Barack?
MC: They are both good and I don’t know why it would come down to that. Both of them are really strong, I think I probably will end up voting for Barack because I love his energy and hope that he brings. But I also love Hillary Clinton because she has already been President for eight years.

AE: Liam, of the famous YouTube video “Shoes” is opening for you on the Beautiful tour.
MC: It’s so exciting, I love him! He’s my little baby doll. I am so happy to have him on the road. Also for a couple of the dates, Ian Harvie who is a transgender comedian is going to open.

AE: Sounds great! What do you hope the gay community takes from Beautiful?
MC: Well I hope that they learn to feel beautiful, because I think it is hard for a lot of gay men to feel that way with the “body ideal” out there. It’s a crazy image that is hard to obtain. Rather than work so hard on that, I think gay men should just feel good about themselves for who they are. Actually, gay mean should simply be more like bears, that’s my thing. I love bears and I wish more gay men would aspire to be one.

Margaret Cho’s World Tour of Beautiful kicks off February 27th in Sydney, Australia. For full tour and ticket information log onto www.MargaretCho.com