CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
BACK TO
MARGARET CHO		 Cho dances as funnily as she can
CONCERT PREVIEW | Comic took one for the cause as contestant, but judges failed to see the humor

October 14, 2010

BY PAIGE WISER TV Critic/pwiser@suntimes.com
The "Dancing With the Stars" judges can be harsh, but Margaret Cho figured they were just doing their job. "That's like the whole point of it, isn't it?" asks the erstwhile dancer, the third contestant to leave the ballroom this season. "You're on it so that people can criticize you."

Michael Bolton and Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino seemed to take their dismissals personally, but not Cho. "That's why they pay you a lot of money," she says. "Well, for me it was a lot of money. But not necessarily to Michael Bolton. To me it wasn't hurtful because it was all about my dancing. Which I don't care about, because I'm not known to be a dancer."


Her attempts at comic dancing didn't work for the judges. Those giant wings? "Those are from my belly-dancing experience," Cho says. "They're Isis wings, and they're used frequently in Egyptian cabaret-style belly dancing. They're actually very difficult to maneuver."

She was only on the show for three weeks but has no regrets. For her favorite number, she wore a rainbow-fringed dress and whirled to "Copacabana" with partner Louis Van Amstel, who's still a friend. "I was there for fun, but I wanted to send a message out to and from the gay community," says Cho. "I've been so brokenhearted about the gay teen suicides of late. I wanted people to see that you can be proud, that you can celebrate and feel good about yourself even while people are criticizing you."

Cho identifies herself as bisexual, but has been married -- conventionally, she says -- to artist Al Ridenour since 2003. For her new CD, "Cho Dependent," though, she drew on past loves.

One song, "I'm Sorry," is about a writer on her "All-American Girl" sitcom whom she loved unrequitedly. Recently she Googled him and learned that he was in prison for murdering his wife and stuffing her body in the attic until it was partially mummified.

They're funny songs, Cho insists, kind of along the lines of "Weird Al" Yankovic or Tommy Chong. In fact, she enlists help from Chong on the album, along with Tegan and Sara, Fiona Apple and Ani DiFranco.

To promote the CD, Cho will be at the Chicago Theatre on Saturday to perform some stand-up, some songs and maybe even a dance or two. "There'll be lots of surprises," she says.

Next up is a third season of Lifetime's "Drop Dead Diva," on which Cho plays a sidekick paralegal. It's probably the most mainstream thing she's done, she acknowledges, but it fits right in with her ethos. "It's all about self-acceptance and self-love," she says. Judges or no judges, "I think that's such an important message."