Margaret Cho brings tour to Orlando

By SARA KIESLER
Staff Writer

Bold and fearless, Margaret Cho crosses all lines. The comedian and entertainer takes a hilarious and sometimes raunchy look at sexuality, race and the female body.

But shock value isn't Cho's only mantra. Her comedic tours are full of wisdom, political observations and an honest look at loving oneself.

Friday, she will be performing her new tour, "Beautiful" at Hard Rock Live Orlando. Finding tickets may be rough with the Gay Day celebrations in Orlando, (Cho is a self-described bisexual), but worth hunting down nonetheless. We recently had a chat with the comedian:

Q. Were there parties thrown all over your hometown of San Francisco when the gay marriage ban was repealed?

Yes, there were, it was like crazy, I wasn't able to be there, I was actually working in San Diego last week so I didn't get to see any of the parties, but I saw them on TV and it looked great. I'm going to be deputized by the mayor of San Francisco next month so I get to perform marriage ceremonies which I'm excited about doing.

Q. Didn't the mayor of San Francisco make a Margaret Cho Day down at city hall?

Yes, That was a few weeks ago and it was really tremendous, I was really proud. It was for my new TV show, "The Cho Show," which is a great show I'm doing for VH1, so we had a special day.

Q. It's been 13 years since the All-American Girl faced weight consultants and ethnicity coaches. What can fans expect from the new show?

Actually, it's been 14 years. It's very crazy, very funny and really different than anything I've ever seen; it's like a sitcom but it's based in reality.

Q. (Lots of Cho's dogs barking) I think the dogs are going to eat you.

Uh, sorry, they're just going to freak out for a second.

Q. I can't wait to see and hear what your mom has to say (on her new TV show).

My parents are on there, they're really funny; they're just the stars. They're so hilarious -- my dad is funny, too.

Q. You write about gay, minority and women's rights with such an unapologetic, hilarious voice on Huffington Post and CNN. What's the most crucial issue you fear we are losing?

It's just about equality, about making sure we don't fade into invisibility -- that sort of is a struggle all the time. It's sort of looking for inclusion from mainstream society; that's why this gay marriage ruling is a big deal. It really is a great victory overcoming invisibility, when the government actually makes allowances. It makes people aware of the sort of disparity of equality out there.

Q. It's such a fascinating time with Obama and Hillary running for president. You hear people talking about the black and white working-class vote, but they never mention the Asian-American vote. Is there a whole community of people being left out?

There's a lot of sort of non-inclusion factor, it feels like we're invisible. It's very weird and hard to deal with.

Q. Your new tour coming to Orlando here next week is called "Beautiful." How do beauty and politics mesh?

When you feel beautiful there's more of a likelihood you're going to fight to uphold your own rights, be more confidant using your voice. Being beautiful is being more active and more vocal about what you need, what you want to get and what you want done. I think it's a very connected thing. Politics is a very important arena to feel beautiful in, feel important in. If you feel beautiful, you feel the right to say things.

Q. Is it tough to embrace your sexuality, politics and weight issues onstage when others shy away from that?

I don't think it's difficult any more. I've sort of talked about it a lot. To me that's more compelling and more interesting. It's sort of what I think about, what I think is important and I'm more interested in that.

Q. You've said you had almost no Asian-Americans to watch on TV growing up. Is it any better?

A little bit, there's a couple more Asian-Americans. There's some more of an idea of inclusion in television where we are seeing a few more Asian-Americans out there. I think it's exciting really, and really great. And I want to see more.

Q. Do the people you love accept the sort of gray areas of your sexuality?

People are very warm and understanding, most people I know are the same sort of way.

Q. Alfred Kinsey said we're all sort of along the 80 percent line of sexuality.

Everybody's kind of got their own thing -- I find it more sympathetic. I'm very accepted by everybody in my community that way.

Q. It sounds like you're crazy-busy.

It's been busy but fun. What's crazy is I'm also doing the TV show at the same time, so it's like three days a week on the show, four days on the road.