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MARGARET CHO

Getting 'Cho Dependent'

by JC Alvarez
Wednesday Aug 25, 2010

Editor’s note: Due to a health concern, Margaret Cho has re-scheduled her dates at Vixen. The new dates are August 31 - September 6, 2010. For more information visit the Vixen website.

The infallible Margaret Cho has been honored as this year’s co-Grand Marshal (with Bruce Vilanch) of the 2010 Carnival Parade in Provincetown.

By now the duties bestowed upon her should come as second nature, but she admits, "I don’t know what it means -- I can’t remember what I have to do!"

I tell her to practice her "princess wave" for the crowds as she sits on an expectantly garish float; but Cho hopes whatever her expected duties that drugs be involved -- specifically aspirin.

While she loves Ptown, the bustle of Commercial Street is getting to her. "I’m out in the deep woods here in Provincetown -- there’s no road. I wanted to be somewhere quiet... and I can still hear the fucking house music," she jokes. I suggest the music is supplied as a courtesy to the Grand Marshal, so that she can find her way back to her loyal subjects and civilization.

"Yeah... it’s like a breadcrumb trail," she laughs.



Margaret Cho Upcoming tour
Peace and quiet, though, aren’t in Cho’s immediate future: she’s appearing at the Vixen (August 31 - September 6) and must also deal with her anxiety-inducing duties as Grand Marshall. But Cho has never let her fans down. And if she finds herself in pinch -- not to worry -- she’s is in good hands. She’s riding the float with Bruce Vilanch. "I’m sure Bruce can hook me up!"

Nor is she any stranger to Ptown or to Carnival. "I come here every year," she admits. And has been doing so for some fifteen years, performing her wonderfully evolving comedy in intimate settings like the Vixen for both tourists and locals alike. She’s even visited off-season. "I’ve been here in the winter with the fisherman... and a few really cold gays!"

Cho’s appearances in Ptown allow her to do is try out new material and get the kinks out of her act before she goes on a national tour. This year is no exception. She appears in Ptown at Vixen nightly at 9pm through August 24, 2010. Then she heads out on the road for a four-month tour of a new show she calls Cho Dependent that starts in Portland, Oregon on August 26, 2010 and ends in Atlanta on December 12, 2010. (For a full tour schedule visit the tour schedule on her website.)

Cho Dependent is also the title of her new comedy/musical CD, which can be pre-ordered available on her website that features songs co-written by the comedian and performed by a variety of artists including Andrew Bird, Tegan and Sara, Fiona Apple, Patty Griffin, Grant Lee Phillips, Brendan Benson (The Raconteurs), Ben Lee and Ani DiFranco.

"It’s still my stand-up comedy, but with some songs with the most phenomenal artists out there like Fiona Apple -- all wonderful and great artists, but I wanted to make an album of some of the music that I’ve performed on stage -- songs like ’My Puss’," which was a YouTube sensation when it was released virally on the Internet. Touring with this fresh material, is also a nice break from her co-starring role as Teri Lee on the popular Lifetime show Drop Dead Diva.

Story continues on following page:

Watch Margaret Cho’s video of "My Puss": "

Watch Margaret Cho’s video of "Eat Shit and Die."



Margaret Cho Loves Steven Slater
From the start Cho’s comedy has centered on her personal journey, be it her disastrous appearance on a television sitcom All American Girl to her recent reality show on VH1 and her recent foray into music. This time is no exception. "Arizona’s immigration debate really sparked me to look at my own family’s history," she says, "especially my grandparents. It’s an important part of my life [the immigration issue] and something I’ve always thought about putting into my show, but I’ve wanted to do something respectful that was also funny."

She also promises fresh perspectives on her usual suspects. "There’s a lot of stories about my mom I haven’t told yet that are really funny!" Her mother and her Korean American upbringing are fixtures in Cho’s act and always resonate with her audience.

And she has some new targets. "I’m really obsessed with Steven Slater -- the Nelson Mandela of flight attendants." She’s even coined a phrase to celebrate Slater’s adventurous spirit of his dramatic airline exit: "You’d better engage that slide! I’m sure everyone’s wanted to do that... and the bitch went for it," she laughs.

As one of the gay community’s most visible supporters, Margaret Cho follows the recent unconstitutional ruling of Proposition 8 in California and wonders (like many of us) why the debate to block gay marriages continues.

"It’s so heartbreaking. Why are they able to effectively stay on marriages after declaring Prop 8 unconstitutional?"

Cho has often used her platform as a celebrity to speak out against social injustice and encourage reform. "This is a big deal! Marriage is a life-changing event -- people are putting their lives on hold. It’s so insulting." And until this issue is resolved, it will always have an intimate importance to her, as a minority herself, she certainly is close to the issues. "It’s important to use our voices, because this isn’t about marriages -- it’s about equality."

In the meantime, as she continues to engage us with her musings and (now) her music, she promises to pass the time eagerly anticipating the inevitable reality show stardom of Steven Slater, while the Cho-dependent among us await to see her on her upcoming tour.

Margaret Cho appears in Provincetown at the Vixen through August 24, 2010. Her tour of Cho Dependent starts on August 26, 2010 in Portland, Oregon. For a full schedule, visit the tour schedule on her website. For more on Cho, including how to pre-order her CD Cho Dependent, visit her website.