THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Monday, October 08, 2007

By Carol Azizian

For years, confrontational comedian Margaret Cho suffered from eating disorders and "body issues."

Then she discovered burlesque.

"I was able to see women who were not the norm that we see in movies, TV and magazines," she said from Chicago, where she performed in her latest show, "The Sensuous Woman."

"(Some) were large and beautiful, feeling sexy and free," she added, speaking in a quiet, gentle tone that belies her image as a sometimes-raunchy comedian. "I was blown away by it, and I became a big burlesque fan. It was really healing."

The Korean-American performer and activist will bring her outspoken message and brand of humor to The Whiting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Her appearance is the kick-off event for several community activities in the "Out 'N About Collaborative," dedicated to the advancement of rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, questioning and intersexed people.

While in Flint (her first time here), Cho said she'll perform new material about recent scandals such as those involving U.S. Sen. Larry E. Craig of Idaho who resigned after reports that he had solicited sex in an airport bathroom; former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who quit last fall over sexually explicit Internet communications with male pages who had worked on Capitol Hill; and the Rev. Ted Haggard, who admitted to buying methamphetamines and receiving a massage from a gay prostitute.

"I'll be talking about gay marriage and gender issues," she said.

And politics. "All of the presidential candidates - none of them support gay marriage," she said. "There's also too many of them. It's like a reality show - America's next talk president."

A self-described "fag-hag," Cho, 38, said she's lucky to have "so many wonderful men in my life. When you're friends with gay guys, you get all the attention."

She's married to Al Ridenour, an artist. "People are surprised that I'm married to a man. Usually, people think I'm lesbian."

Over the past few years, Cho said she's lost 75 pounds and has been cured of her eating disorders.

"I love belly-dancing," she said. "It's a big hobby of mine. It's changed my life and my body."

After staging it in Chicago, Cho took "The Sensuous Woman," her burlesque-style variety show, to New York's The Zipper Factory, where it's run ends Wednesday. It's billed as a "raucous, outrageous and funny night of comedy, music and dance featuring a supporting cast of renowned burlesque stars and established and emerging comedians."

Raised in San Francisco, Cho "went to grammar school on Haight Street during the '70s," according to her Web site. "There were old hippies, ex-druggies, burnouts from the '60s, drag queens and Chinese people," she said in her bio. "To say it was a melting pot - that's the least of it. It was a really confusing, enlightening, wonderful time."

Her grandfather was a Methodist minister who ran an orphanage in Seoul during the Korean War. Her father wrote joke books - in Korean. "Books like 1001 Jokes for Public Speakers - real corny stuff," Cho wrote in her bio. "I guess we're in the same line of work."

She started performing stand-up at age 16 in a comedy club called The Rose & Thistle above a bookstore that her parents ran. Soon, she won a comedy contest where the first prize was opening for Jerry Seinfeld. Moving to Los Angeles in the early 1990s, she hit the college comedy circuit and garnered a nomination for Campus Comedian of the Year.

In 1994, she starred a short-lived ABC sitcom called "All-American Girl."

"There were just so many people involved in that show, and so much importance put on the fact that it was an ethnic show," Cho said in her bio. "It's hard to pin down what 'ethnic' is without appearing to be racist. And then, for fear of being too 'ethnic,' it got so watered down for television that by the end, it was completely lacking in the essence of what I am and what I do. I learned a lot, though."

In 1999, Cho chronicled her experience in an off-Broadway, one-woman show called "I'm the One That I Want." It toured the country and was made into a concert film and best-selling book. Two years later, she launched "Notorious C.H.O.," a 37-city national tour that culminated in a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall. Her third national tour, titled "Revolution," also became a concert film.

She took her politically charged "State of Emergency" tour through the swing states of the presidential election in 2004. It evolved into her "Assassin" tour the following year.

Cho also has dabbled in films. Her first feature, "Bam Bam and Celeste," premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in late 2005. She has described it as a fag and fag hag "Dumb and Dumber."

More recently, she tried her hand at directing. The film, titled "Two Sisters," is a drama about belly-dancing that will be released next year, she said.

"I found it (directing) to be amazingly fun but also frustrating," she said. "Directing is classically a male job. I found that people were not listening to me. I had to tell my assistant director to tell the crew things I wanted or needed done. I had to hire a man to speak for me."

Still, Cho said she loved the challenge and would do it again.

"It's important to do different things and re-invent yourself," she said.