LesbiaNation.com Senior Editor Tracy E. Gilchrist caught up with Cho to discuss The Cho Show, Drop Dead Diva, Obama, Hillary Clinton and marrying off her gays.

LesbiaNation: Hi there. It's great to talk to you. I just want to tell you though that I was surprised I called the Hotel and they connected me right to you. No questions asked.

Margaret Cho: Yeah. I’m under my real name today to make things easier

LN: I’m forgetting where your tour landed you today.

MC: Nashville.

LN: I see that you’re touring beautiful to places like Louisville and Des Moines. Places I would imagine most folks wouldn’t appreciate you’re progressive take on just about everything. I toured with a road company of Oh Calcutta when I was 22 and we were protested in some of those cities. Have you ever had any fun protests that wound up boosting ticket sales?

MC: Not so much. I’ve had a couple of really bad ones though… bomb threats where they had to call the dogs in.

LN: Oooh yeah. That’s not so much fun.

MC: Many years ago in Salt Lake City a group of kids from Brigham Young University protested me for being too obscene and too gay. It was disheartening and sad. Ticket sales went up high. But you see the level of homophobia sexism and racism.

LN: I imagine though that when someone like you turns up in a typically ultra-conservative town, your fans must feel like you’re an oasis.

MC: That is great. It gives a definite perspective.

LN: Do you enjoy touring?

MC: I’m busier this time. I’m doing much more press during the day. Usually the day doesn’t start until 7 p.m.

LN: You always appear to be working several projects at once. In addition to touring with Beautiful, you’ve got The Cho Show coming out on Aug. 21. When did you shoot it?

MC: We shot the show... the pilot in December and the episodes from March to June.

LN: Oh, so you only recently wrapped. That was pretty quick. What was the experience of shooting a reality show for you?

MC: It was great. It was very easy. The production offices were in my home so I actually wasn’t living there at the time, which was good.

LN: You didn’t have a problem with cameras on you night and day?

MC: It was scripted. Everything was planned out beforehand, so it’s not really invasive. I knew what I was going to do.

LN: I love your assistant Selene. Did you know you wanted to pick her to stay with you from the start?

MC: She really makes me laugh… a lot. She gets paid to make me laugh a lot.

LN: You’re building your own Christopher Guest style troupe. We’ve heard about your parents, particularly your mom, for years and now we get to see a lot of them in The Cho Show. Are you at all concerned they might steal your thunder?

MC: No. I want them to. That’s the point.

LN: They’re adorable and hilarious.

MC: They’re naturally funny people.

LN: How are they handling being the center of attention?

MC: My mom’s a little shy.

LN: I’ve only seen the pilot for the show but I see you’ve got plenty of celebrity guests lined up. How did you land people for the show?

MC: They’re people that I know... that I was able to ask to come on.

LN: We don’t see your husband in the pilot. Will he play a role at all later in the season or will he be like Karen Walker’s husband Stanley on Will and Grace… the character we hear about but never see?

MC: I don’t think you’re going to hear about him either. He’s very shy.

LN: You’re home as seen in the show is beautiful. It’s really warm. Are you in the Hills?

MC: Thank you. Yes. It’s in the Hollywood Hills. My husband’s an artist. We collect a lot of paintings and sculpture.

LN: I know you’ve worked for the Obama campaign a bit. Can you tell me a little about it?

MC: I’ve done a couple of appearances as a campaign surrogate. I’m an Obama supporter. I love Hillary though. She’s a great candidate.

LN: So, at some point you had to make a conscious decision to get behind Obama, since you did some work for the campaign before Hillary was out.

MC: Americans are much more sexist than they are racist. You can’t even talk about sexism.

MC: Hillary's a great candidate. It was depressing. We are crippled by our sexism and racism.

LN: The thing with arguing against sexism is that if you’re a woman you’re perceived as hysterical, whiny and so on...all the sexist monikers people put in place. It’s a trap.

MC: People turn off and stop listening. Sexism is so overpowering and huge.

MC: I’m so overjoyed…so excited. I got ordained so that I could marry people.

LN: I know you’ve done a couple of couples.

MC: I’ll be doing more.

LN: What are your criteria for picking couples’ ceremony’s to officiate?

MC: I basically will do everybody as long as they make a donation to Equality California or to something like that.

LN: How was it performing your first ceremonies?

MC: It’s really joyful for me.

LN: Do you have a special script you’ve worked out?

MC: It’s the standard one but at the end it says, “I now pronounce you spouses for life.”

LN: That’s great. You’ve been encouraging—jokingly—all gay people to just go out and find someone to marry...

MC: I feel like we should take advantage and not balk…not think too much about it.

LN: Certainly while there are forces at play to get an anti gay marriage on the ballot for November. So that being said... that you’re encouraging anyone and everyone to tie the knot, do you know any cute girls you could introduce me to for a quickie wedding?

MC: I’m sure I could hook you up.

LN: I look forward to it. You recently did the pilot for Sordid Lives on Logo. What else are you working on?

MC: I’m doing Drop Dead Diva, a comedy on Lifetime.

LN: That’s a great title. It sounds like fun. What’s your role?

MC: I play a legal secretary. It's a real acting role. It’s really funny.

For more on Margaret Cho, her tour and her new shows, visit www.margaretcho.com.