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DOWNTOWN NEWS |  |
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TO MARGARET CHO |
Tattoos
and Taboos
Margaret Cho Brings Her No-Holds-Barred Comedy to the Orpheum by Julie Riggott On her website, Margaret Cho has been blogging about people she finds truly beautiful, partly in response to how Americans have bought into ridiculous standards for beauty. She wrote: "A DJ once asked me, 'If you woke up tomorrow and you were beautiful, what would you do? If you were blonde, blue-eyed, 5-foot-11 and weighed 100 pounds, what would you do?!?' Well, I probably wouldn't get up in that case, because I'd be too weak to stand." Cho, 39, brings a new standup tour, "Beautiful," to the Orpheum Theatre March 21-22. Admittedly comfortable with her body now, Cho had suffered damage to her kidneys after rapidly losing weight for her 1994 television show "All American Girl." She proved that she's come a long way with her naked dancing in last year's "Sensuous Woman" tour. In some ways, all of her shows are about empowerment. For her outspokenness about race, gay rights (she is an admitted bisexual), feminism and politics, she has been honored with a number of awards, including the First Amendment Award from the ACLU of Southern California and the Interpid Award from the National Organization for Women. Cho spoke with Los Angeles Downtown News about tattoos and taboos. Los Angeles Downtown News: Why did you debut your latest tour in Australia? Margaret Cho: I wanted to go to the Mardi Gras celebration, which is the big gay pride thing that they have. And the timing was really just excellent because I was able to attend that, and I was actually the parade chief, which is sort of like the grand marshal. It was a really great honor and super fun. A: Really the show is not just about beauty, it's about a lot of different things. It's also just very sexual, very grotesque. And there's a lot of beauty in the grotesque, so I think it's just sort of a very freeing kind of show. It allows me to go wherever I want. Q: What are some of the subjects you address? A: I talk a lot about everything, about sex, about this sort of idea that everybody is beautiful and we can all feel sexy. No matter how old we are or what we look like, we can just sort of believe in the spirit of beauty and feeling beautiful. I think it's important. Q: That's a pretty serious message. A: Yeah, I think that if you feel beautiful, you'll have more power in the world and you'll allow yourself to voice your opinion. Q: What about tattoos, because that's related to beauty, and you have some extensive ones on your back, right? A: I have a lot of tattoos. I actually have them all over my body. I have them on my back and my leg, and on both my arms and all over my stomach. I just think they're so beautiful. Women my age are mostly getting plastic surgery, you know? They're so dissatisfied with their bodies. For me, I'm really into getting tattoos because it's sort of a celebration of my body. Q: Did "Beautiful" grow out of your "Sensuous Woman" burlesque and comedy show? A: Sort of, yeah. Because I was doing a lot of dancing, and dancing naked, which is pretty amazing to do. It's incredible to just be free enough and confident enough to want to do that. That sort of gave me some time to work on some different material, things I hadn't done before, and talking about the body, talking about physical stuff and feeling comfortable and feeling good about myself. Q: When you first started doing standup comedy as a teen, did you have the same political and social humor? A: I gradually came into that as I got older and more comfortable within comedy and kind of understood the whole world of it more. Q: Is it ever scary talking about these taboo topics onstage? A: I don't feel like it is. I feel comfortable and confident about what I'm doing. I think it's important to discuss these issues, so I never felt a sense of fear. |
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