Margaret Cho will charm the pants right off you

Let's face it: Stand-up comedy is dominated by not only male comedians, but also masculine humour. The career future of a comedienne is a double-edged sword. In comparison to their male colleagues - who are a dime a dozen - comediennes are often showered with opportunities for gigs in an attempt by show organizers to balance out line-ups with token comics. But at the same time, females have an ill-deserved rep for not being funny, with a few exceptions who are simply that: exceptions. It's a heck of a lot more difficult for a smart vagina joke to be accepted by an audience compared to a smart dick joke.
Theorists upon theorists can give you a million reasons why stand-up is a male-oriented culture, but I don't have room to write an academic thesis on the subject. Instead, I'd like you to get to know one of those exceptions: Margaret Cho.

"We have no support from the community," she offers as a reason for the dearth of female comedy. "Male comedians nurture each other and take care of each other in a very beautiful way, and that doesn't occur for women. Women in comedy are really isolated."

Cho is Korean-American and bisexual, making her an alternative comic by default. Style-wise, Cho doesn't follow the worn-out, rigid joke set-up of previous generations, much like many of the new faces of stand-up comedy (like Zach Galifianakis and Patton Oswalt). The most significant aspect of her work, however, is the content. Sex and race - both typical taboo subjects in comedy - come up time and time
again, however Cho's dirtiness has surprising substance. She's not doing it to be dirty. She's doing it to question our social norms.

"There has to be a greater emotional arc to your story rather than just trying to gross people out or trying to get a laugh," she says of dirty humour.

Like many other female comedians, body image is a popular topic, particularly her pubic mound ("When are they going to come out with the video 'Pubic Mound of Steel'?"). What sets Cho apart from other comediennes poking fun at their bodies, though, is her brazen approach to anorexia nervosa, which she suffered from.

There is also a political aspect to Cho's work, as can be witnessed by her blog and her involvement in human-rights events. However, her political statements can tend to get her in trouble and even have her uninvited to events she was asked to host.

"Because of my comments about Palin [on her blog], I was fired by the Obama campaign," she says, referencing her surrogate campaign work. "I understand and I'm still voting for him - I think he's great-but I think it's funny how politics works."

Even if Cho sticks to entertainment, I don't imagine her fans would mind.