Saturday, October 18, 2008

If you've seen I'm the One that I Want, the much-praised 2001 concert film by standup comic Margaret Cho, you know the story.

As recalled brilliantly by Cho, self-described "Korean-American, fag-hag, shit-starter, girl-comic trash-talker," it's a tale both painful and uproariously funny.

And if you're a fan of Cho, who performs tomorrow at the National Arts Centre, you also know that she's long over the incident and is enjoying the last laugh afer being treated badly by television 14 years ago.

In the years since the cancellation of All-American Girl, the first TV sitcom about an Asian-American family, Cho's standup comedy has received raves from critics. At her best, critics have said, she's one of the most brilliant comics of her generation, her work comparable in depth and intelligence to the work of Richard Pryor and Lily Tomlin.

With a mouth that would make Joan Rivers blush, a roster of rubbery facial expressions that would do Lucille Ball proud and enough funny accents to make Meryl Streep nervous, Cho offers not-for-the-easily-offended commentary on topics that include politics, race, celebrities and sex, including graphic descriptions of her own experiences with men, women and a few battery-operated devices.

You don't have to look far to find fans who have memorized favourite Cho routines, including her pricelessly funny imitations of her mother, who is less than fluent in English.

There was this message, for example, left by Cho's mother on her daughter's answering machine:

"Hi, it's mommy. DONT MARRY A WHITE MAN!"

Or this one, more panicky, left after Cho confessed she had slept with a woman while performing on an all-lesbian cruise to Alaska.

"Are you gay? Pick up phone! If you don't pick up phone, that mean you gay. Only gay screen calls!"

Back in 1994, Cho was a young standup comic who had attracted a lot of notice. She was given the starring role in All-American Girl, a sitcom loosely inspired by her life as the comedian daughter of immigrant parents.

Cho had no say in the content of the show, and during its one-season lifespan, producers reworked the series in response to complaints that Cho was either too Asian or not Asian enough. At one point, the producers even hired a consultant to advise Cho on how to be more Asian.

Executives also ordered Cho to lose weight. Through crash dieting and exercise, she lost 30 pounds in less than a month and ended up in hospital. Her series, as she noted dryly in I'm the One that I Want, was replaced by The Drew Carey Show, "because he's so thin."

When the series failed, a depressed Cho overdid booze and drugs before she decided she wasn't going to let the cancellation of a sitcom ruin her life.

On a few of her tours in recent years, critics have said Cho seemed too angrily political and not as subtle or as flat-out funny as she was in her earlier work. But with her new show Beautiful, which she brings to the NAC tomorrow, reviewers have said she's back in top form, making her points but still scoring the laughs.

Cho is "less strident, less out to shock for the sake of it, and more outwardly happy than in the past" one reviewer wrote, while another said she seems "more comfortable in her skin than ever."

Cho, 39, also returned to television this season, with a seven-episode reality series called The Cho Show.

It aired on VH1 in the U.S. and airs in Canada on the Comedy Channel, where the final episode is Monday. The series follows Cho and her real-life friends, family and a team of gay makeup, hair and wardrobe assistants through various adventures. Her parents make regular appearances, and it's clear that while Cho makes fun of them in her shows, she loves them, and they're proud of their daughter.

The Citizen caught up with Cho in Los Angeles in early September, not long after vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin made her first splash at the Republican convention. Cho chatted about the series, her tour, her beginnings in comedy at 16 in San Francisco and her thoughts about Palin. Some excerpts:

Q: How do you feel about The Cho Show? Did it take a lot to get you to do a series again after such a bad experience with your first one?

A: I'm excited about it. It's been going well. My main concern was that I wanted to be a producer, to have creative control. My executive producer is Rico Martinez, a writing partner and good friend. VH1 was generous with giving me that control. It's great to have that kind of trust.

Q: Did you have a clear idea from the beginning of the kind of program you wanted to do?

A: I wanted to do another family show about an Asian-American family. I wanted something that was sort of reality in that I could use my real family instead of actors, but I wanted it to be somewhat scripted so that we weren't burning tons of camera time to get something. It's a fairly scripted show and we improvise the dialogue, so it's closer to something like Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Q: How comfortable were your parents with being in the series?

A: They were nervous at the beginning. But by the end they were in love with the project and with the cast and crew. It was quite a beautiful experience. That's pretty exciting when you're 70.

Q: Are you happy with how it turned out?

A: I loved it. I felt like it captured the essence of my family. It's traditional in its way, but also progressive. I'd like to do more episodes. We haven't gotten word yet, but it's had a wonderful response.

Q: So many people who have done it describe stand-up comedy as terrifying, because you're alone on a stage with no one to help you. You started performing as a teenager. Were you the kind of kid who always made your friends laugh?

A: No, but I just knew this was what I was going to do. When I was young I would watch comedians like Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Steve Martin, Whoopi Goldberg, and I just knew. When I was 16 and started doing it, it was scary, but I loved it. There were bad nights, there are still bad nights, but this was my calling. I love the art form. It's a form with specific rules. You watch performers and you get your own thing from them.

Q: Who are some performers who make you laugh?

A: I love Wanda Sykes, Chris Rock, Rosie O'Donnell, Kathy Griffin ... When I was younger, a person I watched a lot was Greg Proops. His material is so bright and sharp and amazing, it's like a hurricane. I got a lot from watching him.

Q: Can you talk about the new concert show you're bringing to Ottawa?

A: It's a confident show, raunchy, crazy, wild. It's political, but also just really dirty, and very funny, so I'm enjoying it. I think it's my best show, my most fun show. Part of it is about allowing myself to call myself beautiful and encouraging people to give themselves that title. There are so many problems that people have with self esteem. It's something the advertising industry capitalizes on to make us buy products. My philosophy is to start calling ourselves beautiful, and to believe it.

Q: You've been married for a few years now. Has that coloured your material?

A: I've been married for five years, but we've been together for almost 10 years, and that feels really good and solid to me. I have a successful and beautiful marriage, which is why I believe strongly in gay marriage. I feel that people need families.

Q: What do you think of Sarah Palin? Is she in your act?

A: When I first heard about her I thought it was stupid, trying to pander to disillusioned Democrats who wanted Hillary to be president. But her politics are so against what most Hillary supporters believe. She's about sending women back to the Stone Age. She opposes abortion even in the case of rape or incest, which is so extreme. I find her views abhorrent. It's clear that she's not ready to lead anybody. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen. I'm trying to find the comedy. To me, comedy can be a weapon. If I can find a way to make this funny, if I can help people to see her in a different light, that's a patriotic effort.

Q: In the first episode of The Cho Show, at an awards ceremony, a young Asian woman comes up to you to read a letter she's written about what your performances have meant to her, and she's in tears. Bobby Lee, from MADtv, says that you inspired him to go into comedy when he was a teenager and he saw you on TV. What does that kind of reaction mean to you?

A: I think people have connected with me, not because I'm so great, but because I was the first Asian person they saw doing this. I was able to do something they considered impossible. It's because I was there. But that kind of reaction is wonderful, and I'm grateful for it. I'm very proud of it."

Margaret Cho performs tomorrow at the National Arts Centre, with opening performer Liam Sullivan. Tickets & times: Ticketmaster, 613-755-1111.