The edgy, confessional comedian is headed this way tomorrow with her "Assassin" tour, a mix of her riffs on politics, her support for the rights of gays and marginalized people in general, and of course, her signature impression of her Korean mother.

Korean Americans know that Cho's take on her mom's Korean accent is no caricature. It's dead-on, cruise-missile accurate. But some people have questioned her on how "P.C." it is.

"It's never black people, it's never anybody of color, it's always white people who are like, 'Oh, I don't know if you should be doing that,' " Cho says.

"Sometimes I think white people get scared. Like, oh, I shouldn't laugh at that because it's like a racial stereotype. Or, isn't it wrong to do that? No it's not really, because it's so accurate to the portrayal."

For those familiar with the routine, Korean or not, lines like "Mommy's so curious!" can cause convulsions. But what's often just as funny are the precise ways Cho conveys her mom's speech patterns.

"Like my mom always goes 'waaaah ... ' It's so Korean. 'Waaaah ... ' the weird punctuation noises that kind of happen I think because it's part of the Korean language, but when they speak English, they still use it." (OK, this is the part where you go to seattletimes.com/entertainment and listen to her voice).

And unlike, say, an old No. 1 hit that your favorite band gets tired of playing, Cho says she still loves doing it. It's also taken on a more weighty dimension recently, because of the heart attack her mother suffered last year. She's doing much better now, but the episode serves as an important part of "Assassin."

"It's important for me to do it in every show. It's interesting for me to do, and I feel like I've gotten better at it over the years," she says.

Current affairs weigh heavily in "Assassin," as you can probably discern from the Patty Hearst-like pose she takes on the tour's promo pics. Cho is a news junkie who is habitually logging onto news sites and blogs. Like, for instance, a report she saw on Fox on a Pakistani ice-cream driver with alleged ties to al-Qaida. She particularly resented the broadcast's inclusion of information about the size of the Pakistani population of Lodi, Calif., as if "all Pakistani immigrants are somehow connected to al-Qaida."

"What's al-Qaida going to do with an ice-cream driver?" she asks, then takes on the voice of a terrorist operative: " 'If they ask for sugar cone, give it to them in a cup. The infidels must pay!' "

Cho, who's been brutally frank in her routines about past struggles with alcohol, sex, eating disorders and self-esteem, is in a much healthier place these days. She's been married for the past couple of years to artist Al Ridenour, and she just got a Chihuahua. Her new passion is belly-dancing ("I'm really good at it!"), which has given her a new way to look at and appreciate her body. She even dances regularly at a North African restaurant in L.A.

Her personal happiness and stability, she says, have given her a much more solid foundation to launch out on the political issues she's so passionate about, like "the enormous crisis that is this country."

"Bam Bam and Celeste," a movie that she wrote and stars in, comes out sometime in the next year. It's about a gay man and his best friend (she used different terms) who go on a road trip to audition on a reality TV show. "It's a comedy in a very broad way and then also it's very subtle and emotional and sweet. It's very different. ... I'd like to keep making movies, it's such a passion and it's a joyful, joyful thing. I want to keep on this path so I really want the film to do well."

She also wants to stop touring so much eventually and have kids. But watch out, Margaret. Who knows, those kids may grow up one day and do killer impressions of their mom. We're so curious!