The grass isn’t greener for Margaret Cho at the Edinburgh Festival

American comic believes hard work, not fame, is the key to good comedy.

18 August 2011 15:35 GMT

“I’m not supposed to talk about this actually, but I do anyway because I don’t care”.

Margaret Cho is as frank off the stage as she is on it. Despite causing a furore in America after insinuating that Crystal Palin was forced to take part in Dancing With The Stars by her mother, Cho refuses to be silenced by her critics.

“If you mess with the Palins, it’s a really scary thing”, Cho elaborated. “I really expect to wake up with a decapitated moose head in my bed, they’re like that”.

Cho has a reputation for being out-spoken, a quality which is prevalent in both her comedy and other ventures. In 2005, she released 'I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight', a collection of essays and prose about human rights, politics and other issues. The title of the book encapsulates Cho’s siege mentality and resistance to power.

Crucially, Cho has the talent to support her views. In 2010 she released the album Cho Dependant, mixing comedy and rock. The record was nominated for a Grammy, an accolade many musicians spend their careers chasing.

Comedy crossover is an issue close to Cho’s heart, and she believes it is often done unsuccessfully:

“A lot of rock stars want to be comedians, and a lot of comedians want to be rock stars. It’s very much the grass is greener thing.”

For Cho however, the quality of the music and the humour were equally important:

“It’s a fun thing to create songs that are funny, but they’re enduring as songs too”.

Cho stressed that, much like comedians venturing into music, fame does not guarantee success in stand up comedy:

“If you’re a stand-up comic you need to be really good. Even if you’re an icon you still can’t pretend to be a comic. Like Charlie Sheen, [he] did this huge tour and he’s massively famous, and very confident. He didn’t have the experience; you don’t do a tour like that unless you’ve got a good quarter century of stand-up comedy in your back pocket.”

As the title may suggest, Cho’s new show, 'Cho Dependant', draws on both her music and comedy.

“For my show, it’s kind of an introduction. A lot of people in Britain don’t know who I am, so I’m coming here and bringing my ‘best of’ show. It’s also the show I was touring with this last year; it’s a little bit of music and stand-up comedy”.

If the show is anything like her other pursuits, you wont want to miss 'Cho Dependant'. For ticket details and further information, see the Edinburgh Festival website.