ONE CRITICISM of Michael Moore, Janeane Garofalo and other entertainers who came out against George Bush during the last election, was that their effectiveness was minimized by the fact that they preached to the choir; that is, only like-minded fans were apt to buy tickets to their shows.

One exception: Margaret Cho, who was accidentally booked at a Republican event in San Diego last fall.

Yes, a 'bi' Korean-American gay activist standup comic goes G.O.P. A non-fan of the President, she's been known to go from fairly clean (her version of Dubya's 10 Commandments: "Thou shalt not steal ... votes. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's ... country. Thou shalt not kill ... for oil.") to raunchy (a literally below-the-belt bit about Laura Bush smelling like Lysol).

"It was a convention of hoteliers at the Omni in San Diego," she says. "And it really was a conservative event in disguise -- the organizer was one of Bush's best friends. Let's say it was not a well-researched event by the bookers, and I had no idea. It was a happy accident for me. The audience seemed to find me funny -- though they didn't agree with what I was saying. But I wasn't allowed to continue because they shut the sound system down.

"They tried to usher me off the stage, but I wouldn't go. Then they had the band launch into Sweet Home Alabama to somehow re-patriotize the room. And I was offended because I'm a Skynyrd fan. I told Lynyrd Skynyrd about it and they sent a lot of Skynyrd products to assuage my anger," she says with a laugh. "And then I wasn't paid, which is the biggest crime of all."

A target of right-wing Internet muckraker Matt Drudge, and of any number of "bloggers" who've rallied their followers to pepper her with hate mail, Cho has posted more than 35 pages of same (interestingly, all from men) on her website -- a perverse choice for a woman who's riffed as much on her own sex life, confusion and neuroses as about other people. Her Assassin tour is so named, she says, "because it's partly about character-assassination, but I go down in flames as much as anybody," she says, "I'm better at (assassinating me) than anybody else is."

Of the hate mail, she says "they're all funny and they're all scary too -- death threats to personal attacks to racial slurs. It's impressive how racist Americans are and how very, very close to the surface it always is."

Unlike many celebrities who swore they'd leave the U.S. following a Bush win, Cho actually did -- spending a month touring England, which is where she was on election day.

"I did a tour of swing states just before, and I voted absentee and then left," Cho says. Why is it, I ask, that entertainers from the Dixie Chicks to Green Day use British stages to cut loose on the President?

"It's just a very welcoming place to be. It's nice to be congratulated for your views instead of the alternative. Americans ... don't have an objective view of ourselves in the media. You have to go to another country."

Since her sitcom All-American Girl, Cho has been little-seen onscreen except for the theatrical releases of her stage shows (I'm The One That I Want, The Notorious C.H.O.), although that's about to change. Just wrapped: Bam Bam & Celeste, an odd-couple film about two friends Cho wrote, produced and stars in.

"It's a semi-autobiographical thing about these two kids who are very confused sexually. Well one of them's not. One's gay and the other one's not sure. I'm the one that's not sure.

"It's a fag-and-faghag story, a fag and hag Dumb And Dumber," she says. "It's a crass comedy for smart people."

"It's been tough, but a great experience. I hope to bring it to the Toronto Film Festival actually, when the time comes."