–By Julia Dodge

It all began for me with Margaret Cho’s angry Korean mother impression. It just doesn’t get any better than that… or does it? Comedy, acting, fashion, all-around rebel rouser… Cho is now trying something new: a comedy rock album. Out August 24, “Cho Dependent” has the Korean Queen of Comedy on a national tour, (and me going around saying things like “Cho mama” and “Fo’ Cho”) which stops by the Bay Area’s Mountain Winery September 25. And now she’s dancing…“Dancing with the Stars”, that is… is there anything this chick can’t do?

I was lucky enough to have a brief chat with Cho about her tour, her admiration for Weird al Yankovic and, of course, her awesome tattoos. Cho ‘nuff.

So “Cho Dependent” is out today. How does it feel to have your first comedy rock album?

Yeah, thanks. I’m excited about it. It’s really great.

I’m sure you’re used to touring by now, but what’s it like touring with a band and having to maintain a singing voice?

I’m actually not touring with a band. The tour is really about stand up, because I wrote all this material and I’m dying to do it, so, I’m doing a couple of songs for the show and I’m singing to tracks. Sometimes I will have people with me, depending on their schedule, like Grant Lee Phillips will be with me in L.A. and Garrison Starr was with me in Province town this week, and Lee will come again in New York, so I will have musicians with me—I’m just not travelling with a full band. And really I’m only doing a few songs in the show.

Besides the tour, will you be doing any special musical performances based on material from “Cho Dependent”?

I don’t know yet… I’ll have to see. It’s kind of weird because I’m still just promoting the stand-up tour. The music is almost like a stand-alone product in a way. I’ll be releasing another album at the end of this tour, which will be based on the stand-up portion of the show. So yeah, a little bit of music and a lot of stand-up.

Well stand-up is, of course, what you’re famous for, as well as acting and fashion. What inspired you to go for singing?

Well, I’m a big music fan, and I grew up in a very musical family—both my parents are musicians. They’re very much about church—we had church services in our house growing up, and that’s what it was about—singing. So yeah, I’ve been around music my whole life.

I read that you were raised in San Francisco, but you live in L.A., right?

Well, actually, I spend most of my time in Georgia shooting “Drop Dead Diva”, so I’m on the road a lot. I have a home in Los Angeles, so that’s where I would reside if I were there for any length of time.

And what’s this about Weird Al Yankovic?

Yeah, he’s a major inspiring force. I love his music—he’s a tremendous comedian and a great, great musician. I’m very fond of him.

After looking at some photos I noticed you have a pretty awesome tattoo collection. Any recommendations?

Oh, I love Kat Von D, who did my backpiece. I love Chris MacDonald… he did the Japanese snow crane on my thigh. My favorite tattoo artist is Mike Davis, and he’s actually the person who’s tattooing me on the cover of my album… you can see his hands. And Shawn Barber, he’s great. He’s the guy who painted the album cover and he’s also a navy tattooer.

I was just curious: did your career change at all once you started getting tattoos?

I don’t know! Because they’re not readily visible, they didn’t change my acting career or anything. In my acting work I still can’t show ‘em, so I have to be super conscious of where I get them on my body. The (acting) parts I get are fairly conservative parts, so they can’t be visible.

Strange your acting parts would be so conservative. Your stand-up certainly isn’t conservative.

Oh, no, no, no… but the characters I play are still super officey or corporate or cops or doctors… stuff like that.

And back to your singing. So, I’ve seen the video for “Eat Shit and Die”… very theatrical and cabaret-like. Is this your first single?

I don’t know! I guess it would be considered that… I’ve never thought about it that way.

While it’s humorous, the song also addresses some serious bullshit in life. Is that was the album is… a way of venting?

Yeah, it all is. And that’s what stand-up comedy is: finding a reason as to why things happen. “Eat Shit and Die,” although I want it to have a lot of humor, it’s a way to cope with what’s going on. And singing about it brings some sort of catharsis.