Interview: Margaret Cho Talks About New Show
Comic's Last Efforts Were One-Woman Show, Book
Being a fan of Margaret Cho is sort of like being in a secret club. There is no handshake but rather this amazing, instant smile of recognition when you mention her name to a fellow club member. It's that moment where lines from her past stand-up comedy routines float through your head:
She's back this year with a new tour, "The Notorious C.H.O," playing in Las Vegas Oct. 5 at the Hard Rock and across the country (click here for a calendar of dates). I had the pleasure of chatting with Cho (pictured, left) last week about the new tour, her book and, of course, about Vegas.
Rick Garman:How does the "Notorious C.H.O." tour differ from your one-woman show "I'm The One That I Want?"
Margaret Cho: The "Notorious C.H.O" is probably closer to straight stand-up, where the last show was more of a one-person show. ["I'm The One That I Want"] was something that I developed offBroadway and had a story attached to it, where this show is much more freeform. I wrote "Notorious" in comedy clubs and toured with it very briefly and then workshopped it in Scotland and in Provincetown, Mass., this summer, so it has a different origin and a different feeling to it. I think it's a wilder show, closer to what I was doing in the beginning. But there's still an emotional depth to it, and there's still a lot of the messages I like to work with a lot of times -- talking about race, talking about sexism, talking about this kind of internalized violence that we have toward ourselves. That's still a strong element in the show, but it's definitely more about comedy than it is about telling a story.
RG: Did you feel like you needed to go through some of the issues you explored in the last show and in the book in order to get back to this kind of back-to-roots comedy?
MC: I think it's just where I've come as a person and an artist and where I am right now as a comedian.
RG: The book version of "I'm The One That I Want" has a much different tone than the show. It's certainly funny, but it's very serious and honest about things that have happened to you throughout your life. What made you decide to forgo doing the typical comedy book that so many other comedians have done?
MC: I'm not really a fan of a lot of comedians' books, even though I'm a major fan of comedians. I always love them but I never really like what they write about because they're almost like at transcript of what they do onstage, and I felt like I wanted to do something different. I've always wanted to write a book, and this book I worked on for a very long time -- almost two years -- trying to get it exactly right. I wanted to write a book that I would like to read, since I'm such a fan of literature and especially autobiographies. I always really like to hear about how people get to where they are and so that's what I wanted to do myself.
RG: You've talked about running into some resistance in your career. For instance, with your TV show, where people try to shape you into something that you aren't. Was there any resistance from book publishers in not doing a straight-ahead comedy book?
MC: No, no, not at all! I had been so selective with the people that I was working with, as I am now about everything. I was so careful about what I was doing that it wasn't a problem. I was really free to write whatever I wanted.
[I hear her dog, Ralph, who comes to play a major role toward the end of the book version of "I'm the One That I Want" barking in the background]
RG: How's Ralph?
MC: He's fine. He's got some business to attend to outside.
RG: There's an especially moving part of the book where you describe yourself as "a perpetrator of hate crimes against myself" and then you encourage readers with similar habits to take part in a pact with you not to do that anymore. How's that going on your end?
MC: It's going good. I mean it's going really well. I feel like in a sense that was like a contract that I was writing with myself that I would be able to adhere to. And I think I have. I've grown a lot even since the book was written and have tried to stay on my own side no matter what.
RG: You had a show in Los Angeles four days after the terrorist attacks on the U.S. What was it like going back to doing comedy?
MC: It was really incredible. It gave me an opportunity to recreate the show as a benefit for firefighters' families, which was really great to be able to take this existing thing and use it to benefit others so desperately in need.
RG: Were you worried about going back?
MC: I was really concerned about it. I didn't know how it was going to go. We had a lot of discussions -- myself and the people that are producing -- about whether we would postpone or cancel or what we were going to do, and we ended up going on with it, mostly because I understood that people really needed a way to carry on with their normal lives. They really needed a way to move on and not to forget about what happened -- of course you can't -- but to try to get back to the way things were as much as we could. To do the show was really an amazing experience and really thrilling because I felt like I was doing a service, in a sense. I allowed people to get away from their television sets for a little while and to get back to a sense of normalcy. It was a really great feeling to be able to do that.
RG: Of course this is a column about Las Vegas, so let me ask you some silly questions about the city. Do you have any Vegas favorites?
MC: I don't spend too much in Vegas so I don't really know very much about the city. The last time I was there was last year's performance of "I'm The One That I Want" at the Hard Rock, and I never left that complex. There were lots of things there that I really enjoyed like "Nobu" [Japanese cuisine] and the casino because it's so rocking.
I think that what I know mostly about Vegas is mostly culled from the film "Showgirls." I don't know if that's really Las Vegas or kind of an apocalyptic vision of Las Vegas. I'm not really sure.
RG: Probably both. So let's say you're going to blow your next book advance in a casino. What game are you playing?
MC: I've never gambled so I'll have to come and do that this time. I never really thought to, which is very strange. I'm quite an addictive personality so that was one addiction I never decided to partake in, and maybe I will.
RG: Las Vegas is famous for it's celebrity impersonator shows. Who would do better at a Margaret Cho impersonation -- a man or a woman?
MC: Oh, I'm sure a man would do a bang up job!
RG: Many entertainers have turned to the stages of Las Vegas to resurrect flagging careers. Not that you'll ever need to, but what would a Margaret Cho Las Vegas extravaganza look like?
MC: I think it would be like a dance review. Something like an Ann-Margret thing where there's dancing and a lot of men carrying me. That's always a big staple in those kind of "aging Diva" shows.
RG: Speaking of Ann-Margret, there are rumors of a remake of "Viva Las Vegas," possibly starring Ricky Martin in the Elvis role. Any interest in the Ann-Margret part?
MC: Fabulous, I would love that!
RG: You're in a convertible on a warm night cruising up The Strip. Who is on the CD?
MC: I have Blondie in my CD player now so I'm going to stick with that.
RG: One last question: Siegfried or Roy?
MC: Siegfried, without a doubt.
Margaret Cho
"The Notorious C.H.O."
Hard Rock Hotel
Friday, October 5, 2001
800-HRD-ROCK
Click here for a listing of nationwide concert dates
-
"I'm just going to have to cover it with leaves and hope somebody falls in."
"My name is Gwen"
"Stick it in!"
She's back this year with a new tour, "The Notorious C.H.O," playing in Las Vegas Oct. 5 at the Hard Rock and across the country (click here for a calendar of dates). I had the pleasure of chatting with Cho (pictured, left) last week about the new tour, her book and, of course, about Vegas.
Rick Garman:How does the "Notorious C.H.O." tour differ from your one-woman show "I'm The One That I Want?"
Margaret Cho: The "Notorious C.H.O" is probably closer to straight stand-up, where the last show was more of a one-person show. ["I'm The One That I Want"] was something that I developed offBroadway and had a story attached to it, where this show is much more freeform. I wrote "Notorious" in comedy clubs and toured with it very briefly and then workshopped it in Scotland and in Provincetown, Mass., this summer, so it has a different origin and a different feeling to it. I think it's a wilder show, closer to what I was doing in the beginning. But there's still an emotional depth to it, and there's still a lot of the messages I like to work with a lot of times -- talking about race, talking about sexism, talking about this kind of internalized violence that we have toward ourselves. That's still a strong element in the show, but it's definitely more about comedy than it is about telling a story.
RG: Did you feel like you needed to go through some of the issues you explored in the last show and in the book in order to get back to this kind of back-to-roots comedy?
MC: I think it's just where I've come as a person and an artist and where I am right now as a comedian.
RG: The book version of "I'm The One That I Want" has a much different tone than the show. It's certainly funny, but it's very serious and honest about things that have happened to you throughout your life. What made you decide to forgo doing the typical comedy book that so many other comedians have done?
MC: I'm not really a fan of a lot of comedians' books, even though I'm a major fan of comedians. I always love them but I never really like what they write about because they're almost like at transcript of what they do onstage, and I felt like I wanted to do something different. I've always wanted to write a book, and this book I worked on for a very long time -- almost two years -- trying to get it exactly right. I wanted to write a book that I would like to read, since I'm such a fan of literature and especially autobiographies. I always really like to hear about how people get to where they are and so that's what I wanted to do myself.
RG: You've talked about running into some resistance in your career. For instance, with your TV show, where people try to shape you into something that you aren't. Was there any resistance from book publishers in not doing a straight-ahead comedy book?
MC: No, no, not at all! I had been so selective with the people that I was working with, as I am now about everything. I was so careful about what I was doing that it wasn't a problem. I was really free to write whatever I wanted.
[I hear her dog, Ralph, who comes to play a major role toward the end of the book version of "I'm the One That I Want" barking in the background]
RG: How's Ralph?
MC: He's fine. He's got some business to attend to outside.
RG: There's an especially moving part of the book where you describe yourself as "a perpetrator of hate crimes against myself" and then you encourage readers with similar habits to take part in a pact with you not to do that anymore. How's that going on your end?
MC: It's going good. I mean it's going really well. I feel like in a sense that was like a contract that I was writing with myself that I would be able to adhere to. And I think I have. I've grown a lot even since the book was written and have tried to stay on my own side no matter what.
RG: You had a show in Los Angeles four days after the terrorist attacks on the U.S. What was it like going back to doing comedy?
MC: It was really incredible. It gave me an opportunity to recreate the show as a benefit for firefighters' families, which was really great to be able to take this existing thing and use it to benefit others so desperately in need.
RG: Were you worried about going back?
MC: I was really concerned about it. I didn't know how it was going to go. We had a lot of discussions -- myself and the people that are producing -- about whether we would postpone or cancel or what we were going to do, and we ended up going on with it, mostly because I understood that people really needed a way to carry on with their normal lives. They really needed a way to move on and not to forget about what happened -- of course you can't -- but to try to get back to the way things were as much as we could. To do the show was really an amazing experience and really thrilling because I felt like I was doing a service, in a sense. I allowed people to get away from their television sets for a little while and to get back to a sense of normalcy. It was a really great feeling to be able to do that.
RG: Of course this is a column about Las Vegas, so let me ask you some silly questions about the city. Do you have any Vegas favorites?
MC: I don't spend too much in Vegas so I don't really know very much about the city. The last time I was there was last year's performance of "I'm The One That I Want" at the Hard Rock, and I never left that complex. There were lots of things there that I really enjoyed like "Nobu" [Japanese cuisine] and the casino because it's so rocking.
I think that what I know mostly about Vegas is mostly culled from the film "Showgirls." I don't know if that's really Las Vegas or kind of an apocalyptic vision of Las Vegas. I'm not really sure.
RG: Probably both. So let's say you're going to blow your next book advance in a casino. What game are you playing?
MC: I've never gambled so I'll have to come and do that this time. I never really thought to, which is very strange. I'm quite an addictive personality so that was one addiction I never decided to partake in, and maybe I will.
RG: Las Vegas is famous for it's celebrity impersonator shows. Who would do better at a Margaret Cho impersonation -- a man or a woman?
MC: Oh, I'm sure a man would do a bang up job!
RG: Many entertainers have turned to the stages of Las Vegas to resurrect flagging careers. Not that you'll ever need to, but what would a Margaret Cho Las Vegas extravaganza look like?
MC: I think it would be like a dance review. Something like an Ann-Margret thing where there's dancing and a lot of men carrying me. That's always a big staple in those kind of "aging Diva" shows.
RG: Speaking of Ann-Margret, there are rumors of a remake of "Viva Las Vegas," possibly starring Ricky Martin in the Elvis role. Any interest in the Ann-Margret part?
MC: Fabulous, I would love that!
RG: You're in a convertible on a warm night cruising up The Strip. Who is on the CD?
MC: I have Blondie in my CD player now so I'm going to stick with that.
RG: One last question: Siegfried or Roy?
MC: Siegfried, without a doubt.
Margaret Cho"The Notorious C.H.O."
Hard Rock Hotel
Friday, October 5, 2001
800-HRD-ROCK
Click here for a listing of nationwide concert dates
This Week's Trivia Question
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In Next Week's Column
In the News: The latest news and reviews from Las Vegas. In the Showrooms: BB King, "Cats," Hall and Oates, and more. Plus, don't forget to send me your questions about Las Vegas. I've got room for more, so send them in today! Click here to go to the Vegas4Visitors.com to see all of the fantastic resources for planning your next trip to Las Vegas.Rick Garman is the head writer for Vegas4Visitors
