From the editor and writers of Bright Lights Film Journal
Action! Interviews with Directors from Classical Hollywood to Contemporary Iran
(Anthem Art and Culture), by Gary Morris (Editor), Bert Cardullo (Introduction), Jonathan Rosenbaum (Foreword). London and New York: Anthem Press, 2009.
(Anthem Art and Culture), by Gary Morris (Editor), Bert Cardullo (Introduction), Jonathan Rosenbaum (Foreword). London and New York: Anthem Press, 2009.
"I dare anyone to squeeze between
two covers a more varied, useful and
flat out entertaining sampling of
the personalities that make the
seventh art the liveliest."
— David Hudson, IFC.com
— David Hudson, IFC.com
"Redefine What It Means to You"
Talking with Margaret Cho
The "All American Girl" on her new movie, her influences, and the joy of high colonics
As the quote implies, Margaret Cho is no
stranger to redefinition, mostly because she's been crossing racial,
cultural, and sexual boundaries since she grew up in alternative community-friendly San Francisco.
"There were old hippies, ex-druggies, burnouts from the '60s, drag
queens, and Chinese people," she says on her thorough website,
margaretcho.net. "To say it was a melting pot — that's the
least of it." After catching fire on the college and talk show
circuit, Cho hit the big time and landed on
prime-time television with her groundbreaking sitcom, All-American
Girl.
But then TV hit her back, hard. After the ABC network
did everything from harassing her into a weight-loss crisis to questioning
her cultural identity — like hiring Asian "experts" to
make sure that the necessarily ubiquitous chopsticks were continually
visible — Cho got even and confessional
with her seminal, unforgettable film, I'm
the One That I Want. A landmark standup on par with Richard Pryor's
Live on the Sunset Strip or Eddie Murphy's Delirious, Cho's homecoming in front of
her adoring Bay Area fans dug up the diamond that network television
had tried to bury under its watch, and a star was reborn.
Now she's back again with another hard-hitting live
performance film and compact disc, The
Notorious C.H.O., a sexual gangsta looking
to bust a cap in whatever erotic/bodily convention mainstream America
is still trying to hold onto these days. And although it may not be
coming to every theater near you — it isn't for the kids —
it's worth checking out if only to hear Cho
rant about the beauty industry, the importance of one's colon, and her
own carnal adventures.
Scott Thill: Let's start
with your new film's most interesting topic. What's your take on colonic
hydrotherapy?
Margaret
Cho: It's wonderful.
It's the equivalent of 20 to 30 bowel movements.
Oh my god.
Isn't
that incredible? They just get it all out. I love it! Every year, I
go away to this place in San Diego called the Optimum Health
Institute. It's my spa that I go to.
Is there a certain invasion of privacy effect there?
No, because
everyone is doing them. It's not a big deal. It's wonderful.
Where did you shoot the film?
I
shot the film in Seattle and it's
just one show. I premiered I'm
the One That I Want there and I really love that city. It's
a great place for me to perform and I wanted to do it in someplace other
than San Francisco. It all turned out very
well.
Is the audience as enthusiastic as your hometown San Francisco audience?
Oh yeah,
absolutely. It's great.
Some reviewers during the Notorious C.H.O. tour felt
that it was a more conventional standup than I'm the One that I Want, and
a lot dirtier.
Well,
I don't think so, but it just goes more into that area. It hits sexual themes
harder because it's where I was at the time. But I don't really think it's
dirtier.
The fact that you get up there and speak with such honesty
about somewhat personal things that go on in your life is incredible to
watch. How do you just, er, let it all out?
Well,
thank you. To me, it's more important to tell a good story, to have it be
compelling and have it be truthful than to be embarrassed. I'm not really
embarrassed easily, so I don't really think of things in terms of being
too personal or too embarrassing to share. I would just rather be entertaining
and have fun and be honest. I think it makes for a better show. It makes
for a better story. It certainly doesn't faze me at all.
Have any comedians said, "You're really
putting yourself out there, whereas we just get up, tell jokes, and
rip on other people?"
Well,
I don't know. I know that when Jerry Seinfeld came to see I'm the One That I Want, he was so moved and told me that I was just
as good as Richard Pryor in his prime. Which is like the best compliment
anybody can give to a comedian, I think. And so that's really great. I feel
really inspired by that. I don't know. I mean, I think all comedians have
a different appeal and a different way of working and mine happens to be
in this confessional style. I don't think I could work in any other way,
except but to be truthful and do what I like to do.
I'm seeing a lot of those referrals to Richard Pryor
and George Carlin when I read reviews of your work. Are you aiming for that
kind of comedy, or is it just a happy accident that everybody keeps throwing
you in there?
Well,
I like it, but it just seems to be happening. I don't consciously go out
and think, "Oh, I'm going to do this like that." I am a big fan of both
of those guys. I also love Sandra Bernhard a lot. I love Roseanne. I love
Rosie O'Donnell. There's a lot of people that I'm a fan of, that I think
influence what I do.
How has what you went through with TV influenced the
way you approach your confessional style of comedy, if at all? And have
any offers to return to TV come through?
Yeah,
there have been a lot of offers to do different shows. It's just nothing
is really appealing to me. Like nothing looks good, or nothing looks good
enough to want to take on all that work. I don't know how much of that particular
experience affected my style. I think it's more that I've just come to it.
It's taken a long time to develop into what I do now.
Is there a dream offer that could entice you back to TV?
Well,
if I did a show, I would have to have complete control of everything
in it. And that's all I really think about in terms of what would
be the best situation.
Right
now, we're in a strange political era where mainstream America
is having a hard time looking at itself from an outsider's point
of view. As someone who grew up Korean-American surrounded by alternative
communities in San Francisco, how would you describe the mainstream
attitude towards outsiders these days? Do you think it's getting
better or worse?
I
don't know. I think that there's been a lot of difficulty in defining what
is American, what is considered American. There's a lot of difficulty with
acceptance within our community of foreignness at this time, just because
it's an incredibly strange and difficult period. Especially
for Arab-Americans, especially for Muslim-Americans. It's an incredibly
difficult time. So I don't know. I think that there's a need for compassion,
a need for redefinition of what we perceive as American. There are all of
these people that are absolutely American that are not thought of that way
because of what happened on September 11. I don't know, because it's just
such a difficult racial question and it's such a difficult time.
The sense is that, during wartime, usually there's
a tendency to unify, but that unity usually has the same colored face,
the same kind of attitudes. Whereas, the rest of what America basically is gets thrown out the window until wartime's over.
Right,
and that's unfortunate. Because now is when we need the expansion of that
unity more than ever.
Comedy and sort of breaking conventions seems to be
in your blood. Your mom opposed an arranged marriage and your dad writes
joke books. But they don't understand your comedy and you don't
understand their comedy.
No,
I mean, I think I'm probably friendlier with my family than I have been
in my life and mostly that has to do with being an adult and being old enough
to understand them. But they've never really understood what I do and they've
never really gotten in my way, which is great. And so, I think they like
that I'm happy and that's enough for them.
Have they warmed to your comedy more as time goes on
or are they still just blushing over it?
Well,
of course they're like so in love with my success and that's really enough
for now.
Have you ever thought of maybe you and your dad writing
a joke book together?
No. I
don't think that's going to be happening.
Not a chance in hell, huh?
No,
I mean, it's just a different perspective. It's not like he does that. It's
actually more that he's an archivist. It's not really that he likes jokes.
It's more that he's a historian of them. And it's in the Korean language,
which is a different. Comedy is so culturally specific, so it would be perceived
differently if it was translated. It wouldn't be the same.
What kind of advice would you give to people of color
who are trapped between cultures, who are trying to find a balance between
satisfying the desires of their native one while exploring the new one?
I
don't think you can really do both without redefining what all of it means
to you. In a way, you just have to take what you like from both and then
push forward with your own identity. There's no real way to completely please
all of the demands that Asian culture has, and then incorporate what your
new American ideals are. It's very schizophrenic to try and do both. So
you have to take what you like from both and not worry too much about being
judged by one or the other. It's a very difficult situation to be in for
a lot of people.
How many people after an average show come up to you
and say thanks for telling this story?
Oh, a
lot of people. I mean, I have a lot of really great people that are moved
by my work, and in a lot of ways that have less to do with comedy and more
to do with their voice being expressed. There's a lot of gratitude
there and that's great.
