Margaret Cho (Notorious
C.H.O., CHO Revolution, Margaret
Cho: Assassin, Out There in Hollywood) is a comedian who can be
shockingly raunchy and abrasive in one segment and tell a very sensitive story
in the next. Captured in this concert film, Margaret played her hometown of San
Francisco in 1999. Jokingly describing herself as heterophobic, she starts
by announcing her fag hag status and moves on to her straight dating experiences,
how much of a lesbian Jo from "Facts of Life" was, and working
on an Olivia Cruise, where she slept with one of the passengers. "I went
through this whole thing. Am I gay? Am I straight? And I realized, I'm just slutty!" At
her funniest, Cho makes fun of her mother, imitating her Korean accent and her
answering machine messages. It's laugh out loud hilarious! At her most touching,
Cho discusses her sitcom "All American Girl," featuring the first Asian-American
family on US television. The producers told her that she was overweight, leading
her to end up in the hospital from weight loss efforts, and at first not Asian
enough, and then too Asian. The experience led to a lot of personal pain and the
fight for acceptance, until she finally realized, "I'm not going to die because
I failed as someone else. I'm going to succeed as myself." Her discussions
of everyday racism, homophobia and a cultural obsession with being thin really
resonate and make her one of the most powerful and funny comedians today. This
is my favorite of her concert films. |