Margaret Cho

Margaret Cho was born Dec. 5, 1968 and raised in San Francisco. “It was different than any other place on Earth,” she says. “I grew up and went to grammar school on Haight Street during the ’70s. There were old hippies, ex-druggies, burnouts from the ’60s, drag queens, and Chinese people. To say it was a melting pot – that’s the least of it. It was a really confusing, enlightening, wonderful time.” Her grandfather was a Methodist minister who ran an orphanage in Seoul during the Korean War. Ignoring the traditions of her patriarchal culture, her mother bravely resisted an arranged marriage in Korea and married

Margaret’s father who writes joke books – in Korean. “Books like 1001 Jokes for Public Speakers – real corny stuff,” Cho says. “I guess we’re in the same line of work. But we don’t understand each other that way. I don’t know why the things he says are funny and the same for him.” Cho started performing stand-up at age 16 in a comedy club called The Rose & Thistle above a bookstore her parents ran. Soon after, she won a comedy contest where first prize was opening for Jerry Seinfeld. She moved to Los Angeles in the early ’90s and lived in a house with several other young performers. I moved out because I wasn’t the most famous. If the Manson Family had come, I wouldn’t have been Sharon Tate; I would have been one of the supporting victims, and who wants that? Janeane Garofalo moved into my old room. Anyway, ‘Cho’ written in blood on the wall doesn’t look as cool as ‘Garofalo.’ Still in her early twenties, Margaret hit the college circuit, where she immediately became the most booked act in the market and garnered a nomination for Campus Comedian of The Year. She performed over 300 concerts within 2 years and subsequently won the American Comedy Award for Female Comedian in 1994. Arsenio Hall introduced her to late night audiences, Bob Hope put her on a prime time special and, seemingly overnight, Margaret Cho became a national celebrity.

Her ground-breaking and controversial, yet short-lived ABC sitcom, All-American Girl, soon followed. Says Cho: There were just so many people involved in that show, and so much importance put on the fact that it was an ethnic show. It’s hard to pin down what “ethnic” is without appearing to be racist. And then, for fear of being too “ethnic,” it got so watered down for television that by the end, it was completely lacking in the essence of what I am and what I do. I learned a lot, though. It was a good experience as far as finding myself, knowing who I was and what direction I wanted to take with my comedy. Indeed, after the show was canceled, Margaret appeared in some films and continued performing to sold-out audiences across the country in comedy clubs, theaters, and on college campuses. Of her dozen or so films, John Woo’s Face/Off with Nicolas Cage, and Rugrats, where she was the voice of the detective, were probably the most widely distributed. In 1999, Margaret’s hugely successful Off-Broadway show, I’m The One That I Want toured the country and was made into a movie. The show and tour set records and garnered incredible reviews and won New York Magazine’s Performance of the year award, a MAC award, and was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s great performances of the Year.

The concert was filmed at The Warfield in her home town of San Francisco and was released in August, 2000. Called “the indie success of the year” by Liz Manne of the Sundance Channel, this self-produced and self-distributed phenomenal film made more money per print than any movie in history. It grossed $1,300,000 with only 9 prints! It too has gotten tremendous reviews (more info on the movie here). Also in the year 2000: Margaret received GLAAD’s first-ever Golden Gate Award – honoring her as “an entertainment pioneer who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.” Also honored that year were: Elizabeth Taylor and Elton John; Her E! Celebrity Profile, produced by Tammie Smalls, won a Gracie Allen Award from the American Women in Radio and Television organization acknowledging its “superior quality and effective portrayal of the changing roles and concerns of women;” She was featured on Kweisi Mfume’s show Remarkable Journey which highlights the accomplishments of people of color. The others on the show were Dolores Huerta, Cornel West, and Hank Aaron; And, she appeared on Sesame Street with Big Bird! (Many pictures here) 2001 has been a busy year. Some highlights include: Being awarded a Lambda Liberty Award by the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund “pressing us to see how false constructions of race, sexuality, and gender operate similarly to obscure and demean identity.” Lambda is the nation’s oldest and largest legal organization working for the civil rights of lesbians, gay men and people with HIV/AIDS. Seeing her book, I’m The One That I Want” hit many Bestseller lists and watching the concert film come out on video/DVD and be shown on Sundance Channel. Contributing her visual essays for the PBS show Life 360. Touring with her show, The Notorious C.H.O., which ended Jan. 16th 2002 with a sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall. and filming it in Seattle for her next film. The Notorious C.H.O. at Carnegie Hall will be released on CD on June 18, 2002 through Nettwerk America.

The movie of the show, which was filmed in Seattle, hits theatres this summer. Her book, I’m The One That I Want, is out in paperback with a big “NATIONAL BESTSELLER” on the cover! In February of 2002, she was honored with a Media Award from the National Organization For Women. She plans on writing another book, another show and is looking for more feature projects and the possibility of an animated television series. I really love the way my life is going right now. I love touring and writing. There’s a great lack of different faces out there. I think part of my journey has to be illustrating my experience, showing what you can do. I feel like I’ve gotten to a great place in my life. I just want to do it for a long time … at least until the next Korean-American fag-hag, s**t-starter, girl comic, trash talker, comes up and takes my place.