CHO
FUN - Our Favorite Noodle
Is Margaret Cho a queer girl? If you’ve
seen her in concert, either on DVD in I’m the
One That I Want or on tour with her more recent effort,
The Notorious C.H.O. you know already know the answer.
And we’re not talking about her account of being
fisted by a lesbian dwarf, either. Then again, that
is pretty different. But besides talking about her sexual
misadventures with men and women, her gay porn-reading
mother and “gay daddy,” and her real upbringing
by Polk Street drag queens, Margaret’s always
been that other girl. The strange one. The queer one.
As much as she’s always had a great gay following—
thanks to doing stand-up in her native San Francisco
before ever hitting the road and cable boxes—
she’s been made a patron saint of really anyone
who is a bit different. And she’s more of a survivor
than Gloria Gaynor, Destiny’s Child and Lifetime
Television could ever imagine. She’s a big girl
who’s through with being forced into crazy weight
loss. She’s purged her drug-bingeing behavior
out of her life. She’s a highly successful woman
in the male-dominated world of stand-up comedy. She’s
a household name in America with an Asian face. And
that face. She’s not selling issues of Vogue,
but she’s been scowling (and smiling) on the covers
of all the magazines the rest of us like to pick up.
And Noodle’s lucky to have her gracing the face
of our premiere outing.
Noodle Magazine and Margaret Cho are both San Francisco
natives, but she’s made herself a home in Southern
California. We made a road trip to Los Angeles and played
groupie with our favorite queer fag hag.
Noodle: We all miss you in the San Francisco Bay Area.
When are you going to move back to Northern California?
Margaret: You know, I loved it there, but I'm so much
like a Southern Californian now. I've been here for
a very long time, so this is where I'm laying down roots.
I just moved to Glendale—just moved into this
house two weeks ago and there's all this chaos going
on.
What’s your new home like?
It's the Portola Palace. I tried to recreate Lhasa of
Tibet…a Tibetan monastery…but in Glendale.
It's hard because Tibetan antiques are so hard to find
and expensive! So it's a combination of Hindu, Tibetan,
Indonesian, Chinese, and lots of Karma Sutra stuff…
lots of statues, lots of Buddhas. It's very serene and
crazy.
Does that mean you meditate?
No, but I buy all the stuff. So that means I do.
All of that in the middle of Glendale. Do you miss San
Francisco?
Yeah, I do. It's changed lots since I've lived there.
It used to be very bohemian. Polyamorous and crazy and
political. Now it's got this sense of conservatism.
It's much more city-like, like Washington DC or something
because of all the computer industry and dot-com stuff.
It's really strange how it’s changed, but I still
love it.
Well, Polk Street, where you grew up, has changed a
lot along with the city. It’s not quite as famous
as the Castro district now, but it’s still known
as a queer hot spot, especially for transgender folks.
How was it growing up on Polk?
It was great. I love that I grew up around this gay
culture that was so sex-positive and so wild and flamboyant
and really very chic. Seeing films from the 70s like
La Cage Aux Folles reminds me of my upbringing. The
characters in those films are so much like people from
my childhood. Like Mr. Roger's Neighborhood but completely
gay— complete with drag queens and all. It was
a good place to grow up because it made the crazier
stuff seem really normal, all of which occupies an important
place in my heart. When I go to gay pride parades all
across the country, all around the world, I notice that
a lot of the older guys are bringing back that flaming,
feather-boa culture. I get so emotional about it. I'm
touched by it in a really deep place. That's what growing
up there gave me, this sense of loving the hyper-gay—way
gay. Gay men were much gayer when I was growing up than
they are now. The gay guys today, they're like, straight
compared to the way that they were then—so nelly.
So what do you think has changed now?
The gay culture has become so meshed with pop culture,
it's become an accepted way of living—a good way
of living. Not necessarily for people of color, really,
but for white gay men, it's great. They're having a
really good time out there, just like straight people.
There really has been more visibility of gay men
in the “straight” media, though they are
predominantly of white men. In the gay media, it’s
the same, though perhaps more body-conscious.
Well, it's oppression that women are very familiar with.
It's the notion that there is one ideal that we must
adhere to and it’s especially oppressive if you
are not a white male. I think for gay Asians, it's doubly
worse. It’s one thing not having the visibility
in the gay community, but it’s worse when you
have the same fight within our own inherent culture.
In Korean communities, there's this denial of the existence
of homosexuality. I know that my Korean friends, when
they come out of the closet, have a really hard time
because their parents just won't accept it. They're
like, “gays don't exist, they just don't.”
It seems like this attitude occurs across the board
in Asian cultures. It’s a double-edged sword.
They come out and find they have to deal with non-acceptance
from their family, but non-acceptance in the gay community
as well.
There is acceptance for Asian males in the gay community
on a certain level. Like when they’re in Passport
or OG magazines—that sort of sexualized image.
The accepted image of gay Asian males is so oppressive.
Your only choices are to be either invisible or a sexualized
object. I think it's fun to play with sexual stereotypes
but it's not good for a way of life. I feel sorry for
people having to deal with that because I know I had
to deal with it in my own way. I remember a place that
I went to on Polk Street. I remember being a bar for
Asian men and their admirers. There would always be
beautiful young boys from Laos and Thailand that just
got to the US and then these really gross, older men.
It was just this nasty scene.
It’s pretty well known at this point that
you went through a phase where you were really taking
drugs. It’s a big thing in the gay Asian community
right now, and we’re wondering how your experience
might relate.
There’s a stereotype of Asians that we don't do
drugs. It's weird how stereotypes can influence your
life. I always thought that I could never go that far.
I can't overdose—I'm Korean! I always thought
that I would somehow be saved by this stereotyped notion
of what I'm supposed to be, like, because I'm an Asian
American, I have this inherently responsible nature
that would exempt me from overdosing, becoming an addict,
all of that. In rehab, there were hardly any Asians
anywhere. If by chance I came across one or two, they
told me that they always thought because they’re
Asian, they would never have a problem. That's a dangerous
thing. Stereotypes can make us feel invincible in some
ways and in other ways close us off. We have opportunities
closed off for us because of what we think of ourselves.
Like an opportunity to get into drugs? Why did you go
there?
It's a weird cultural question. I think drug use is
about looking for a way to be in the world. That's something
that gay Asian males are constantly striving for—looking
for an identity. When you're on drugs, it's so easy
to find a place to settle because you're relaxed into
it. I wish there was more of an awareness of the dangers
of drug use.
You always seem pretty open to talk about these
issues.
It's important because Asian Americans are ignored when
it comes to things like drug education and AIDS awareness.
We’re really ignored by the organizations that
are supposed to keep us sane and straight. You know
they pay a lot of attention to other minority communities
that have those problems, but we're overlooked because
of the stereotypes around us.
Let’s shift gears and talk about your show, The
Notorious C.H.O. Some of us at Noodle saw your show
in Cupertino, in the Bay Area, and we couldn’t
help but notice the diversity of the crowd. There were
leather men, lesbians, visibly “straight”
couples, and all sorts of people. Is your audience usually
this diverse wherever you go?
Yeah, it's always different people. Really diverse.
Is it a Bay Area phenomenon?
What's great about my shows are that they create a Bay
Area phenomenon in every city in the world that I perform
in. It's great.
Some have criticized in the past that your stand-up
seemed to constantly rehash old material. What is the
difference between Notorious C.H.O. and I’m The
One That I Want?
I think it's a progression. I just needed different
material, different work. So it's just a progression
of what I was doing then and what I'm doing now. It’s
different in content, different in structure.
Which is easier material source, being drunk or
being Korean?
Being drunk is not good material source because you
don't remember anything and it's, like, messy. And not
funny all the time. So being Korean is a better source,
for sure.
In Notorious, you seem to always rag on your bad lays.
How about talking about your good ones?
Bad lays? Oh, I get some really good lays. I mean it's
like daily—really good. I only mention the bad
ones because you just don't mention the good ones. It's
very Korean, you know. If you mention the good things,
it's almost like you're showing too much pride. So you
kind of downplay the good and complain about the bad.
I guess that’s not just Korean. All Asian people
do that.
Are you a femme top or a butch bottom?
Oh, I'm a femme top! That should be obvious! How could
anybody even ask that?
With all your fame, can you walk down the street
without being harassed?
Oh, absolutely! In LA, people don't really care. It's
not a problem.
How about in a gay bar? Do people just stop and
stare?
Yeah, but nobody believes it’s me. They think
"Oooo, that girl thinks she’s Margaret Cho!
Look at her!" (Hand motions) "Don't even!"
Guys have really been bitchy to me at bars. I'm like,
"I am Margaret Cho!" and they're like, (neck
pivoting) "Oh, no you ain’t!”
Your DVD for I'm the One That I Want is out, and, of
course, your best-selling book of the same title is
going to be coming out in paperback. The CD and DVD
of your Carnegie Hall performance of The Notorious C.H.O.
is on the way. Does this make up for the shit you went
through with your short-lived sitcom, All American Girl?
Yeah! But I think that failure is just as important
as success. In a way, failure is a kind of success if
you can look at it in the right way, if you can accept
it and enjoy it in the right way.
Ming-Na [ER, Mulan, The Joy Luck Club] is working
on a sit-com pilot now with Asian American characters.
What advice would you give her and the show?
I would tell her to just have fun! And make it funny.
Do what you would do with any show. That's what I didn't
do. I paid too much attention to what it meant politically
and all this stuff that really didn't matter.
Would you want to be part of something like that?
Yeah, maybe. I would love to be a guest star—an
Auntie Mae of the show. But I'm not sure if I would
be part of something like that these days. I'm so into
doing my own work and doing my own shows and writing
books. I’m living the kind of life I like.
You’re a household name in comedy now. Would you
ever want to host the Oscars?
Yes, I would love to do that. I love it when Whoopi
Goldberg does it, and I think I would be very good.
How about being nominated? You’re now a bona fide
movie star with all kinds of critical acclaim for I’m
the One That I Want. Out of all the 5 films nominated
for Oscars this past year, which would you have wanted
to be in?
Lord of the Rings. I’d play Frodo, the Hobbit.
I want to see myself that short.
The notorious F.R.O.D.O. huh? People know you as
being raw, but what’s the softer side of Margaret?
Do you like kittens?
I like dogs. I'm allergic to cats. I love them, though.
I'm a big animal lover.
What kind of dogs do you have?
I have two, a German shepherd mix called Ralph, he’s
my big baby. You know, I raised him from being a tiny
baby. He's almost 5 years old now. And I just got another
dog yesterday, Bronwyn Cho. She’s such a good
girl! She's a little dog I rescued and I don’t
know what she is. Somebody found her in their yard or
something, and then dropped her off downtown and I took
her in. So now I have two babies. That's my soft side.
I read that you have a boyfriend. Do I hear wedding
bells?
I don't know. He took my dog to the vet today, so he's
is in the black. He's doing well. But I don't know.
So what's next for you?
I'm writing a new show and I'm promoting the film of
The Notorious C.H.O. that comes out July 4th in theaters.
When do you start your next show?
I think probably in about a year. I don't know what
it is yet.
Come on, give us a hint.
I think it's all racial, it's all Asian. The last show
was very driven in this kind of spiritual happiness,
but this one is just kind of looking toward a racial
idea. I think that's what it is... I don't know.
Well, we’re definitely looking forward to
it, and we’ll be checking out the film this summer.
Thanks for talking with us. Have any final thoughts?
Yeah—READ NOODLE MAGAZINE!
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