Interview with Margaret Cho

of NOTORIOUS C.H.O.

Nikko Hotel-

 San Francisco, CA June 13, 2002

How much does pain and other emotions influence your humor? Has humor become a defense mechanism for you?

It really works. Humor has been a really important force in my life; and I use it to deflect everything. So when I'm laughing about something, it's usually about something bad- something bad has happened and I need to laugh about in order to feel better. I'm a very emotional person. Fortunately, I have humor to take the edge off. It's very difficult to live in the world, if you're a sensitive person. So I have a sense of humor and it helps me to deal with everything and fortunately I can use it as a tool in my writing and use it as a tool in my life. It serves me well.
 

How hard is it for you to go on stage and rebel against gender and racial stereotypes?

It's not hard. It's easy. I just- I'm kind of a natural born rebel anyways, so I really don't think about it. It's part of my nature. And I don't really think about the social aspects of what would it take need to get onstage. It's just a very natural thing for me to do. I feel uncomfortable in my everyday life but very comfortable on stage. ... For me I'm really slipping into a role. I'm telling the truth about my life, expanding on all the truth and honesty, but it's like I'm a character, because I'm not like that in my daily interactions with people.

Was there a definitive point in your life that made you decide that you just were not going to put up with people's crap?

I think it was always just feeling awkward as a kid and dealing with the hostility of the other kids; and never really feeling like I fit in. And then at certain point, I just didn't care anymore; like it didn't matter. And I just sort of grew into the adult that I would become.

Do you feel like you have had some good mentors?

People like Jerry Seinfeld. He was very influential in the beginning. He has come to seem my shows and he is so supportive. He has said the most amazing things to me and he is really there for me. To see that level of success and for him to be so supportive, is just really phenomenal. So I really look up to him a lot. But they're people that I learn from just by example. I mean, I just watch Madonna and I'm so inspired all the time. I just think she's great. She makes great choices and she's so smart about the way she does her business. I think that's really cool. I love her; I love Rosie O'Donnell, Bjork. I'm such a fan of so many people.
 

How much do you try to balance your politics with comedic content?

Um, I don't know, I think that it's an internal thing. A don't really think about it that much, it's more that I just want the show to be good, and entertaining, first of all. That's what's most important. It has to be funny; it has to be smart. And then beyond that, how I edit for content, it's really just about mood and how things strike me. I don't want to be preachy and I don't want to boring. The biggest fear that I have is to bore people.
 

What advice would you give to other aspiring female comedians?

My advice is really about making your own opinion count more than someone else's, because that can be the hardest thing for people to get. People are just so swayed by the good opinion of others, that they just don't realize who they are. The most important thing is to count yourself in first. Beyond that, it's all just enjoying the process, enjoying the journey of it. It's such an amazing life. I'm so blessed to be able to live a creative life. To make a solid career of it. It's really a wonderful thing.

Tell me a little bit about your experience as an Asian American in the entertainment industry.

I'm all about creating your own opportunities. I don't wait around for studios and networks to hand me jobs because the I did, then I would never work. ... It's hard though because there are so few minorities working that the ones who are, are under this intense scrutiny, that nobody could survive. It's kind of weird because there are so many people saying that they want multiculturalism, however when it is, there isn't a lot of support. So, it's just a very hard place to be in. I'm so much more comfortable now because I control every aspect of my image. I'm so involved in everything; I produce everything that I do, so it's like I know what's out there. But when I'm doing a television show or sitcom I don't have that level of control. So it's that combination of intense scrutiny without any control it's just unfair because I couldn't even do anything about how I was perceived, it was just a really awful thing.

Cho is working on a new comedy with an ensemble cast that will hopefully make the 2003 release slate. She describes it as a "fag and fag hag DUMB & DUMBER" that Cho categorizes as "really stupid, silly, slapstick thing", a combination that makes her laugh. She also has some plans to take some time off after promoting "Notorious C.H.O."