Margaret Cho's intelligent social comedy encourages self-expression, female empowerment, irreverence, frank sexual discussions and laughter. She's now expanding these qualities into a clothing line and children's CD.

here are several ways to describe Margaret Cho: She’s sexy! She’s powerful! She’s…racist? Many critics take issue with the outspoken comedian’s work, claiming that she relies on gross stereotypes to elicit laughter. On Wednesday, Oct. 1, Cho will appear at Kingsbury Hall. Her detractors will likely abstain from attending. Their decision reeks of ignorance, for there is much to be learned from someone who can laugh after a journey to hell and back. In fact, for all of the criticism slung her way, Cho’s witty musings, observations and advice have attracted a rabid following, able to relate and thus, understand.

The RED Interview
“I think I get into a place of walking with the disenfranchised—people that feel like they don’t belong anywhere,” Cho says in an phone interview. She’s calling from a room in California, engaging in a juggling act of barking dogs and barking computers threatening to disrupt the conversation. Yet Cho remains calm, her voice surprisingly tame. It seems she has grown accustomed to chaos.

Since her ill-fated 1994 sitcom“All-American Girl” crashed and burned, Cho has learned how to deal effectively with the entertainment industry. After repeatedly being told that she wasn’t thin or white enough, Cho briefly spiraled into a depression fueled by eating disorders and drug abuse. Fortunately, she found enough strength in art to stand against the tyranny of shallow minds. Now she’s doing it on her own terms.

On stage, Cho is a powerhouse. She started out as a stand-up comedian and has clearly honed her skills to a certain kind of perfection. The success of her one-woman shows, “I’m The One That I Want” and “Notorious C.H.O,” demonstrates her ability to captivate audiences, holding particular facial expressions at great lengths—keeping the crowd rolling with just one look. But it is the subject matter that propels each external display for which Cho is most “notorious.”

“It’s something that almost anyone can relate to,” she says. “The broadness of the fan base is something that I really pride myself on.”

Yet obviously, Cho can’t please everyone. Her aggressive approach to such topics as fag-hags, colonics, pill-popping and the possibility of men getting periods tend to alienate those offended by the raw and gritty. Cho is not concerned.

“I think it’s a matter of taste. Some things that I find funny are really distasteful and unpleasant,” she says, adding that, “it’s a good thing to offend people. When you please everyone, that’s just a real sign of mediocrity.”

Fortunately, the gritty comedian is in no danger of being average. As a rule, controversial figures are bound to receive fierce amounts of negative backlash. Yet the social change effected by such rebels serves as compensation for any latent grief. Cho’s work is not just about personal catharsis. Her desire to make life a bit easier for others has inspired various projects, such as a clothing line for women. The venture may seem insignificant, but it stands in opposition to our society’s obsession with thin.

“I love clothes, but I hate the fashion industry,” Cho says. “It doesn’t cater to women that are of a different body type than the sample-size model.” She supports her claim by referencing a fashion magazine’s juxtaposition between emaciated women and “almost pornographic pictures of food.” In order to combat the media assault, Cho created High Class Cho, a line designed to accommodate women whom the fashion industry often disregards.

“The clientele for the clothing goes from Latina teenage girls in L.A. where I live to 60- to 75-year-old women in the Midwest,” Cho says. She hopes that High Class Cho will eliminate the needless stress often synonymous with basic trips to the store. “Dressing rooms for women become a kind of torture chamber,” she says. “Things don’t fit and don’t look like they do on the models. It’s just not right.”

Cho’s efforts to pave all-access roads add another qualifier to her character—feminist. However, she is somewhat confused by the idea that she is somehow unique for supporting equal opportunity.

“I think people who aren’t feminists are deluded and crazy—and creepy,” Cho says. “What does anybody get from not being a feminist? Feminism to me is such a natural thing.”

The open-minded activist/comedian is also baffled by the “inequity of certain sectors of society,” particularly the continued prejudice toward citizens who, should they abstain from homosexual lifestyles, would enjoy rights granted by their forefathers. She points out the irony of celebrating media constructs such as “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” while Congress attempts to pass an law banning gay marriages. Cho likens the situation to civil rights-era struggles, when people would flock to a James Brown concert and then place restrictions on public drinking fountains.

In regard to inequality in the entertainment industry alone, Cho says that although things have improved, “it’s still not what it would be in my world.”

In the land ruled by Margaret Cho, women wouldn’t be judged strictly by their appearance, one could love whomever one pleases and children could learn about life to the tune of a rap/metal soundtrack.

“I’m actually going into the studio tomorrow,” Cho says, in reference to her latest venture. “It’s an album for children—all rap about the food pyramid and how you need to get all of your vegetables, all 11 servings of carbohydrates a day. It’s about protecting yourself by doing a breast examination every six months.”

I’m Your MD features Cho as MC MC, an alter-ego who is both informative and outrageously entertaining—a combination fitting for everything Cho does.

“It’s a lot like Ice Cube’s project a long time ago, you know—Body Count?” she says. “It’s very hardcore, heavy-metal rap. But it’s all about fruits and vegetables.”

Margaret Cho defies categorization—she speaks for herself.

jamie@red-mag.com