Margaret Cho has been serving up laughter for decades. She honed her stand-up act at age 14 in a club next to her parents’ bookstore, then competed and won a contest to open for Jerry Seinfeld. Since then, Cho has built a career in television, film and stand-up, wading into issues close to her heart with cutting-edge humor. She was recently named one of Rolling Stone magazine’s 50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time.
Cho gained prominence on the ABC sitcom, All-American Girl (1994-1995), later documenting her struggles with that series in her one-woman show, I’m the One That I Want (1999), which was named one of the Great Performances of the Year by Entertainment Weekly and received The New York Times Magazine’s Performance of the Year award (1999). The show was filmed and released in 2000 along with her autobiography of the same title. Her sold-out second tour, Notorious C.H.O (2002), was adapted to a film for Showtime.
Other credits include Face/Off (1997), Sex and the City (2001), Dancing with the Stars (2010), starring in Drop Dead Diva (2009-14), an Emmy nomination for her portrayal as Kim Jong-II on 30 Rock (2006-2013), The Masked Singer (2019), Fire Island (2022) and Prom Pact (2023).
Cho is a passionate animal advocate, sharing her home with Lucia Katarina Lawlor, a Chihuahua/Dalmatian mix, Sacre Coeur and Sarang, two sphynx cats, and recently adopted werewolf cat, Uju Oude. Of her pets Cho says, “They have taught me about unconditional love. My animals are really everything, and they’re just amazing.”
Cho, who is celebrating 40 years as a stand-up comedian, stopped to dish the dirt before taking her Live and Livid tour to The Paramount on Oct. 22.
Is Lucia traveling with you on your current tour? Yes, she goes with me everywhere. She’s a wonderful companion. She’s been traveling since she was about 8 weeks old, so she’s used to being on the road. She’s just a wonderful dog.
Your house is done up as a Disney World for cats. Is there one play area they enjoy most? They love being in the patio outside. It’s really special, they get great enrichment because they can’t obviously be out with the coyotes and things in our neighborhood. It keeps them safe and allows them to still experience the outdoors. It goes around the entire home, so they get a lot of outside areas to play in.
You said that Joan Rivers was a huge inspiration. In what ways? It’s her comedy, her fearlessness, but also managing her own anxiety. She had to overcome a lot to be the first woman out there doing what she was doing. It’s really incredible all that she accomplished. I loved her sense of humor and she got better as she got older, which gave me a lot of inspiration.
How did you have the nerve to do stand up at age 14? I was convinced this was the right road for me, this was my job. I don’t know how I got the conviction to do it or the courage. I just knew this was what I was going to do so I started pretty early.
You didn’t have stage fright? There’s nothing to lose, nothing at stake. People are so excited to see somebody different in that capacity and I’m so different. I was able to get work really quickly because I offered a different perspective and I took it very seriously, so that was a great benefit.
Were you a class clown in school? No, I was an extremely shy person. I think I’m still very shy and not disruptive, not anybody who would be considered bad. I guess I would be funny with friends but I was just very withdrawn.
Have you spent much time on LI? We made the film Fire Island mostly on Long Island. The last week we did exteriors there, but most of the film was shot on Long Island in different places that looked like Fire Island. I spent the whole summer there. And I’ve been going to Fire Island most every summer since 2008. It’s so magical there. I think it’s really beautiful.
What do you mean when you say comedy is your safe place? I think nothing bad can happen to you when you’re on stage. I’ve had such a great time as a comedian because you get validated for your opinions, your words, humor, and your sense of timing. It’s a very easy place to be.
How do you appear comfortable talking about what might be considered taboo subjects?
A big part of what I’m doing in the show is protecting gay rights — this is a big deal, so to me it’s not uncomfortable. Whether it’s being political or talking about sex, these are very interesting topics, there’s a lot to say. Even diarrhea is a current big deal with that incident on the Delta flight. Those are rich subjects that are meaningful so I don’t find it uncomfortable at all.
You are currently on your Live and Livid tour. What is the main thing you are livid about today? The attack on drag queens, the attack on trans rights, the attack on the queer community in general. It’s disgusting and it makes me so angry that I have to get into it and also the fact that we don’t have rights to our own bodies whether that’s for abortion, transitioning, or any kind of bodily autonomy. This is a weird time when people think they have jurisdiction over your body. They really do and it’s so infuriating.
How did Bob Hope help you in the beginning of your career? He gave me my first job. I was working on the young comedian special so that was a great honor. I come from an era of show business where I was really at the tail end of a lot of the really big comedians like Milton Berle and Bob Hope. I actually witnessed them doing stuff in real life and I feel that’s amazing.
You said that menopause is a peaceful, joyous, happy time in your life. Really? I love it! I didn’t have any real symptoms, no hot flashes. I’m always kind of sweaty, so there’s nothing different. I just stopped getting a period which to me is great so I feel very free. I don’t have a lot of knowledge about what menopause is except for people saying it’s this negative thing and I find it really a wonderful thing.
What do you see as your greatest accomplishment? I got to inspire a young generation of Asian Americans and queer comedians to pursue their careers. They saw somebody like them doing it so I would say people like Bowen Yang, Ali Wong, Sherry Cola and all of them were so grateful to me for existing — and that to me is my greatest achievement, to inspire artists like them. That’s the best.
What’s on your to-do list that you haven’t done yet? I would love to do Broadway. More dramatic acting to me is really important. I want to get better at it all the time. I’m excited to keep on living this life.
Editor’s note: During the SAG-AFTRA strike actors are not allowed to promote their films and TV in interviews, hence the absence of discussion in those areas of Cho’s career.
