By Howard Ho
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
hho@media.ucla.edu

Wellspring Cho's newest concert film, "Notorious C.H.O.," is currently playing at the Landmark Nuart Theater.

In Margaret Cho's new film, "Notorious C.H.O.," she describes a cross-dressing, homosexual couple that mentored her through high school as "crouching drag queen, hidden faggot." Though hilarious, Cho's statement mixing Asian and gay culture is just one example of how her multiple identities play out on the stage.

Cho's "Notorious" show is her take on feminism, represented by rap artists such as Lil' Kim and Missy Elliot. Like those artists, Cho takes explicit female sexuality and serves it up with style.

"I love hip-hop. 'Notorious' is kind of just a funny moniker because I don't seem notorious at all. I thought it would be good to sort of pretend I was cool," Cho said.

This seems strange coming from the woman who is often seen as the epitome of Asian cool. After all, on the short list of Asian Americans in media, she ranks high, having been in several movies and her own sitcom and having written a best-selling book.

www.margaretcho.com Margaret Cho pushes the boundaries of comedy with her newest show, "Notorious C.H.O."

Her stand-up is not for the faint of heart. She talks about fisting, female and male genitalia, and going to a straight sex club that specializes in sadomasochism.

"As a performer, I'm really strong and powerful and aggressive. I can be really mean, but also really funny and energetic. In life, I'm not really like that. I'm really shy and quiet and kind of boring. All the stuff I talk about in my show is true, but it's not the same person onstage," Cho said.

The issue of identity is very important for Cho, who is Asian, female, bisexual, and overweight. In other words, she is the repressed minority on almost every level. Yet, this also gives her material for her shows, which often deal with her various identities, and gives her more credibility when she encourages others to accept themselves for who they are.

"Everyone else's comedy is all just jokes, but I have real agenda there, which I think is a really great thing. It's all about finding peace with ourselves and finding a sense of equality in the world, no matter what our race or our gender or our sexuality," Cho said.

www.margaretcho.com

As an Asian, Cho wants to help break through all the stereotypes of Asians. She deals with racism in her show with a comment on how her greatest dream as a child was to be an extra on "M*A*S*H." Her next show, which she is currently working on, is prospectively about being Asian.

"My new show is a lot about racial identities, but it's still in the beginning processes," Cho said.

"I think there needs to be more of a push for Asian American men in the entertainment industry. Jackie Chan and Jet Li are these weird superheroes. They're totally not human beings, and they're also not Asian American," Cho added.

Certainly, Cho has done her fair share of putting Asian Americans into mainstream media. Her short-lived sitcom on ABC, "All-American Family," was the first to have an entire Asian American cast. During the show's run, Cho dealt with tremendous pressure, such as a crash diet that damaged her kidneys and dealing with an expert who was supposed to make her show more authentically Asian. The cancellation of the show led to a period of depression for Cho until she came to terms with it in her monologue, "I'm the One That I Want."

That show became a hit film, a best-selling book, as well as the revival of her career. Its success is something Cho hopes to reproduce with a book version of the "Notorious C.H.O." as well as the film version, which was shot documentary-style in Seattle.

In the film, Cho does not shy away from anything, even the potentially touchy subject of the Sept. 11 attacks, which she used in her stand-up act just a few days after it happened.

www.margaretcho.com

"There was a lot of sadness and this idea was that there was going to be a death of irony and that people weren't going to be allowed to joke about stuff. I didn't want to make fun of anyone necessarily, but to joke about it in a way that could break up the tension around it," Cho said.

Cho is currently at peace with her life. Her parents, who also make an appearance in "Notorious C.H.O.," have accepted Cho's act and even seem to enjoy their newfound celebrity. Cho also made a guest appearance on the show "Sex in the City" and hopes to do so again. Perhaps more importantly, Cho is settling down with her life and finding happiness in her quiet home.

"I'm rebuilding this house that I bought in the early part of the year. It's slowly being turned into a kind of palace. I always have been a homebody because I travel so much that when I come home I want to stay home," Cho said.

As for whether she could do another sitcom, Cho does not rule it out entirely but she has clearly learned lessons.

"It would have to be the right thing. I wouldn't take something unless I had complete control over everything," Cho said.

With the kind of power she exudes in her show and the self-acceptance she embodies, Cho is in her prime.