Margaret Cho: comedian, television star, activist; her name alone stands for different things depending on whom you talk to. But her prolific and adventurous creativity is as unfixed and mutable as her boundless imagination. 

Best known for her socially satirical and deliciously raunchy stand up comedy, with a career that has spanned nearly two decades, Margaret has gone far beyond being “just a comic.”  She continually experiments with new avenues of artistic expression, and in the process re-defines herself and her work, constantly re-inventing her public persona.  This fluid experimentation with artistic expression and social observation, filtered through a lens of entertainment, puts her in a rare class of multi-talented performers who have experimented with different genres. The ultimate “hyphenate,” Margaret has added director, producer, author, singer, songwriter, dancer and clothing designer to her already-impressive list of accomplishments.  

Her overall persona both on and off-stage may seem confusing at first, but when taken as a whole never fails to make sense, and is always thoroughly amusing as well as thought-provoking from the audience’s point of view.  

She is a symphony of contradictions: with roots in Korea, she came from a traditional Asian culture where women are expected to be quiet and subservient, yet she is one of the most intelligent and out-spoken personalities of her generation. A gay icon, she has been happily married (to artist Al Ridenour) for a number of years.  She is a confirmed feminist who has gleefully performed complicated burlesque striptease numbers on stage; she is a staunch literacy advocate with a vocabulary any drunk sailor would be proud of; she has morphed from being a girl who was publicly reviled for being “fat” into being a woman who is both the living definition of glamour and self-acceptance.

Born in San Francisco and raised there during the Seventies, the unique, freewheeling melting-pot ambiance of the city made an indelible impression on Margaret in her formative years, and gave her a sense that anything was possible.

"It was different than any other place on Earth," Margaret says. "I grew up and went to grammar school on Haight Street… There were old hippies, ex-druggies, burnouts from the '60s, drag queens, and Chinese people. It was a really confusing, enlightening, wonderful time."  
 
At the age of 16, Margaret started performing stand-up in a comedy club called The Rose & Thistle, located above her parents’ bookstore. Her precocious wit and feisty persona helped her win a comedy contest where first prize was opening for Jerry Seinfeld. After that, she was on her way. She relocated to Los Angeles in the early '90s and by her early twenties, her career was moving swiftly: she became the most popular act on the college circuit.  Arsenio Hall introduced her to late night audiences, Bob Hope put her on a prime time special and, seemingly overnight, Margaret Cho became a national celebrity.

By 1994, she starred in the short-lived ABC sitcom called All-American Girl. Margaret describes it as a set besieged with difficulties: “There were just so many people involved in that show, and so much importance put on the fact that it was an ethnic show. It's hard to pin down what "ethnic" is without appearing to be racist. And then, for fear of being too "ethnic," it got so watered down for television that by the end, it was completely lacking in the essence of what I am and what I do. I learned a lot, though. It was a good experience as far as finding myself, knowing who I was and what direction I wanted to take with my comedy.”

All-American Girl, the first sitcom to revolve around an Asian American family, was cancelled after only one season, but by 1999, Margaret had chronicled her experience on the show in an off Broadway one-woman show called I'm The One That I Want. Extremely well received, the show toured the U.S, and under the same title, was made into both a concert film and a best-selling book. Garnering incredible reviews, the film broke the record for the most money grossed per print in movie history.

After this Margaret launched Notorious C.H.O. in 2001, a smash-hit 37-city national tour that culminated in a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall. Notorious C.H.O. was also recorded and released as a feature film, hailed by the New York Times as "Brilliant!" Both films were acquired by Showtime Cable Networks in 2004 and are currently airing on their channels. Margaret embarked on her third sold-out national tour, Revolution, in 2003. The tour ultimately grossed 4.4M and was heralded as "Her strongest show yet!" by the Chicago Sun Times. The concert film premiered on the Sundance Channel in 2004 and was released on DVD later that year. The CD of Revolution was nominated for a Grammy for best comedy album of the year for 2003. 
 
In 2004, Margaret took her politically charged State of Emergency tour through the swing states of the Presidential election. Lauded as "Murderously funny!" by the New York Times, State of Emergency eventually evolved into her fourth national show, Assassin. Her most political and topical work to date, Assassin toured the US, Canada and Australia and was filmed at the Warner Theatre in Washington D.C. The concert film premiered in select theatres and on the gay and lesbian premium channel here! TV in late 2005 and is now available on DVD.

Keeping up with her non-stop touring schedule, in 2007, Margaret hit the road with 80’s legends Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry and indie faves The Dresden Dolls and The Cliks to host the True Colors tour, benefiting the Human Rights Campaign. A true entertainment pioneer, Margaret also created and starred in The Sensuous Woman, a live variety show featuring vaudevillian burlesque and comedy, which she took for an extended off-Broadway run last fall.

During this time, Margaret continued her prolific blogging and published her second book, a collection of essays on politics and current pop culture I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight, (Riverhead Books, 2005).

Her first narrative feature film, Bam Bam and Celeste, which she wrote and starred in, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in late 2005 and has since played at the AFI Fest, Frameline, Fusion, and the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. It is currently airing on MTV’s LOGO network.

In the past year, Margaret returned to her stand-up roots with the, Beautiful tourwhich premiered in Australia at The Sydney Theater in February 2008, where she was honored to be named Chief of the 30th annual Sydney Mardi GrasParade. After returning to the US, Margaret embarked on a nationwide spring tour of Beautiful, which was extended through the fall and included a nearly sold-out performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

In 2008, Margaret also made a triumphant return to television with her Vh1 faux-reality series, The Cho Show. Describing it as a 'reality sitcom,' Margaret said, "It's the closest I've been able to come on television to what I do as a comic." The Cho Show followed Margaret, her real parents, and her eccentric entourage through a series of irreverent and outrageous experiences, shaped by Margaret's 'anything goes' brand of stand-up.

The list of awards and honors bestowed upon Margaret lately could probably fill up it’s own page, including: the first ever Best Comedy Performance award at the 2007 Asian Excellence Awards, a 2008 Leadership Award from the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, the First Amendment Award from the ACLU of Southern California, and the Intrepid Award from the National Organization for Women (NOW). She has also been lauded by GLAAD, American Women in Radio and Television, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), and PFLAG for "making a significant difference in promoting equal rights for all, regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender identity."

I didn't mean to be a role model. I just speak my truth. I guess speaking from your heart really creates a huge impact, and if I can encourage people to do that, then I would love to be a role model. If I could encourage people to use their voices loudly, then that's my reward. I don't care about winning an academy award; I don't care about mainstream acceptance, because it's never going to be what I want it to be. I just want to do my work and love it. 

This year Margaret is back to genre bending and has fallen into guitar lessons with a passion. She’s currently working on an album of comedy songs with some of her favorite musicians, including Tegan and Sara, John Brion, and Amanda Palmer. Catch her at various performances across the country this year, including appearances at major music festivals like South by Southwest, as she develops material for a new stand-up tour and debuts some of her comedy songs for the very first time. In LA, Margaret will be hosting a new monthly showcase at Largo called Fingerbang: A Musical Diversion, starting in January of 2009. Look for her new music album and a brand new tour in 2010.