By Terry Tang
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Anyone who has seen Margaret Cho perform stand-up knows that she
doesn’t have much to hide.
Her candid and humorous way of talking about everything from her
oppressive stint on network television to her risky fall into drugs
and alcohol has both horrified and amused audiences.
Still, the cherubic comedian surprises people. Off stage,
Cho’s loud, in-your-face nature is usually replaced by a
soft-spoken voice.
“They expect a very sarcastic, really bitchy, kind of
aggressive person, but I’m actually pretty quiet, pretty
shy,” said Cho in a telephone interview from her home in Los
Angeles. “I don’t assert myself the same way that I do
in performance. It’s my job. It’s what I do but
I’m certainly not like that in life.”
With a cult-like following on the stand-up circuit and her
comedy concert film, “I’m the One That I Want,”
still screening, Cho, 32, has built a successful career out of
storytelling. Now, the quick-witted queen of comedy will add
published author to her resume.
Her autobiography, which bears the same title as her film, hits
bookstores this month. But before embarking on a nationwide
promotional tour, Cho will discuss and sign her book this Sunday at
the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books here on campus.
The book covers many of Cho’s experiences growing up in
San Francisco’s Sunset District as well as her battle to lose
weight for her defunct 1994 ABC sitcom, “All-American
Girl.”
But even for fans who have heard the comedian’s
tongue-lashings on screen or on the stage, Cho promises the book
will show a lot more details and a voice different from her
on-stage persona.
“When I perform, it’s almost as if I tell stories in
a kind of shorthand,” Cho said. “(The book) is quite a
vast kind of cross-section of my life, like everything that’s
happened so far.”
Cho’s long-simmering desire to pen her own story should
not be too much of a surprise. In Korea, her father was a print
journalist and an author of joke books such as “1001 Jokes
for Public Speakers.” Upon her parents’ emigration to
San Francisco, they opened a bookstore called Paperback
Traffic.
“I grew up in a bookstore and was always around books my
entire life,” Cho said. “To me, the joy of writing and
reading and all that goes with it is one of the reasons I get up in
the morning.”
Besides providing an entertaining reason to curl up on a couch,
Cho’s book will also serve as an educational tool. Jeffrey
Decker, professor and academic administrator of a year-long GE
cluster course titled Interracial Dynamics, has put
“I’m the One That I Want” on the syllabus for his
own seminar this quarter.
The seminar focuses on TV sitcoms and American literature in
relationship to ethnic identity. Aside from reading about
Cho’s experiences at ABC, the class will also watch the pilot
episode of “All-American Girl.”
“During one week, we’re going to look at women as
leads in ethnic sitcoms … the way in which ethnic stereotypes are
reproduced in mass cultural forms,” said Decker.
Decker already knows what insight Cho can give to a classroom.
Last quarter, she visited the entire Interracial Dynamics class,
including Decker’s seminar students, to speak about her
experiences. Decker could tell Cho was caught off guard by the idea
of her book and life contributing to an academic setting because of
her record as a high-school dropout. But the professor believes the
comedian is educated in her own right.
“She certainly is smart and intellectual,” said
Decker of her visit. “She’s so well-read, well-spoken.
When she got up there to speak, she could’ve been any
professor.”
Unlike her time on “All-American Girl,” Cho was able
to have almost complete autonomy over her book. Yet the comedian,
who makes a guest appearance on an upcoming episode of HBO’s
“Sex and the City,” would never rule out a return to
television. For now, Cho is simply basking in the glory of calling
her own shots.
“I didn’t really have to collaborate there with
anybody except, you know, minor things here and there. The book is
really exactly the way I want it to be,” Cho said.
“I’m just really focused on my own projects right
now.”
When she isn’t jetting off to a stand-up or speaking
engagement, Cho usually relaxes around her Hollywood Hills home
with her German shepherd, Ralph (pronounced “Rafe,” as
in actor Ralph Fiennes). Aside from no longer worrying about her
body image, Cho also maintains a strong relationship with her
parents. Though they were initially against her career choice, they
now delight in being material for her act.
“They’ve been really happy with my career and what
I’ve done with it over the last several years,” Cho
said. “They really learned to be supportive when they saw how
happy it made me and how successful I was.”
Chances are success will keep coming. After she finishes
promoting the book, the comedian will return to stand-up with an
all new national stand-up tour. “Notorious C.H.O.,” in
reference to rap artist Lil’ Kim’s
“Notorious” album, will have material with a more
feminist charge.
Unlike TV and film, stand-up is something that Cho knows she can
always do. Aside from not having to rely on ratings, stand-up
provides Cho with creative energy and control. Despite their
laid-back demeanor on stage, most comedians take the art of making
people laugh very seriously. One thing Cho wants people to know is
that stand-up is not just about telling jokes in front of an open
mic.
“People trust you and you have to be really responsible
with that trust,” Cho said. “For me, it’s a very
political thing because I’m a woman of color and I talk a lot
about different issues like race and about gay issues of inclusion
and acceptance.
“I don’t really tell jokes anyway,” Cho
continued. “I only tell stories and talk about my
life.”
BOOK: Margaret Cho will discuss her book
“I’m the One That I Want” in a panel at
Schoenberg Hall at 10 a.m. Sunday. Tickets are free and may still
be available at an on-site location until 30 minutes prior. Cho
will sign books at 11 a.m. in the North Signing Area. For
information visit www.latimes.com.