Margaret Cho – Interview

You finally get the chance to talk to comedian Margaret Cho and can you guess what she is doing? Dishes of course.

Do people always expect you to be funny?

Yes. I actually go out incognito so people don’t really recognize me that much. My friends all sort of know that I’m a jokester. I’m more of a slow jam.

When you are working on things do you bounce them off people?

No, I never bounce them off people. I just decide on what I’m going to write on and work it out from there. I work more as a writer because its more solitary and once I get an idea of what will happen I start performing.

Do you test your material on smaller audiences?

I do a lot of different types of shows, like at universities. I do small shows and venues all over the world to get into a groove.

Do you have to censor the material at universities?

Not really. I do what I think I want to do, or what I think is funny. I’m kind of at the point where I can do what I want anywhere I go.

Has anyone come to you with a story that they thought was funny and approached you about using it?

Yeah, and usually they are good material for me. I get a lot of ideas from people.

Has anyone told you something and said ‘don’t use this in your act’?

No. (Laughs) They know if they tell me then its fair game.

After listening to the cd I’m wondering if there is an ex-boyfriend out there who is pretty pissed off?

(Laughs) Probably not. It so unflattering that they can’t imagine that it is them. They never ever want to think someone will say something bad about them. All of the guys I talk about are so stupid that they never think its them.

If it was me I’d be pretty embarrassed.

I really don’t think they know. And honestly if they do I have a feeling that they wouldn’t want to admit it to anyone that they know. Also I change the people so they become a composite of a few people, but the emotions are the say.

The “Gay Dad” bit was the funny.

Thank you. They like being apart of the show. They feel like celebrities.

Do your parents just expect you to talk about them now?

Yeah, and they support what I do and they love what I am doing. They aren’t the kind of people who care what other people think.

What does your mom think of your mimicking her?

She is so into it. She acts like a big star at the clubs.

If something isn’t funny how do you get out of it?

Well thankfully that doesn’t happen much anymore because it’s more structured in as storytelling. I don’t always know when the laugh will be. There are a lot of different places. When you work as storyteller the reason people laugh are dictated by the audiences, some land at different times.

Has your writing evolved into story telling?

Yes. But its taken me about eighteen years to perfect it. I wrote a lot of jokes at first and now it’s about story telling.

Is it easier telling stories rather than telling jokes?

Yes. It’s more natural.

Do you think that comedy circuit has changed a lot over your career?

It’s changed a great deal. I think its really hard because a while back a lot of people could make a career out of it and now there are very few people who are doing it in a major way, and just a few that are doing it in a smaller way. The degree of success in comedy is huge. I don’t know what the future is, but I’d like to see more people doing it. It seems to be a rarified profession.

Do you think because most get involved so they can turn it into a film career?

Yes. I think it is mostly a stepping-stone or entry level position to get a film career. My goal was always to be a stand up comic. I think it’s a very important way to express yourself as an artist.

Do fans catch up to you?

I usually have a party after the shows and it’s a really good way to meet people.

Do they act to you differently?

I think people expect me to be super funny, but I’m more low key. I like to get to know people and who they are. I’d rather talk about them than myself. But they expect me to be a certain way and either they are disappointed or excited.

Do fans think they know everything about you because of the show?

Yeah, I think because of the things I talk about and my sexual freedom they think they know me. But there are a lot of those things in my life, but I don’t talk about everything.

My favorite story was about the boyfriend and the sex club. Did you really go or did you hear about that from friends?

No, I really went. That was true. I had a relationship with a guy who was heavily involved into that world. It was a difficult situation because I was really in love with him and wanted to make it work, but he was into this whole scene. I was fine at first, but after a while I wanted to just see a movie or TGI Friday’s. Instead he was into sex and we just had to break up because we didn’t have the same interest. He was just too hardcore.

+ charlie craine