Margaret Cho is livid and not afraid to let audiences know.
From drag bans to anti-choice legislation to Ron DeSantis, she has a lot of thoughts to share on her “Live and Livid” tour, which also celebrates her 40 years of doing comedy.
Ohioans will get celebrate alongside the iconic comedian when she takes the stage at the Ohio Theater in Cleveland’s Public Square on October 7 (tickets here).
The Buckeye Flame caught up with Cho to talk about her thoughts on the world, her upcoming Ohio appearance and where she is currently finding the funny. Click play directly below to listen to our interview or read our conversation underneath.
First, let’s just get this out of the way, and I have to imagine that you have heard this countless times, but: Margaret Cho, you’re a hero of mine.
Margaret Cho: Oh, thank you. That’s amazing. I’m so glad.
I can’t even wrap my mind around 40 years as a stand up comedian. Surely that is a typo.
It’s weird because it really feels like a long time, but then it’s also not. You know, once you get to my age, I’m like, “Oh, actually, I started comedy essentially when I was still a child.”
So I think for me, it’s just been my life. It does look very long when I look back on it, but it’s great.
Let’s clarify for our readers: you started when you were three years old.
[laughs] Yeah, pretty much. I love that.
So, generally, where is Margaret Cho finding the funny these days?
You know, I’m finding it a lot in drag. I get a lot of inspiration from drag…from Trixie and Katya in particular, and Bob the Drag Queen. Also, anybody who’s just talking about things online that make a difference about, “Like, what are we gonna do?”
You know, drag is under attack for reasons that are just so bizarre. These attacks have nothing to do with the truth or reality. So I think that this show, to me, is really about protecting drag as an important art form. And it’s also a very important cultural artifact for queer people, for all of us who really look to drag for a sense of relief, for a sense of ownership over our own culture and glee and excitement.
I read online that you cycled through a few names before landing on “Live and Livid.” Can you talk about that moment of landing on just the right name for this tour and what made that name perfect for you?
Well, “Live” because it was really a big deal to go back to doing live performance, and especially going back to theaters. I haven’t been able to do that since before the pandemic. I have built now such a really big appreciation for live performance in that we couldn’t do it for a long time or we couldn’t do it in the way that we were normally used to doing it. I love to go see live shows as well, so “Live” was a big part of it.
And “Livid” in that we came out of lockdown with all of this strange stuff going on, like the extreme antigay rhetoric being spread around by people like Ron DeSantis, the anti-trans legislation passing everywhere, and all of this anti choice stuff. It’s all so disturbing, so infuriating. So this is a show that really is exploring all of those things that make me furious and very livid.
It feels like you have never shied away from talking about politics on stage. Certainly the “Assassin” album is such a highlight for me and just how unflinching you are in highlighting the absurdities of our political systems. Was that a conscious choice of yours at one point in your career to talk about politics on stage?
Well, to me, it’s not politics. It’s just like my life.
I grew up in a 1970s San Francisco that was all about Harvey Milk. And my father owned a bookstore that was all gay literature, all gay stuff, and [full of] people who were early promoters and supporters of Harvey Milk. And so, to me, it’s never political. To me, it’s actually very like, “Oh, this is just what we do.”
My grandfather on my mother’s side was a labor union leader. So that has always been part of my life, thinking about the worker. And that’s why the SAG-AFTRA strike and the WGA strike are very important for me too at the moment. And so, you know, politics is just like very much every day. It’s kind of how I live.
Although, I do in this show issue a big apology to George W. Bush and all the Republicans of the past. They weren’t that bad. We had it so good. We didn’t know how good we had it. And so, I do a little bit of recanting just because I realize that we are so much under threat now with what’s happening.
How does geography affect you? Are stages different for you based on the state that you’re visiting? I looked at the whole tour schedule and it’s a real range of ethos across the country that you will be visiting.
It’s great. It’s great. It’s always different.
And, I also really appreciate that I got to do a lot of shows in Florida for this tour, which for me was really meaningful because all of this stuff coming out, the antigay rhetoric. All of the legislation coming out of Florida is so homophobic and so scary. And even our organization is telling us not to go there, which unfortunately leaves behind a lot of gay Floridians. I don’t want to abandon them. So it’s been great to be able to go back there. They really need to hear something different from what they’re seeing every day out there.
I want to ask you about the other people, too. What about those folks who are supporting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation who are like, “Yeah, I’m just going to go see Margaret Cho and laugh for a night.”
Yeah, why would even you support antigay [legislation]? Like, I don’t even know why you would support an antigay candidate. Why would anybody? Because that’s just anti-people. That’s actually entirely un-American to be anti-somebody in this country. That is so mind blowing.
Here in Ohio, we’ve just had a total blitz of proposed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, including HB 245, which would ban public drag. Some of this [legislation] might pass by the time you arrive in October. In the most general question I could ask you, what do you do with that?
Well, it’s really about talking about it, trying to explain the hypocrisy of trying to “protect children” with something that has nothing to do with children. They’re really not looking at the real issue: that you need to get rid of guns so kids can go to school.
You need to get rid of guns to make the world safer for kids. If you really want to talk about making things safer for children, then talk about getting rid of those firearms. But they just want to deflect into something that has nothing to do with anything.
For a tour like this, what elements need to be in place for you to walk off the stage at the end of the night and say, “That was a good show!”?
It’s always different and it’s just a real honor to be able to do this for as long as I have. I want to approach [performing] with renewed vigor and excitement about it, which I do have so much now because I wasn’t able to tour in this capacity for so long. So this is like a really great time to celebrate this art form.
We are so aware now of the news and current events, so much more so now than ever. Everybody knows the the minutiae of the dailiness of news reporting because of the way that we consume news through social media. So this is also a very good opportunity to talk very broadly about things, a range of topics, because everybody’s going to have some awareness.
Final question for you. What advice do you have for LGBTQ+ Ohioans attempting to navigate their identity here in this state where it might not feel like a welcoming place?
But it is a welcoming place, or it should be a welcoming place.
Now we have welcoming places online. We have a way to connect with community all over the world, which is what’s so important. We didn’t have that before, especially before the internet. We didn’t have a sense of community as we do now that is global, where you can find that support in these different communities everywhere.
I really see it on TikTok and I really see it out there in the young people. Gen Z really has it going: the activism, the fight. I’m really in awe of young people, and I’m really in awe of their activism and what they’re doing to change things.
Well, Margaret Cho, for our time together here and for all that you have provided for the LGBTQ+ community, thank you.
Thank you. 🔥
Ignite Action
- Margaret Cho’s “Live and Livid” Tour will be arriving at the Ohio Theatre in Cleveland’s Playhouse Square on October 7th. Tickets are available HERE and are selling out fast!
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