Interview with Margaret Cho Part 2 (2000 - a J!-ENT Classic Interview)

The following is part 2 of our classic interview which took place back in 2000.  During a time when J!-ENT was in collaboration with AsianConnections.com.  The interview features comedian and actress Margaret Cho and was conducted by Dennis A. Amith and Suzanne Kai.

Margaret Cho can be seen on the VH1 show “The Cho Show” and for more information, check out her website.

DISCLAIMER: Instead of using the older photo of Margaret back in 2000, we’ll link to a more recent photo directly from her website at www.margaretcho.com.

Interview continued from part 1

J! (DENNIS): Let’s talk about your film  “I’M THE ONE THAT I WANT” which is getting a lot of rave reviews around the country.  Roger Ebert gave this movie a “Thumbs Up”.  It came in third place out of 250 films screened at the Seattle International Film Festival, the only American film to make it in the top 5.  Please tell us a little bit about it.

MARGARET: Well, the film is basically about my fake show that revolves around my experience doing the TV sitcom “ALL AMERICAN GIRL”, which was also the first Asian American family on television. The whole situation was devastating from beginning to end.  The show is about my struggles through that experience and finding peace, self-love and meeting incredible adversity.  It’s filmed from my stand up comedy shows.

J! (DENNIS): Was it filmed in one setting or several settings?

MARGARET: It was filmed from two shows in San Francisco.

AC (SUZANNE): Do you get stage fright when you go on stage?

MARGARET: When I get on stage, I know what I’m doing and I’m focused on what’s happening and it takes a lot of concentration but sometimes when I’m on stage I’m like…all these people are looking at me.

AC (SUZANNE): What goes on your mind when you get on stage?

It’s really weird, like I’ll be on stage and I realize that I’m outside of what I’m doing and what it is that I’m doing and that I’m paralyzed by fear but it only happens for a millisecond until I realize that I have to pick up and keep going but it’s a very strange thing.  If I really think about what I’m doing it’s very scary.  But when I’m actually doing it, it’s not scary?

AC (SUZANNE): Do you go through any rituals before going on stage?

MARGARET: No.  I just read and I get rest.

AC (SUZANNE): How much rest do you need to get into the pace?

MARGARET: It depends how much I’m traveling.  If I’m traveling a lot, I need to focus on the performance, then I will just stay in a hotel and not go anywhere.  Get massages and not do anything because traveling takes a lot out of you.

J! (DENNIS): I know this is jumping ahead to the future but I heard that you have plans to release your film on DVD.  What kind of special features would you like to have on the DVD?

MARGARET: I think I’m going to put a video diary of every performance and gay pride rally, every political speech, every award show and everything I’ve done like over the past year.  So, there will be a lot of crazy shit and a lot of fun stuff that will make it on the DVD.

J! (DENNIS): I was told that you were going to write a book.  Can you tell us more about that?

MARGARET: The book is coming out next year and it is called “I’M THE ONE THAT I WANT”, my own autobiography.  I just finished it two years ago.  It was really an interesting experience to change my format of storytelling and I have been working on it for a year and a half.  It was the hardest thing that I ever done.  I was so focused and committed to it.  You’re doing the book and maintaining the tour schedule, which was certainly a challenge.  Well the book is done and I’m really proud of it.  So, it’s going to be out next year and will be published by Valentine and I will be going on a book tour with it.  My new show should be ready by then.  I’m starting to work on a new show in September.  At that point, I will be touring with the new show as well.

J! (DENNIS): You mentioned the show that you were on “ALL AMERICAN GIRL” and I’ve read about the pain that the cancellation caused you.  In my interview your co-actress on the show, Amy Hill, she used the word “saddened” to describe her feelings about the whole situation.  If you had one word to describe your feeling of the situation, what would that be?

MARGARET: Diarrhea!  Because I was so sick the whole time.  I was so sick.  I was so emotionally sick and I had the worst diarrhea for a year.  That’s all I remember.

J! (DENNIS): So, is your movie…closure for you?  Will there ever be closure for you or will the experiences that happened to you from “ALL AMERICAN GIRL”  forever haunt you?

MARGARET: I don’t think so.  I think that this movie is a final word on all of that experience and for me it was a chapter.  It was a great thing.  Things really happen to you for a reason and I can see why I had that horrible experience because I can grow as a performer and I can work and change.  Now I can embrace a whole new world of opportunity and I’m not saddened by it.  I feel that I got a lot from it and a whole generation of younger Asian American kids got to see themselves on TV, which is really exciting.  I hear a lot of young kids now who are teenagers are so grateful that I got to do what I did and it really affected them. That’s really important.  I think that it was really hard but at the same time we did a lot of things.  So, I’m really happy how the way things turned out and I’m really glad that I am who I am.

J! (DENNIS): Also, I think it’s pretty cool that you are now listed in books as being the first Asian family on television.

MARGARET: Yeah, that’s great!

J! (DENNIS): Do you like to watch yourself on television or movies or not?

MARGARET: I don’t like to watch myself on television but I like to watch myself on film.  I don’t know what that means.  I don’t want to see myself on TV but I love to see myself on film.

AC (DENNIS): Do you remember your reaction the first time you saw yourself on the screen?

MARGARET: It was weird because it didn’t look like me.  It was back in high school when I was in a show and they videotaped it.   It was so weird because you don’t think you look like that but you do.  You gradually over the years get used to it.  Now, for the film, I had to get really used to it very fast.  More than I ever had and it changed the way I view myself but at the same time, it’s always a little bit weird but it’s great.

J! (DENNIS): All over the media, we have been hearing about your latest comedy acts and how you talk about your sexual experiences with your celebrity boyfriends such as Garrett Wang, Chris Isaak and some critics feel that you are exploiting them.  Are they upset with you?

MARGARET: Oh, no. No, they’re not.  It’s all in fun and I don’t think people are angry.  I’m just being honest.  Sometime my truth affects other people because I don’t live with other people.  I have had lots of romantic encounters that had led me to write about it.  It’s what I do you know.

J! (DENNIS): If anything, you really boosted the popularity of Chris Isaak.  (note: It was reported that in one of Margaret’s comedy acts, she mentions that Isaak is known to be quite well endowed).

MARGARET: Oh yeah!  Not a big deal…(laughs)

AC (DENNIS): Do you currently have a boyfriend right now?

MARGARET: No, I don’t.

AC (SUZANNE): Who would be your ideal boyfriend?

MARGARET:  I don’t know.  I love my dog.  He’s the best person to have in bed with.  He’s the best bed companion.

AC (SUZANNE): So, we have to think about all the attributes such as warm and fuzzy.

MARGARET: Warm and fuzzy, sweet and he snores. I don’t know, he smells good (laugh).

J! (DENNIS): Let’s get to know Margaret Cho, the person.  Not the entertainer or comedian but just you outside all that.  What do you like to do for fun?

MARGARET: I like to read a lot.  I like to lift weights, to run and do yoga.  I like to do physical things.  I go out a lot at night and go to a lot of shows.  I’m very active.  I’m pretty social.  Since I finished my book two weeks ago, now I’m very social because I was in seclusion trying to finish the book and the tour put everything on hold.  So, now I’m on a vacation.

J! (DENNIS): You are living in the Los Angeles area now.  I’m curious… what kind of restaurants do you like to go to?

MARGARET: My favorite restaurants here is one in Korea-town.  That’s a great Korean restaurant.    I like Sarsalla, an Italian restaurant.

J! (DENNIS): Do you have a favorite clubbing spot?

MARGARET: I like Largo a lot.  That’s a great place to go.  I go there more often than anywhere else.  They have music, comedy, and theater.  It’s really nice.

J! (DENNIS): You live in the Hollywood Hills close to other celebs like Patrick Dempsey, Adam Corolla and a few others.  I always wondered if you hang out with the people around the block and have a lot of parties?

MARGARET: I don’t know.  I know he lives down the street.  He hangs out with more of the people on the neighborhood.

J! (DENNIS): I would think that people in your neighborhood probably hang out and party with their celebrity neighbors?

MARGARET: Not really.  I don’t know…I know my neighbors pretty well but that’s a different situation. They’re in show business but they are not really actors.  Most of my friends that I hang out with are all in the Silver lake (East Hollywood) area.

J! (DENNIS): Do you throw a lot of parties at home?

MARGARET: I don’t.

J! (DENNIS): What’s the typical daily routine for you?

MARGARET: It’s always different.  In the morning, I’m devoted to doing some work such as interviews or writing.  Then there’s more work in the afternoon and then I go on a break and at night I go out and do whatever, party or you know something.  That’s the framework of the day.

J! (DENNIS): I was wondering if you get any privacy when you go out shopping or go to restaurants?

MARGARET: Oh nobody notices me.

AC (SUZANNE): Do you wear a hat?

MARGARET: No.  I’m not recognizable.  People usually see me and are always surprised when they see me.  They have no idea.

AC (SUZANNE): I read on your personal website that you changed your diet over the years, you stopped drinking…

MARGARET: I stopped drinking, stop eating meat, stop eating dairy, start eating meat and then start eating dairy and then stop eating dairy. I go through incredible extremes.  I’ll go through one strict and be on the active side where I will just eat only bacon.  So, it’s very experimental and it’s just a phase.  It’s not a diet but it’s more that I get bored and I just want to do something.

J! (DENNIS): Do you like to cook?

MARGARET: I cook a little.  I’m a good cook.

AC (SUZANNE): Is there anything you like to cook?

MARGARET: I like to make kalbi every now and again.  I use a broiler, I take English short ribs and cut them and then marinate them over night with soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, green onions and black pepper.  I don’t even have the measurements; I just kind of empty it out.  You sort of know.  If you are a Korean, and you are a woman and you know in your blood how to make kalbi.  You just put them in the broiler the next day and boil them or barbecue them.  You are a big hit for summer barbecue.  Just bring a nice bucket of that and just put them on the grill and everybody loves you so much but that’s my favorite recipe.

J! (DENNIS): Margaret, let’s do some word play.  I’ll give you three words and give me your definition for them:

ASIAN PRIDE
MARGARET: Asian pride.  It’s a feeling like we exist and that we are finding ourselves as we go along.  We don’t have to fit into a stereotype.  We exist.  Our images aren’t limited in the media because we’re growing.  To really embrace Asian pride is to really know that it’s OK to be whoever you are.  You do not feel that you have to fit into a model minority, studious stereotype.  Not feeling that you have to be a geek, not feeling that you have to be a gang member. Any of the stereotypes that are setup by the media that we are just finding ourselves and that is our pride.

SUCCESS
MARGARET: Success could be happiness.  A feeling that everything is happening is right and that everything is happening at the right time.

SEX
MARGARET: Sex is something that drives everybody.  It’s a life force that is stronger than people recognize.  It goes beyond procreation.  It goes beyond activity. It’s all about communication.  How we communicate with each other.

J (DENNIS): If you had to describe to someone how you really are outside of being a comedian and entertainer, how would you?

MARGARET: I think that I’m similar to what I am as a comedian.  I guess I’m more serious.  I guess I’m not as complex as I thought I was.

J! (DENNIS): What final words do you have for your fans?

MARGARET: I love them and that we are making so much progress in this world.  The best thing that we can do for ourselves is to love who we are because it colors every action that we do in the world.

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