A GoPride Interview

Margaret Cho

Margaret Cho interview with ChicagoPride.com

Sat. February 8, 2003  by QChicago.com

Margaret Cho

She is always vocal, always tough, always controversial and always funny. She is the self-proclaimed "fag hag," Margaret Cho.

"I love that theater, it is amazing to see my name up there in the big letters. It feels like I have arrived, on the set of 'ER," proclaims Margaret Cho. "I can say that Chicago has been a very special place for me to perform. Most recently - I was doing a meet and greet at Sidetrack and I had the best time. One guy put me in a headlock!" It's obvious that she loves Chicago and Chicago loves the fabulous Margaret Cho.

Cho took on fisting, fetishes and feelings in The Notorious CHO. In her new one-woman show we can expect more of Cho's brutally-honest humor. "There is a lot of issues that are being ignored right now because of the dick contest with Iraq ( the real reason for any war ) we need to have a voice, a point of view, and we aren't being given one. All the strides that the LGBT community has made in the last few years still doesn't mean we are in any way experiencing true equality. We need nothing less than a revolution."

Recently, Cho answered 21 Questions:

QC: What is your birthday/birth sign?

MC: Sagittarius/Dec. 5

QC: Recommend a great book (or something you enjoy reading).

MC: Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - I thought it was going to break me. There is no mascara in the world that is waterproof enough to get through this book. Offbeat Food by Al Ridenour - Incredible cultural investigation on what we eat, why we eat it and the implications, complications and politics of food.

QC: Recommend a great movie.

MC: Belle du Jour - Luis Bunuel. Catherine Deneuve is a ice cold, chic and classy housewife at night, then turns tricks all day. Girl, we have all been there.

QC: What is in your CD player right now?

MC: Princess Superstar, the best rapper in the world - bar none. Her name may be Princess - but she is truly the Queen.

QC: What's ALWAYS in your fridge?

MC: Expired milk. Old pudding. 5 layer dip that been rotting so long now it only have 2 layers.

QC: What's under or next to your bed?

MC: Vibrator, man, Excedrin Migraine, 70's porn dvd, lube, Powerbook, latex gloves, Vick's Vaporub, false eyelashes - - are you sure you want me to go on?

QC: If you could magically change one person from straight to gay (or gay to straight), who would it be?

MC: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would start going to circuit parties.

QC: What talent would you most like to have?

MC: Giving a really good rim job. I can't seem to do it right. I need some advice on that.

QC: What is something in your home that might make a stranger think you were gay?

MC: All the lesbian magazines with my face on the cover. So many dildos that look like dolphins. Sweatshirt with German Shepherd on it.

QC: What is something in your home that might make a stranger think you were straight?

MC: Surround sound system, 2 turntables and a microphone, straight man in a bathrobe.

QC: Your autobiography would be called.

MC: Who does this fat bitch think she is?

QC: What is your favorite word?

MC: Cacophony.

QC: What is your favorite curse word?

MC: Fuck.

QC: How would you describe your current career?

MC: Fabulous. I feel like Che Guevara, Britney, Gloria Steinem and Madam (of wayland flowers and)

QC: If you could try any career, what would it be?

MC: I would like to work in a sweatshop.

QC: What is your idea of paradise?

MC: Ebay.

QC: If you could trade places with anybody for a few days, who would it be?

MC: Nobody.

QC: What is your greatest regret?

MC: Nothing.

QC: What is your most prized possession?

MC: My dogs, my production company, my friends, my lovers.

QC: What is your trademark characteristic?

MC: Ass, class, critical mass.

QC: Finish this sentence. "I love gay men because...."

MC: Where I grew up, my parent's bookstore had many gay male employees. They saw that my parents were treating me differently than my brother, and took it upon themselves to parent me. They saw a brilliance in me that gave me the confidence to have a career where there would be rejection every step of the way. I had two things that were very important as an adult, no fear of rejection, and the confidence of a drag queen who knows all the words to her song. They were all very different. Like I was raised by the Village People. And I still have some of them with me and they are so proud. I owe them my life. They are my real parents.

 

Interviewed by QChicago.com

MORE CONTENT AFTER THESE SPONSORS