The Evolution of Margaret Cho

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 6:21pm

I'm just curious what people here think about her. I was a big fan of hers up until around 2003. I feel like she panders too much to the audience in her most recent concerts. She says things that she knows people in the audience agree with and talks about things that she knows the audience is into so they can feel special because they know about it. I do still think that she's fairly smart and her attitudes about monogamy and gender roles are refreshing, but she's nowhere near as funny as Kathy Griffin is to me lately.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 6:34pm

She says things that she knows people in the audience agree with and talks about things that she knows the audience is into so they can feel special because they know about it.

How is that different from Kathy Griffin? Or Joan Rivers? Or Jackie Mason? Or most comedians who develop a signature style and a faithful audience? They know they have to meet a certain percentage of audience expectation if they want to maintain the momentum of their careers.

I love Margaret Cho and still find her hilarious. I was lucky enough to see her test her material for Notorious C.H.O. in Edinburgh (which she mentions in the taped performance) in a tiny space that seated about 40 people for less than $10. I was in the front row about five feet away from her and had the BEST TIME. My only quibble is that she recycles material a bit too much. I feel like I'm still hearing the same jokes from Drunk With Power popping up in every other show.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 6:39pm

I fell off the Margaret train the same time as you. When she started her career she was very sharp in her observations and very funny. IMO she has devolved into an angry politician and often her concerts turned more into rallies. Her REVOLUTION Tour was nearly unlistenable. I almost walked out. I came for comedy-not anger and bile.

As a gay guy I have felt pandered to on several occasions. I think she is getting back to comedy. I saw her on her last tour and she dropped a lot of the political crap and was just plain funny. Now she is singing. God help us.

I think the worst it ever got is when I saw her on the True Colors Tour. She was ranting about LGBT tolerance and then proceeded to say some of the most hateful things about conservatives I've ever heard. She talked about violence against Bush and things like that. I just felt she was lost and as a gay man, I was deeply disturbed and wanted her to leave the stage.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 6:47pm

"How is that different from Kathy Griffin?"

Griffin makes me laugh a lot more. I guess that's the difference for me.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 6:54pm

"Her REVOLUTION Tour was nearly unlistenable. I almost walked out. I came for comedy-not anger and bile."

I thought Assassin was better than Revolution. It was pretty angry, but it wasn't too long after the 2004 election, so it felt valid. Some of the jokes were just lame, though. I mean, does she realize that saying she thought Ronald Reagan was dead already isn't exactly an original joke?

[Marquise]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 7:37pm

Just wanted to say: Tom Wopat at his height = YUM.

Okay, you can carry on now.

[verynewyorkcurious]

Posted: 6/11/10 at 1:09am

I remember watching her when I was younger and thought she was the funniest woman ever. I watched it again when I got a little older and didn't find her as funny.

Her first filmed show, I'm The One That I Want, was probably her best. The stories about her eating disorders and her failed sitcom were very interesting and memorable. Her second filmed show, Notorious CHO was so obviously fictional. I couldn't bring myself to watch her last three filmed shows, not to their entirety anyway.

Most comedians have expiration dates. I think Margaret Cho passed her's a while back. Kathy Griffin is really close.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 6/11/10 at 6:52am

The better half and I listened to Margaret's book, I Have Chosen To Stay and Fight, on the way to Tennessee at Christmas. It was just a written version of the ranting she does on stage. She has this habit of listing things over and over. We would laugh at how long she would go on and on. Half way through we would forget what she was listing things ABOUT. I am just not a fan anymore. I think it was during I'm The One I Want when here stand up just lost my interest. Again with the repeating. It would be funny the first time she said it, then she would just repeat the punchline over and over. She's not my cup of tea anymore.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/11/10 at 9:47am

As an "insider" here, I can say that Margaret has thrown out her friends and started over more times than I can count. Along with a few others, I used to be friends with her, around the time of her sitcom "All American Girl," back in 1994. We used to hang out together then. She even talked about our little group in her standup, as did Kathy Griffin (another friend at that time). That was a little weird for me to see them talk about something we did in front of millions of people. At least she didn't name names (well, sometimes she did, but it was rare).

Margaret was brilliant, sweet, and struggling a lot---with her weight, her image, and herself. Not long after the sitcom ended, she dumped our little group as her "core group" of friends. She was very unhappy with everything. I wasn't the closest to her, but there were two, in particular, who were devastated by that sudden move. And it's not like we were "bad" for her. None of us did drugs or drank or partied excessively. But she wanted a clean slate, and we were among the casualties from that decision.

I saw her a few years later at a party and said hi. She nodded and said hi to me, very civilly, and just kept walking. That's the last time I saw her.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/11/10 at 10:30am

It's hard for me to articulate it, but there just seems to be a ... desperation, maybe, in her work that wasn't there back in the day. There's something about her - her voice, the way she's become very mannered, etc - that just doesn't ring authentic anymore.

All of the "I'm gay now. I'm so gay. Gay gay gay" just seemed a little much, too. I found it kind of off-putting and I never 100% bought it.
Updated On: 6/11/10 at 10:30 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/11/10 at 10:39am

I think it's true she morphed from stand-up comic to choir-preacher-to-er. But I do think choirs need a cheerleader and she's as good as any.

Is it the final bit of "I'm the One that I Want" where her narrative shifts from "I" to "we" when talking about self-love and body image? I remember that palpable shift when I saw the show live, and how jarring it was. But it was the very first example I ever witnessed of Margaret doing exactly what MrMidwest says, telling the audience what they want to hear and it's been that way ever since.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/11/10 at 10:44am

All I know is that she did an HBO special right around the time of All American Girl that was really really funny.

I also think that - and this could be part of the manneredness she seems to acquired - she always sounds like she's reciting stuff now whereas she used to sound more organic in her speak, if that makes any sense.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/11/10 at 11:01am

Phyllis - I recall one of my favorite lines from that special! When replying to someone who called her a "chink", Margaret shouts, "HEY! Don't call me a chink, a**hole, I'm Korean. I'm a gook!" (or something like that) I only saw part of that special once in a bar and I've been looking for a copy of it ever since.

But yes, she could use a bit more of the spontaneity in her shows again. Fresh material and a bit of rambling would do her good. It's one of the reasons Eddie Izzard is probably my favorite comedian. His bizarre tangents and then unexpectedly circling back always keeps you guessing as to whether he just makes sh*t up on stage and brings it back in, or if it was all planned from the beginning.

Yeah, I agree Margaret has evolved and changed. I do think there was always a bit of political bent in her, but the degree to which it came out in her material definitely changed. She became more politically active and I think she uses the audience as a forum sometimes because she knows her core audience. I've never had a problem with her using some of her performance to address personal or political issues that are relevant. And ever since All American Girl, she has addressed self-image, which is apparently an ongoing struggle for her. When she wants to share some of her insight, I never saw it as a negative. I think her shows are uniquely Margaret, which is why I guess I always like them.

Updated On: 6/11/10 at 11:01 AM