For 30 years Margaret Cho has held her ground as a comedic powerhouse overcoming race, gender, and social expectations. (Photo Courtesy of StandUpLive)From her breakout role as Margaret Kim in the 1994 ABC hit show "All-American Girl," to her long standing career as stand up comedian, Margaret Cho has epitomized what it means to be funny in America for over 30 years.
She actively encourages more women to pursue comedy.
“Comedy gave my life meaning and is my source of spirituality, which is why I like to support women comics and promote females to have a voice."
Cho faced her fair share of obstacles, from her very public struggles with body image that resulted in kidney failure, due to the entertainment industry’s pressure to be thin, to her brief experimentation with drugs, she has flipped each adversity and hardship on its head choosing to laugh at it rather than let it break her.
Cho targets substance abuse, eating disorders, her bisexuality and obsession with gay men and Asian-American stereotypes. Her campaign to squelch social injustices has been applauded by many organizations, earning her accolades from organizations the likes of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the National Organization for Women, American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and has even earned the city of San Francisco declaring April 30 “Margaret Cho Day.”
For 30 years Margaret Cho has held her ground as a comedic powerhouse overcoming race, gender, and social expectations. (Photo Courtesy of StandUpLive)With her uniquely candid commentary and acerbic social criticism, Cho turned the comedic stage into her advocacy platform against social inequality. Gender, race, bullying and domestic violence are all issues that Cho has worked on.
“The most important thing in the world is to stop the violence towards women, people of color, gay, lesbian and transgender people," Cho said. “It’s an issue that has always been important to my heart and for me I feel that comedy is a way to share my message with people.”
Having performed her socially provocative brand of barefaced comedy all over the world — places like Helsinki, Finland, and Zurich, Switzerland, Irvine, California and Buffalo, New York — Cho promises to tackle a variety of modern issues such as domestic violence and racism.
On Oct. 10 and 11, Cho will bring her comedic prowess to Phoenix when she performs at the Stand Up Live comedy club located at 50 W. Jefferson St. #200, Phoenix, Ariz., 85003, in the Cityscape shopping center. Show times start at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $30. This is sure to be a show you don’t want to miss.
Reach the reporter at oprichar@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @OliviaRichard1
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