Margaret Cho’s The Psycho Tour makes its Asian debut in Singapore
Margaret Cho promises to be more disruptive than Adam Lambert.
Comedian Margaret Cho first came to prominence playing the lead role in the sitcom All-American Girl in 1994, one of the first American TV shows to prominently feature an East-Asian family, twenty years ago.
In more recent times, the famously non-conformist Korean-American has gained notoriety for her stand-up routines, where she takes aim at social and political issues, especially race and sexuality. She has been actively championing LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights and has also won awards for her humanitarian efforts on behalf of women, Asians and the LGBT community.
Cho’s outspoken nature and her controversial political views have gained her numerous critics and “haters”. Conservative political and religious groups have taken particular offence at her chosen comedic topics, such as substance abuse, eating disorders, her bisexuality and obsession with gay men, and Asian-American stereotypes, among others. But given her early struggles with fitting in, which led to an eating disorder, these were also natural fodder for her winning material.
And following her ground breaking but short-lived ABC sitcom All-American Girl, she found success with her one-woman shows. Cho would return to television in 2008 with the VH1 series The Cho Show before landing a starring role in the comedy/drama series Drop Dead Diva. The multiple-Emmy-and-Grammy-Award-nominated comedian came back to the stand-up stage last year with The Psycho Tour, which finds its way to Singapore before it heads to Hong Kong and then back to the US.
Cho has taken on a lot, and credits the late David Bowie for giving her the inspiration to do what she does. “I had been such a fan since I can’t remember. I know that his music and everything about him was an important part of my upbringing,” she said.
In fact, she had met Bowie about a decade ago and blogged extensively about him during Bowie’s 2004 Reality tour, even helping out with press releases and the like. Like many fans, Bowie’s recent demise has deeply affected Cho.
“He was so beautiful and such a fan. Not prepared to deal with that. Can’t accept it. It’s very hard. He gave a lot of people the right to be weird, to be gay and to be different. Just a freaky alien,” she shared.
Cho went on to muse on mortality, having lost three of her biggest influences in recent times — besides Bowie, they were comedians Robin Williams and Joan Rivers.
“(It) reminded me of my childhood self. The loss of them re-evaluated meaning in my life — bringing me back to the time when I first discovered my art at a young age. Still crippled by the fact.”
But these revelations did not touch on why Cho had decided to deal with political issues in her art, especially for those who insist that politics should be left to the politicians.
“I wish I could (leave it to them) — but they can’t do their job. There is no justice. You must comment. Politics is life. I am scared about Donald Trump — there’s so much racism, fear of the other … (who are) not seen as Americans,” she explained.
At the thought of the current socio-political climate in the US, Cho became very serious, pointing out that “the situation is as bad as what was portrayed in the press”.
“When I was touring Europe, I was apologising for Donald Trump. It is a backward way of thinking of immigration. Terrible. It’s just really difficult,” she said, adding that racism is not limited to conservatives but can be found even in very liberal circles, such as the Hollywood film industry.
“They still do not cast Asian actors to play Asian parts! It’s all whitewashed.”
To support her assertion, Cho went on to cite examples such as the casting of Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One in Dr Strange (a Tibetan in the original comic book) and Scarlett Johansson in the movie adaptation of the Japanese anime Ghost In The Shell.
Cho had an enlightening rationale for naming her tour The Psycho Tour. “It’s about harnessing rage — I want to reclaim the word as a healing power. I don’t believe in forgiveness and don’t wanna take the high road. I know this is a pretty dangerous way for a woman to act,” she said.
So what does Cho have in store for Singapore, her very first show in Asia? She promised a show that would be more gay and raunchy than Adam Lambert’s, referencing the local petition to prevent Lambert from performing at the recent Countdown 2016 show.
“Time to work on my gayness. It’ll be more disruptive to the moral fabric in Singapore than Adam Lambert could ever be! I will be focusing on topics like the Asian-American experience, gay stuff and that Singapore church that used church money to fund its pastor’s wife’s pop career.”
Margaret Cho: The Psycho Tour is on March 5, 3pm and 8pm, at Kallang Theatre. Tickets available from SISTIC.