Margaret Cho shows up the burlesque revival
By Larry Nichols
PGN Staff Writer
© 2007 Philadelphia Gay News
Margaret Cho shows up the burlesque revival
By Larry Nichols
PGN Staff Writer
© 2007 Philadelphia Gay News
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| MARGARET CHO |
Aside from going back in time and watching gladiators in a coliseum getting shredded by tigers, no other spectacle offers as much excitement, verve and shameless decadence as a burlesque show.
Fittingly, comedy superstar Margaret Cho has put together her own burlesque extravaganza, “The Sensuous Woman,” which kicked off a four-week run of shows in New York City at the Zipper Factory, 336 W. 37th St.
Even by Cho’s standard of juggling numerous projects, this undertaking is all the more impressive considering this year has seen her appear in a number of TV projects (Fox’s “Til Death,” the Sci-fi Channel’s “The Lost Room” and Logo’s “Outlaugh Festival” to name a few), as well as performing in her own solo shows and the inaugural queer-friendly True Colors Tour in the summer with Cyndi Lauper, Erasure and the Dresden Dolls.
Cho slowed down long enough to talk about “The Sensuous Woman” while she was in the process of moving into her newly acquired New York City home.
“I’ve been working on it since last April,” she said. “A lot of the people that are in the show are artists that I’ve been working with for the last couple of years. I sort of mentor a lot of queer comics. There are three of them in the show that used to open for me. It’s a pretty tight family.”
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| MARGARET CHO |
That family includes burlesque performers Selene Luna and Miss Dirty Martini, actor Liam Sullivan, dancer and choreographer Ryan Heffington and sketch comedians Diana Yanez and Kurt Hall of the Gay Mafia.
Cho said that each performer brings something unique to “The Sensuous Woman.”
“Some of it is collaboration and then some of it is stuff I wanted to do,” she said of the show’s creative process. “It’s all kind of a mix. Ultimately, it’s a big collaborative effort. These are people I hired because they love what they do and I love what they’re about.”
One of the comics appearing in “The Sensuous Woman” is transgender, Ian Harvie, whom Cho took under her comedic wing.
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| IAN HARVIE |
“I met her in Los Angeles at a little bar where she was working out some new material. I introduced myself and I told her what I did,” Harvie said. “We talked through MySpace and she watched my reel online. It kind of snowballed from there. Within a month of that, I performed on one of her shows. She’s an incredible mentor and really generous to share the stage with a cast of nearly 10 people. It’s not very often that people do that, especially in comedy.”
Harvie, who by all accounts is raucously funny, has only been doing stand-up for five years, which is impressive considering the company she is keeping these days.
“I’m a late bloomer into stand-up comedy,” she said. “I had done other things. I play guitar and sing miserably. I’ve done other things in the entertainment field but comedy is the only one that really stuck.”
Harvie said that, given her shortcomings in other art forms, her participation in the show doesn’t stray too far from her comedic talents.
“I do comedy and take part in a couple of dance numbers. It’s hard to describe without giving too much away. But my primary role is to do stand-up. It’s such a great show and a diverse group of people doing such beautiful, fun, liberating things.”
Though Harvie performs stand-up for both mainstream and queer audiences, she said she doesn’t shy away from transgender issues in her act.
“I have a female body but I have a masculine voice,” she explained. “I think it’s an unavoidable topic. It would be wrong to not address it. I don’t force-feed it and I don’t beat it to death. I share it and I get a little bit vulnerable but not so vulnerable that it’s uncomfortable. My hope in doing this is to make people laugh, but I’m also hoping people walk away with a little more understanding on what transsexuals and the transgender feel like.
The only time I really change up my routine is if I’m going to do an AARP convention, because those people just don’t get queer and trans material. If I see a sea of blue hair in the audience I change it up. I’m not a vaudeville MC kind of performer.”
For Cho, who has often performed solo, working collaboratively hasn’t taken any of the pressure off her.
“It’s a different kind of thing because it’s more of an ensemble effort. In a way it’s harder because working with other people is always a little bit harder, but it’s a lot of fun,” she said.
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| MARGARET CHO |
Cho’s stand-up concerts have always carried some kind of political and social message among the jokes and she said that there’s a distinct message in “The Sensuous Woman.”
“It’s pretty overt in that we just don’t have a real understanding of what women’s bodies look like,” she said. “There’s a tremendous disrespect towards women and a disconnect when we’re talking about the female form. This show is really a tribute to how beautiful all women are and how different we are. And it’s not just women. It’s women and queers, really. It’s a very feminist show. It’s a very queer show. It’s funny to have a queer show that’s featuring women’s bodies.”
Cho has talked openly about issues with her body and the media’s perception of it on many of her comedy tours and DVDs. It’s an issue that is all the more timely given the recent media frenzy that followed Britney Spears’ lackluster comeback performance on MTV’s Video Music Awards earlier this month: The tabloids seemed hell-bent on calling her fat.
“She’s not fat,” Cho said. “When people say that she’s fat, there’s something profoundly wrong with our society when people criticize her for her body. She’s perfectly beautiful. I mean, the bitch was high — oh, yes, she was fucked up! But she looked good.”
In “Sensuous Woman,” Cho promises to tackle weightier issues than Spears.
“I do stand-up all throughout the show and a lot of it is current-events stuff. That’s where a lot of the improvisation happens.”
The show will also feature Cho singing, dancing and teasing, which should give her fans ample opportunity to check out her recent and extensive series of tattoos, most of which were done by artists like the legendary Ed Hardy and Kat Von D of reality show “LA Ink.”
“It’s all a work in progress,” she said. “I think I’m done getting tattoos for a little bit because I have so many now. They cover my back, my arms and my stomach. I think I might take a little breather.”
“The Sensuous Woman” is scheduled for only four weeks in New York, but Cho is working on taking the show across the globe.
However, fans of Cho’s stand-up will be relieved to know that she is not forsaking traditional comedy for a career in burlesque.
“I’ll be doing my own stand-up shows pretty soon,” she said. “I’ll be returning to that right after we finish this run in November. Then I’m starting to work on my own one-woman show that will be touring next year.”
And in typical workaholic fashion, Cho continues to undertake several simultaneous projects outside of live comedy.
She recently directed a short film about belly dancing — a topic she said is close to her heart — starring Yunjin Kim, Tamlyn Tomita, Tessa Ludwick and Kal Penn. Cho said the film, “Two Sisters,” should be on the film festival circuit next year.
In the meantime, “The Sensuous Woman” runs through Oct. 20. For more information on the show and the performers, visit www.margaretcho.com or call (212) 532-3101.
Larry Nichols can be reached at larry@epgn.com.