If any audience members at Cahn Auditorium Wednesday night wondered why comedian Margaret Cho was dressed in a long Asian skirt, a kimono-style shirt and an ornamental silver headdress, rather than her trademark miniskirt and black platforms, their questions were immediately answered.
“I was voted the 10th worst-dressed woman in America last year, and I thought, I’m going to go for number one,” Cho said.
When Cho “liberated” herself from her headdress,wig and high-heeled shoes, applause rang out from the sold-out crowd of more than 1,000 people.
And the laughter only got louder when Cho moved with characteristic bluntness to the issues she is most passionate about: body image, gay rights, racism and, most recently, the war in Iraq.
“It’s all a big penis contest,” Cho said. “But what Bush isn’t taking into consideration is that Saddam Hussein has foreskin.”
Cho began performing stand-up comedy at age 16 and gained fame and financial success with both her 1999 show “I’m the One That I Want,” and her 2001 show “The Notorious C.H.O.” In 1994, Cho also starred in her own sitcom, “All-American Girl,” which featured television’s first Asian-American family.
As one of the most prominent Asians in show business, Cho often works her personal experiences of racism into her material.
Cho, whose parents are Korean, joked how ridiculous and infuriating it is when people ask her about North Korean leader Kim Jong II.
“It’s like me going up to a redhead and going, ‘What’s up with the IRA?'” Cho said.
In another anecdote, Cho described a flight attendant handing out “Asian chicken salads” who lost his nerve as he handed one to her.
“‘Um,’ he goes, ‘chicken salad?'” Cho said, laughing. “What does he think I’m going to do?” Then, going into a sumo-wrestling stance and twisting her face into an angry, critical look, she shouted in a thick Asian accent, “This is not the salad of my people!”
But Cho frequently stopped dancing, jumping and rolling around the stage to stand atop her celebrity soapbox.
At one point she described the disgust she felt watching a television show that profiled 15-year-old girls with breast implants.
“It’s like foot-binding in China or genital mutilation,” Cho said. “What’s the difference?”
One audience member, Ryan MacGavin, said he was impressed by Cho’s mix of comedy and activism.
“The way she is always switching to seriousness is really effective to reach the audience on a different level,” said MacGavin, a Music sophomore. “It’s so honest and sincere.”
Putting a humorous twist on that honesty, Cho frankly discussed her personal life including her “frustrating and embarrassing” experiences growing up in an immigrant family, life-long battle with eating disorders and a recently ended long-term relationship.
“I feel like a prostitute that works for really low rates,” said Cho, describing how sex practices change when living with a partner. “I’ll do oral and anal if you take out the garbage.”
Cho has been criticized for her straightforward approach to offensive subjects and blunt language — toward the end of the show she recited a long list of racial, homosexual and gender slurs.
When Alan Fu, the Asian American Advisory Board president, heard in February that Cho was still available for booking but that she was charging a $20,000 fee, he thought he might be able to bring her to campus next Fall Quarter. But after raising $10,000 in one week, he decided to push for a Spring Quarter appearance.
Despite the fact that the Student Activities Finance Board only allocated $3,500 to AAAB for Spring Quarter events, Fu was able to cover the full cost of bringing Cho to campus with ticket sales, fund raising and cosponsorship.
Seventeen Northwestern groups decided to sponsor the event.
“She’s constantly trying to empower certain oppressed minorities and they have all come out to support this event,” Fu said, explaining the extensive list of event sponsors.
“And given last quarter with all the hateful and racist acts of vandalism,” he added, “I hope (bringing Cho) serves the purpose of building some kind of community on campus.”
