.margaretcho joined TheCut's In Her Shoes podcast to talk about her career, FireIslandMovie, and how her family and race have shaped her comedy
Photo: Albert Sanchez Margaret Cho is a comedy giant and a stand-up legend who has paved the way for so many of the women in comedy we love today and shown the world what it looks like for an Asian American woman to be loud, vulgar, quirky, and outright hilarious. Thankfully for us, she shows no signs of slowing down. This Pride Month, she’s as busy as ever, writing new material, acting, and prepping to go out on tour. She’s also co-starring in Fire Island with Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang.
Margaret: Well, those things have an emotional charge, and it’s really about trying to find hope in something, and then … Laughter is this involuntary intake of breath which you don’t expect. It carries you into life to live the next moment. So really finding humor is a way to find hope and another reason to live, so it’s quite poetic actually.
Lindsay: What was the comedy scene like when you first started? You’ve been such a pioneer for so many people in comedy, and specifically women of color. Do you feel like a lot has changed? Lindsay: You also have a podcast, Mortal Minority, and season two was about Asian American hate crimes and historical context around them. You’ve talked a lot about racism that a lot of Asian Americans have experienced. How have you personally grappled with that? And is there anything that you learned during that season that you didn’t know or realize was happening?
Margaret: It’s very hard because the trauma remains, and then you’re not allowed to heal from it, and then there’s another trauma on top of it, so it’s very difficult to manage that; to manage all of the weight of that suffering and trying to find a solution. But there’s got to be some hope through that. It’s just so alarming that some people feel so strong about the gun issue when we’ve proven time and time again, none of their solutions work.
Margaret: It’s hard. It’s hard to find a place of peace within our own bodies, and again, this is where the patriarchy and white supremacy has really invaded our mindset, where we can’t accept and love who we are because of this proposed ideal that doesn’t really even exist in life. I mean, it’s a very weird thing, trying to attain something that’s not even real.
Lindsay: Do you feel like if you are doing all of those things, it helps you stay in the mindset of being creative and helps you be sharper because you’re not just focusing on what your next standup is going to be? Lindsay: Well, the people won’t be able to see your pink mic for Pride, but we’re at the start of Pride.Lindsay: And what do you have planned? What are you looking forward to?
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