Despite her current zip code, comedian Margaret Cho’s love affair with the Bay Area will last a lifetime. Now living in Los Angeles with her dog and three cats, Cho says she’ll never give up on the place where she was born, raised, and rose to fame.
“I will always love the city,” Cho said by phone recently. “A lot of the freaks and weirdos have been priced out, but they're still around. We’re still in Oakland. We're still in Berkeley. We’re still able to be close. San Francisco is always going to be an incredibly important place to me.”
Cho made some time for a short call as she prepared to bring Choligarchy, her unabashedly political one-woman show, to the Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre from Sept. 15-19.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You’re bringing your show to Berkeley Rep after taking it to SF’s Palace of Fine Arts in May. As a show focused on political commentary, has your material had to evolve as the world has continued to devolve?
Yes, the show has to change, but the point is that the nature of what's happening is never going to change. The whole show is about how this country is on a rocket ship to total disaster and how it’s now more urgent than ever that we get [President Trump] out of the White House and stop him.
Despite the bleak subject matter, is there comfort to be found in gathering together and laughing at how awful things have become?
Yeah, it’s wonderful. There are also people who have enjoyed my work for other reasons who come and don’t expect to see such a politically charged, angry show. That has been a shock, in some cases. I’ve had some very difficult interactions over the course of this tour. I've had death threats in my face. A woman threatened to pump my head full of bullets and also to report me to Homeland Security. I’m like, ‘Bitch, which is it?’ Because if you pump my head full of bullets, there’s no reason to call Homeland Security at that point. That’s just dumb. But they are dumb. I definitely think the show is necessary, but also, it's been scary.
Let’s talk about San Francisco for a second. What do you make of the city’s identity today? Does San Francisco still feel special to you despite all the tech and real estate insanity?
It does. I love San Francisco. I will always love it. I love the renovation of the Castro Theatre. I love that we’re still putting money where it means something. The Castro Theatre is such an important landmark for us and it’s such a beautiful place, so I am thrilled about that kind of innovation. I’m thrilled about the stuff where we’re actually celebrating San Francisco in that way.
The Bay Area is one of many major cities currently dealing with the presence of ICE. As someone who is deeply familiar with the toll it takes on a family to have a loved one deported, what are your thoughts?
It’s terrifying. It’s also terrifying to me that the news coverage of it all has totally ceased. You don’t hear about what’s happening at Delaney Hall. Our news coverage is so controlled now by this administration that we’re not even aware that these violations — these egregious things ICE is doing — are even happening. Just finding that information is becoming more and more of a struggle.
You know ICE is evil when costing us the chance to see you on Heated Rivalry is like the billionth worst thing they’ve done.
I’m still so upset about it, but the actor playing Una is doing such a phenomenal job, so it’s no loss to the show. It’s a loss to me personally, and I hate that I acquiesced to the Trump administration over it. They just want us to be afraid, and I gave in to the fear. I should have just become Canadian. I might. I just might very soon.
You recently got some blowback for celebrating the death of Lindsey Graham. What do you make of people’s reactions?
The thing about Lindsey Graham, and what I think the right got wrong about it, is that I consider him family, because he’s clearly gay. I have a particular disdain for people who are closeted. Being out my whole life and having to endure homophobia and all that entails for so many decades, it enrages me when members of my family — the queer community — don’t live through the same thing. I think we have a special kind of hatred for our own. That’s why I felt like I had permission to be very, very frank about my feelings around him. They think that I’m callous and uncaring just because he’s a Republican. No! I’m callous and uncaring because he’s one of mine. He’s one of mine more than he’s one of yours, but their overreaction to that was really nuts. They threatened to kill my dog! What is that? How dare! She’s white! She’s one of you! But it was really awful. I do get scared of that stuff. I mean, they killed Melissa Hortman’s dog. Don’t fucking kill a dog. That’s not cool. I do fear political violence. I just don’t want to get shot by a dumb MAGA asshole cult member. That’s a clear, real legitimate fear, but it’s worth it to keep talking about what I think is important.
You can currently be seen in Gregg Araki's I Want Your Sex. The film contrasts differing views on sexuality between Gen Xers like yourself and Gen Alphas like Cooper Hoffman’s character. Was it fun to play with those dynamics?
It felt wonderful to finally be the wise ones. Gen X is very rarely the actual source of wisdom. Everybody has always looked to Boomers for that but, finally, we actually have something to offer. The wisdom here: Don’t be afraid to cringe. Cringe is courage. When you cringe, it’s because you reached for something. You were yearning for something. You were looking for something. You were being vulnerable, and that’s actually very powerful. I love being able to offer that lesson.
