Margaret Cho is back on the road with a new stand-up comedy tour, following her acclaimed appearances on TV shows like “Drop Dead Diva” and “30 Rock,” the latter of which garnered her an Emmy nomination.
Her new comedy show, “Mother,” offers Cho’s untraditional look at motherhood, maternal figures and strong women in queer culture.
Cho spoke to PGN about the state of politics and pop culture, and her new tour, which swings through Wilmington, Del., Oct. 9.
PGN: What can you tell us about your new show, “Mother”? MC: It’s lots of stuff about my mom and about the idea that, as we get older, women in their 40s are often regarded as mother figures. That’s what I’m riffing on, but it’s also a very raunchy show and it’s smart. So I thought it would be funny to call the show “Mother” because you think of mothers as being very sacred and holy, but then, you don’t get to be a mother unless you have sex. Every mother knows about that. That’s what the show is. I talk about mother figures in pop culture like Madonna and Lady Gaga. It’s also my own take on motherhood. I don’t know if it’s going to be in my future, but I know I am kind of a mother to the world.
PGN: We’re glad to hear the new show is edgy because your last tour was named “Beautiful,” and with “Mother” we were beginning to worry that you were getting into a warm, fuzzy phase, kind of like when Mariah Carey was naming her albums stuff like “Rainbow,” “Unicorn” and “Pink Fuzzy Slippers.” MC: It’s even more so. It kind of makes it more provocative. I have posters of me on a motorcycle. It’s like motorcycle mama.
PGN: Are you talking about the election in your new show? MC: I’m going more into political issues like the whole Chick-fil-A drama and gay marriage and even Paris Hilton and Grinder. Every day is something. Whatever time I have, yes, it’s always going to be political. I worked for Obama in Philadelphia in 2008 on the campaign. So now I’m definitely going to be back to support him. There’s so much going on in pop culture and gay culture, so I’m trying to fit it all in.
PGN: Do you find it shocking that there are people who still don’t know who they are going to vote for? MC: Yeah. It’s so crazy. Mitt Romney is so clueless. It’s such a bad idea. I don’t know why people think he’s going to solve anything. It’s really wrong.
PGN: Do you have any opinion about Log Cabin Republicans, who continue to support Romney despite the fact that he supports antigay legislation? MC: It’s a very weird phenomenon. I don’t know exactly what makes them want to support an organization that denies them their rights and denies that they are equal in the eyes of the law and the government. It’s a very strange thing. I don’t understand them.
PGN: Congratulations on your Emmy nomination for your appearances on “30 Rock.” MC: Thank you.
PGN: Did you have the opportunity to give Tracy Morgan the stink-eye when you were on the show? MC: Actually, when I worked with him, I did three episodes and the first one I did all with him, and this was before all that — when he talked about wanting to kill his son for being gay — happened. After that, I didn’t see him at all. The way I’m on the show, my scenes are on their own, so I didn’t get any contact with him and I don’t know him at all socially. It’s hard to believe that someone would be that homophobic and then work on a show that is very much kind of geared to a gay audience. Tina Fey is a big supporter of the gay community and always has been. And a lot of the people who work on that show are gay. So it seems odd to me that someone who works there and is in contact with gay people all the time would be able to be so homophobic like that. It’s so weird.
PGN: Do you think his apology was sincere? MC: I don’t know. I’m sure it was a measure of trying to do damage control for the show and for himself. I think when people realize that, Oh, I didn’t realize homophobia was so deep within me, that’s a realization and they go through that. But at the same time, when you say, “I want to kill a gay person,” it’s hard to take that away. I don’t know how I can get over that you said you want to kill gay people. It’s a very deep, dark statement. It’s really frightening. Comedy is catching up in the way that we talk about gays. You used to not be able to keep up on when things like that happened because comedy is by nature a very homophobic, sexist and racist community. People like myself, we always want to try to laugh it off because for years we were insanely outnumbered. Now, the way that the media is, you can have everybody kind of listening to everything that happens. Then you have more people to back you up. It’s an odd situation for comics because a lot of things that are said on stage maybe weren’t meant for this world to see. Maybe it was meant for only people in that room to see. It’s negative and positive in the way that we can’t control the messages that are out there, but in this specific case it was a really strange one. I can’t imagine someone who is surrounded by gay people could be that homophobic. It’s very weird.
PGN: Have you ever been in a position where someone criticized you for something you said on stage and wanted you to apologize? MC: No, not on stage. I have been confronted on stuff I did for a talking-head thing for CNN. The one time I did get in trouble was in 2003 for talking about George W. Bush. People were not angry at Bush just yet. Nobody had any problems with him, and I did. I was really threatened. It was the same conservatives who are so angry and they lash out in the form of homophobia, sexism and racism. It didn’t hurt me because it was invalid as an argument. That I’m a lesbian is not a valid political argument. That’s not an argument. Bristol Palin’s argument to me was, “Why don’t you go to a k.d. lang concert?” To me, that’s not an insult, but to her it is. I’m not attacked in the same way as a lot of comedians. I am queer and I am a woman of color, and these are things that often get people in trouble.
PGN: You perform in theaters for the most part but sometimes you go back to doing clubs. Which do you prefer? MC: I love both. I love the energy of a comedy club. There’s a different feeling. The best place for writing and making acts better is a comedy club. There’s no better environment to put your stuff together. I come from the era of Bill Hicks, who was a god in the comedy clubs. There’s something about doing multiple shows a night in a more intimate space. I love theaters, of course, but I like to do a year of smaller clubs, then I’ll do a year of huge venues.
PGN: We loved the cabaret show you did a few years back, “The Sensuous Woman.” Are you ever going to do a show like that again? MC: Maybe. That was a great experience but it was difficult to do physically. It was a little much for me but I did really enjoy it. If I were to do something like that it would be pretty isolated. I thought about doing something like that with a musician friend of mine, Peaches. She’s amazing. There’s always the possibility but I don’t have a set plan. There may be something along the lines of that, but not on the same scale.
Margaret Cho performs 8 p.m. Oct. 9 at DuPont Theatre, 1007 N. Market St. in Wilmington, Del. For more information or tickets, call 800-338-0881 or visit www.margaretcho.com.