Jams to jokes: Margaret Cho does it all

This weekend, Pittsburgh will be hit with a deluge of diversity when America’s most prominent… This weekend, Pittsburgh will be hit with a deluge of diversity when America’s most prominent female queer Korean performer storms into town, wielding her characteristic wit alongside a freshly brandished guitar. On Saturday, comedian extraordinaire Margaret Cho will perform at the Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead. With her ‘Beautiful’ tour now finished, the show will be made up mostly of new, developing material. However, in the spirit of Cho’s diverse identity and equally diverse career, the show also features her burgeoning foray into the realm of comedy music. ‘I’ve been doing music stuff for about five years now,’ said Cho. ‘I was mostly singing to tracks and doing stuff with rap music, but now I’m playing guitar. I’m actually pretty good. It’s really cool to pick up an instrument at 40 and be pretty good at it.’ The show will also feature Ian Harvie, a transgender comedian. ‘He’s a very funny, very smart female-to-male comedian,’ said Cho. ‘He’s incredible. I’m really proud of him.’ Cho’s past shows featured very strong themes, from her familial and personal experiences of ‘I’m the One that I Want’ to the more political messages of her more recent tours. Regarding the theme of this show, Cho says that the material is still evolving. ‘It’s not experimental ‘mdash; well, the comedy stuff is experimental, but the standup is all me,’ said Cho. ‘I’m still putting together the theme of my next show, so I’d say the material [for Saturday’s show] is developing.’ Of course, Cho has more going on than just her stand-up tours these days, the most prominent and exciting of which is her role in the new Lifetime ensemble drama ‘Drop Dead Diva.’ Cho will be moving to Atlanta to film ‘Diva’ and will simultaneously work on her new comedy album, featuring the songs that she will play at Saturday’s show. A project that Cho might have to put to the side is ‘The Cho Show,’ her VH1 reality show that follows her and her family, in the style of ‘Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List’. However, Cho sees herself as a unique personality in the blasted wasteland of ‘follow-me-around’ reality. ‘I’m pretty sure I’m the first person to get anal bleaching on reality TV,’ joked Cho. ‘I wanted the show to be extremely outrageous ‘- which I feel I accomplished ‘- but I also wanted it to be a sort of Asian-American sitcom that used my actual family instead of actors meant to imitate them,’ she said.’ As for the near future, Cho will continue to tour, as well as perform in a few specialized country-themed shows called ‘Fingerbang.’ In the summer, she will travel across the Atlantic to do shows, as well as continue to pursue her other projects. ‘I’ve really just made it a point to do different things over the years ‘- it’s exciting to change things up,’ said Cho. ‘As I get older, I want to keep fresh and current and keep doing new things. Sometimes comedians don’t grow because they get too attached to their old material and to staying in their safe zones, in terms of subjects and of audiences. I just want to do everything.’