Margaret Cho Gets Musical
Stand-up comic’s combination of humor and music in new album is preview of show that’s coming to Phoenix
By Lesley Goldberg

Margaret Cho is adding another skill to her already impressive repertoire and it’s all Cyndi Lauper’s fault.

The renowned stand-up comic and actress can list singer and songwriter on her impressive list of talents thanks to Lauper’s True Colors tour that benefitted LGBT causes and the Human Rights Campaign.

It was during one of the show’s famed group encore performances of Lauper’s “True Colors” ballad that the “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” singer noticed the comedian’s impressive pipes.

Lauper “was very excited about discovering that I could sing and really helped me a lot,” Cho said during a telephone interview from her Los Angeles home. “I knew that I could sing but it was her encouragement that got me there.”

Cho, whose mother is a singer and had long suspected the talent ran in the family, is combining her outrageous sense of humor and newfound singing skills on Cho Dependent, a new album of songs that are as funny as they are sincere.

Like the album, Cho’s stage show adds music to her witty tales and trademark raunchy humor. She’ll be in Phoenix on Sept. 18 for a show at the Dodge Theatre.

The album features tracks like “Intervention,” “I’m Sorry,” “Eat S*** and Die” and the hidden gem “Lesbian Escalation.” Cho Dependent teams the Drop Dead Diva star with scores of her talented friends: Tegan and Sara, Ben Lee, Grant Lee Phillips, Garrison Star, Fiona Apple, Patty Griffin, Rachael Yamagata and Ani DiFranco, many of whom co-wrote the songs with Cho.

For most of the tracks, Cho said she touched on personal and shared experiences as bait and said most of the songs came together quite easily.

“When I went to write with Patty Griffin, I had not met her before and I talked with her manager, who said that she’s obsessed with her dogs and country music,” Cho said. “I thought, ‘I want to write a country music song about a dog.’ And that’s how ‘Hey Big Dog’ came about. Then Fiona (Apple) really wanted to sing it after seeing it performed because her dog also has a fear of the wind.”

As for her collaboration with Yamagata — a bonus track available on the CD/digital copy — Cho touched on the oldest lesbian joke in the books: U-hauling to move in with a new lover.

“I do that all the time!” she said, laughing. “I do that with everybody though. I feel very male, too, I’ve done that with everybody. Immediately, like two weeks (in) or even less than that, like a couple days. But then you have to get out!”

Other tracks, like “Lice” featuring Lee, were more challenging. Cho said that while recording the song, more than any other, was hard to keep a straight face.

“I really wanted to laugh about ‘Lice’ because I actually had lice! I was in Morocco and Ben Lee, who produced a lot of the record, had written the melody and sent me the MP3 file. I was in North Africa and I had horrible head lice, which was really disgusting. I just thought, ‘Oh, I should write a song about it because this is so gross. That song is the closest thing to a parody because it’s done in a Bob Dylan style; it’s a parody of ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright’ — but it’s lice!”

Cho, who already plays piano, learned how to play guitar during the recording process and credited collaborators and longtime friends Jon Brion and Grant Lee Phillips as being among her best teachers. “They were incredibly helpful to me as teachers and they wrote songs that would help me learn, which was really amazing,” she said, noting that she’ll play some guitar during her live show.

But Cho’s guitar playing may not be the only surprise in store for her Phoenix show. “For the most part, to maintain the integrity of the recordings and because a lot of the artists won’t be touring with me, I’ll be playing the tracks and singing. I think Ben Lee is going to join me for some dates and I’m trying to see who else will come along.”

Cho is looking forward to returning to her stand-up gigs after playing an assistant on Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva for two seasons, a role she said she adores because of the way the show portrays women’s issues.

“It treats body image and women’s issues in regard to dieting and body size with such dignity, grace, hope and awareness,” she said. “It’s really great to have a show that’s very sensitive about that and it’s a really cool message.”

Cho said she would like to go back into the studio to record another album and hopefully work with Linda Perry, Nile Rogers and, if she’s lucky, David Bowie.

“I have a collaboration with my parents and I’m doing a song with them,” Cho teased. “It’s a trio, which is great. There are songs that I haven’t completed yet that I want to get on the next record. That’s my immediate future, then I’ll go back to Drop Dead Diva.”

VITAL STATISICS
Margaret Cho’s Cho Dependent
8 p.m. Sept. 18
Dodge Theatre
400 W. Washington St., Phoenix
Tickets: $40.50 and $57.60; VIP $112.50
www.ticketmaster.com

Cho Meet-and-Greet to Benefit Equality Walk

Margaret Cho has been unwavering in her support of LGBT causes and a special ticket to her Phoenix show will benefit the recent Equality Walk organized by Right to Marry: Arizona.

“I’m queer and this is my community,” Cho said. “We’re facing so much injustice when it comes to gay marriage. We have had some good victories lately with (California’s) Prop. 8 being struck down for being unconstitutional, but we still have a long way to go. To me, equality isn’t just for one community it’s for all communities. Selective equality isn’t right. There has to be a change coming.”

Cho serves on the Advisory Board for Marriage Equality USA, which is selling 50 tickets to the Sept. 18 show, including a pre-show meet-and-greet.

Tickets are $75 and, after expenses, proceeds will be split with the Human & Equal Rights Organizers (H.E.R.O.), the organization that organized the 98-mile walk in August in Northern Arizona.

Cho said she hoped the walkers made a loud statement. “We really have to make it a point that what we’re doing affects everyone all over the world. It’s a major civil rights movement that is important as the civil rights movement in the past and we need to recognize that,” she said. “It’s important that we have this right.”

The tickets can be obtained through www.marriageequality.org.