Margaret Cho’s Sunday night performance at the Orpheum solidified her title as a comedic genius.
Cho brought pure hilarity, true humility and outrageous honesty to Madison for her “Fresh Off the Bloat” comedy tour. She unapologetically put her true self out there with just the perfect recipe of sass and grace. She touched upon many different subjects including her family, current events and — as to be expected — sex.
Cho strutted onto the stage in a long shirt that read “Revolution” on the front and “Climate” on the back. Tights, boots and black booty shorts completed the rest of the outfit. She then showed off her short-shorts and immediately started off her show by twerking and booty popping. This smoothly eased the audience into the rest of her content. She is a seasoned professional and it is extremely evident in the way that she carries herself and transitions between stories.
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The best part about Cho is that she is authentic — she does not put on a fake persona on stage. She tells personal stories no matter how graphic. Some of her raunchy or more risqué material might initially freak some viewers out, yet, a lot of truths lie in such provocative lines. We may not have all “been there” when it comes to some of the specific sexual scenarios she touches upon, but they still matter and deserve to be heard and laughed at. She can cause audience members to feel for her but also get a release from their own lives and in turn, feel better about their own weird, freaky or embarrassing experiences.
A portion of her content is based on more sensitive topics such as drug abuse and sexual assault, which many comedians might not even dare to cover. However, due to Cho’s personal connections to these topics, she knows just how to propose them to the audience in a way that shows her sincerity, knowledge and awareness of the issues. #ChoKnows.
Just when you wouldn’t expect it, her one-liners will take you by surprise. She brings about phrases or makes references to things no average viewer would initially make a connection to, and such references are always one-hundred percent spot on. The flow of content is very organized, and although she goes on tangents from time to time, they are necessary and dramatize her original point — which she would then get back to.
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There’s a format or rubric she follows in order to prove a thesis which includes supporting examples. If she was enrolled in a Comm. B course at UW, her T.A. would give her an A in public speaking , but her fellow classmates might wonder why she’s talking about having sex with older men when the assignment was actually about the Hostile Media Phenomenon.
It might sound a bit odd that the only thing I could think about after leaving a comedy show that mostly consisted of sexual jokes was that I felt inspired, but that’s the effect that Cho had on me. I laughed so hard my rib cage felt inflamed and the muscles on my face were sore. I literally could not! I almost had no words to even compose this article. She was just too smart, too vivacious and too fucking entertaining. She is already a living legend and if you have not had the chance to see her yet, what are you doing with your life?
