Last year Margaret Cho charmed and tickled audiences with The Sensuous Woman, a burlesque-style variety show that took us on a belly dancing, rhinestone encrusted, pasty twirling journey to explore what makes a woman well sensuous. Now SuicideGirls favorite funny lady is back with Beautiful, a show Cho describes as celebrating nakedness and feeling beautiful and feeling like we are powerful. She is truly a woman after our own hearts, defining beauty by her own standards. From her stand-up nights in San Francisco in the 80s to her arduous days battling Hollywood stereotypes in the 90s, the comedian and actress has become one of todays strongest voices for female empowerment and sexuality.
SuicideGirls caught up with Cho on tour to chat about nakedness, getting the G-shot, and her new TV series The Cho Show which premieres August 21st on VH1.
Erin Broadley: How have things been since last we talked? Youre still out on the road.
Margaret Cho: Im always. Its funny because Im never really off the road. Most of my work is done on the road; I think I spend about three or four days a week traveling and then the rest of the time Im in LA. Im working on this new TV show called the Cho Show.
EB: So I heard.
MC: Its really great. So I do that three or four days a week and then I travel three or four days a week. Its pretty crazy right now.
EB: Can you tell us what to expect in the show?
MC: Its not really a reality show even though its based in reality. Ive never seen anything like it. It would be similar to something like Curb Your Enthusiasm where its like a comedy improv show. You get into comedic situations and then you improv and its really great. I love doing it. It stars me some great friends, my gays, and my parents, and theyre really hilarious. We do things like get a totally dark spray fake tan or anal bleaching. You never know.
EB: [Laughs] With your parents. When does it air?
MC: Itll start in the summer on VH1, on August 21st.
EB: Any special guest appearances?
MC: Mostly really cool women Kat Von D to Joan Rivers to Nina Hartley to Wanda Sykes and Michele Rodriguez. Just really cool women.
EB: One of our columnists, Brad Warner, just interviewed Nina Hartley. Shes fascinating.
MC: Yeah, shes great. Shes a good friend of mine. Shes so brilliant and such a pioneer for women and for sexuality. Its really great because shes still a porn star, which is awesome. It gives women like me who are older a lot of hope for the future. You can still be sexual at your age. Im older and I can still feel like a porn star and thats great. Somehow, women for a long time have not been seen as sexual over the age of 25. Thats so creepy.
EB: Why do you think there is still this obsession with nymphet sexuality?
MC: For myself, I didnt even start having good sex until I was well into my 30s because I didnt know what to do. I just had no idea. I had all these weird body issues and I didnt know how to enjoy myself or ask for what I wanted, or know how to communicate what I liked. It was all jumbled and confused.
EB: Like it didnt belong to you?
MC: Right.
EB: In your last column for SG you wrote about how growing up and how it took you a long time to feel beautiful and how sad it is when you feel so ugly that you dont have a right to choose anything tragic that is. But once it belongs to you, thats where the fun happens.
MC: Right. You stop thinking about sex in terms of what youve seen in mainstream movies and thinking that you have to have an orgasm from intercourse which, to me, I cant even imagine having an orgasm from intercourse. Thats the most boring thing I could think of doing [laughs]. Why would anyone want to have an orgasm through intercourse? Thats so boring. I used to think that thats how you were supposed to have sex and if you couldnt have an orgasm during intercourse that you just didnt count. Like, you just had to go without. [Laughs] For me, intercourse has never really felt good. Only now it feels good because I know how to make it feel good for me.
EB: You blogged about getting the G-shot. What led to that decision?
MC: That was part of my TV show. I was curious about it because Im a person that has never has orgasms from intercourse so I thought thats what this procedure is for; Its for women who have not had the G-spot thing. I never had the G-spot thing and I thought, Oh, I dont have one. It was kind of an unpleasant experience. We shot this big segment about it; I think its very funny to get a fuckin full-on pelvic exam on camera. I really liked it [laughs]. The doctor was like looking for the G-spot and she found an area inside that was more sensitive than other areas so I guess thats supposed to be your G-spot or whatever. So they inject it with Lidocaine or Novocain -- one of those numbing agents -- and then they pull out a HUGE needle and they push in a big collagen bead under there, and it puffs it up. But for me, I found that I didnt even want to have sex at all afterward.
EB: Really?
MC: That was really weird because I always want to do it. But this just totally shut me down, completely for a month. Im sure that it works for some women, I think that the majority of women out there but for me it just was not the way that my equipment worked. I think that sexuality is so specific to your biology and so connected to your mind that even if you shift something in your body, you cant shift your mind. I wanted it to work so bad.
EB: I saw the pictures of you and Dave Navarro where you wrote, Even this couldnt make my G-shot work. [Laughs]
MC: [Laughs] I know! Even that! Hes so cute. It just felt like I had left something in there. [Laughs] It was a weird sensation. I want there to be advances for women to enjoy sexuality so I believe in the concept of it, unfortunately it didnt work for me. It sucks too because it would be so cool if you could have better orgasms
EB: It beats Botox.
MC: Oh, I know. It so beats Botox. It made me appreciate that the way that I am is naturally the best and thats great. Im pretty adventurous nowadays about sexuality and going beyond what is just partnered sex. Im super into machines and the idea of machines.
EB: Really?
MC: I love my Hitachi Magic Wand. So much. There is a lifetime guarantee for one but Ive gone through 10 them. They are the best things for womens sexuality, ever. And I know Nina Hartley totally agrees with me. We both are big fans. It changes your life. Its such a beautiful invention. Ive introduced it into partnered sex before and Guys are so weird sometimes about sex toys. The cool ones understand that they can use it to their advantage. Can you make a Hitachi Magic Wand thats a robot?
EB: Theyre always premiering sex robots at conventions and stuff.
MC: I want a robot. Not a real doll; thats too much human being. Make it like a machine, a robot.
EB: They have robots that clean your floors already.
MC: Yeah, they should have a genital Roomba.
EB: [Laughs] In our last interview about your show The Sensuous Woman, you mentioned there were political elements to the variety show and burlesque performances. With the Beautiful show and the upcoming election, how has the political environment shaped the way this tour is going?
MC: This show is really about how we should feel beautiful and that we define beauty through our own standards. When you feel beautiful, youre going to have more of a willingness to use your voice to speak up, to be very political, to have an opinion and to voice your opinion. Im naked all the time. In my new TV show Im constantly naked. I think its really important for we as people to know what a 39-year-old woman looks like. Thats so vital to me. Im naked all the time because I think its really political to take your clothes off if you feel different, if you have tattoos, or whatever. This is why I love the Suicide Girls, because its so political. Its different. Its beautiful. I think people are so scared of being judged and of being looked at a certain way, scared of feeling like theres something wrong with them. You can be naked and totally unashamed and celebrate it or not to fear it This show is about that nakedness, feeling beautiful and feeling like we are powerful.
EB: You did a mother daughter beauty pageant for the Cho Show. For young women, how do you see the mother daughter relationship as shaping a girls idea of beauty and body. How did your experiences growing up affect your decision to want to do a mother daughter beauty pageant.
MC: My mother and I had a hard time when we were growing up because my mother is a lot curvier than generally Asian women are. Most of the Asian women in my family are super-small and thin and tiny. My mother and I are both pretty curvy for Asian women. She had a hard time with her own body image and feeling good about herself. I had a hard time because I was following her example of constant dieting and constant body shame and fear about and knowing that I was different and feeling really insecure. I thought this mother daughter pageant was great because it allowed all these different women who had never been in a beauty contest before, to finally be able to do it. It was a great moment of exciting fun. I really enjoyed that experience. Its very hard to grow up and feel so insecure and my mom was also very insecure it was very tough because I didnt have that sort of person to look to tell me that I was okay. Nowadays I feel good about myself and my mom feels really good about herself.
EB: On March 21st you blogged about the Pope and how he unveiled some new sins. You added a couple of your own, including tailgating, which should definitely be a cardinal sin
MC: [Laughs]
EB: Being the road warrior you are, what are some of the cardinal sins of touring?
MC: Shitting on the tour bus. Never. Dont ever. No solids.
[Both laugh]
Margaret Cho is currently on tour with Beautiful. For more information and to check out her blog, go to http://www.margaretcho.com/.
SuicideGirls caught up with Cho on tour to chat about nakedness, getting the G-shot, and her new TV series The Cho Show which premieres August 21st on VH1.
Erin Broadley: How have things been since last we talked? Youre still out on the road.
Margaret Cho: Im always. Its funny because Im never really off the road. Most of my work is done on the road; I think I spend about three or four days a week traveling and then the rest of the time Im in LA. Im working on this new TV show called the Cho Show.
EB: So I heard.
MC: Its really great. So I do that three or four days a week and then I travel three or four days a week. Its pretty crazy right now.
EB: Can you tell us what to expect in the show?
MC: Its not really a reality show even though its based in reality. Ive never seen anything like it. It would be similar to something like Curb Your Enthusiasm where its like a comedy improv show. You get into comedic situations and then you improv and its really great. I love doing it. It stars me some great friends, my gays, and my parents, and theyre really hilarious. We do things like get a totally dark spray fake tan or anal bleaching. You never know.
EB: [Laughs] With your parents. When does it air?
MC: Itll start in the summer on VH1, on August 21st.
EB: Any special guest appearances?
MC: Mostly really cool women Kat Von D to Joan Rivers to Nina Hartley to Wanda Sykes and Michele Rodriguez. Just really cool women.
EB: One of our columnists, Brad Warner, just interviewed Nina Hartley. Shes fascinating.
MC: Yeah, shes great. Shes a good friend of mine. Shes so brilliant and such a pioneer for women and for sexuality. Its really great because shes still a porn star, which is awesome. It gives women like me who are older a lot of hope for the future. You can still be sexual at your age. Im older and I can still feel like a porn star and thats great. Somehow, women for a long time have not been seen as sexual over the age of 25. Thats so creepy.
EB: Why do you think there is still this obsession with nymphet sexuality?
MC: For myself, I didnt even start having good sex until I was well into my 30s because I didnt know what to do. I just had no idea. I had all these weird body issues and I didnt know how to enjoy myself or ask for what I wanted, or know how to communicate what I liked. It was all jumbled and confused.
EB: Like it didnt belong to you?
MC: Right.
EB: In your last column for SG you wrote about how growing up and how it took you a long time to feel beautiful and how sad it is when you feel so ugly that you dont have a right to choose anything tragic that is. But once it belongs to you, thats where the fun happens.
MC: Right. You stop thinking about sex in terms of what youve seen in mainstream movies and thinking that you have to have an orgasm from intercourse which, to me, I cant even imagine having an orgasm from intercourse. Thats the most boring thing I could think of doing [laughs]. Why would anyone want to have an orgasm through intercourse? Thats so boring. I used to think that thats how you were supposed to have sex and if you couldnt have an orgasm during intercourse that you just didnt count. Like, you just had to go without. [Laughs] For me, intercourse has never really felt good. Only now it feels good because I know how to make it feel good for me.
EB: You blogged about getting the G-shot. What led to that decision?
MC: That was part of my TV show. I was curious about it because Im a person that has never has orgasms from intercourse so I thought thats what this procedure is for; Its for women who have not had the G-spot thing. I never had the G-spot thing and I thought, Oh, I dont have one. It was kind of an unpleasant experience. We shot this big segment about it; I think its very funny to get a fuckin full-on pelvic exam on camera. I really liked it [laughs]. The doctor was like looking for the G-spot and she found an area inside that was more sensitive than other areas so I guess thats supposed to be your G-spot or whatever. So they inject it with Lidocaine or Novocain -- one of those numbing agents -- and then they pull out a HUGE needle and they push in a big collagen bead under there, and it puffs it up. But for me, I found that I didnt even want to have sex at all afterward.
EB: Really?
MC: That was really weird because I always want to do it. But this just totally shut me down, completely for a month. Im sure that it works for some women, I think that the majority of women out there but for me it just was not the way that my equipment worked. I think that sexuality is so specific to your biology and so connected to your mind that even if you shift something in your body, you cant shift your mind. I wanted it to work so bad.
EB: I saw the pictures of you and Dave Navarro where you wrote, Even this couldnt make my G-shot work. [Laughs]
MC: [Laughs] I know! Even that! Hes so cute. It just felt like I had left something in there. [Laughs] It was a weird sensation. I want there to be advances for women to enjoy sexuality so I believe in the concept of it, unfortunately it didnt work for me. It sucks too because it would be so cool if you could have better orgasms
EB: It beats Botox.
MC: Oh, I know. It so beats Botox. It made me appreciate that the way that I am is naturally the best and thats great. Im pretty adventurous nowadays about sexuality and going beyond what is just partnered sex. Im super into machines and the idea of machines.
EB: Really?
MC: I love my Hitachi Magic Wand. So much. There is a lifetime guarantee for one but Ive gone through 10 them. They are the best things for womens sexuality, ever. And I know Nina Hartley totally agrees with me. We both are big fans. It changes your life. Its such a beautiful invention. Ive introduced it into partnered sex before and Guys are so weird sometimes about sex toys. The cool ones understand that they can use it to their advantage. Can you make a Hitachi Magic Wand thats a robot?
EB: Theyre always premiering sex robots at conventions and stuff.
MC: I want a robot. Not a real doll; thats too much human being. Make it like a machine, a robot.
EB: They have robots that clean your floors already.
MC: Yeah, they should have a genital Roomba.
EB: [Laughs] In our last interview about your show The Sensuous Woman, you mentioned there were political elements to the variety show and burlesque performances. With the Beautiful show and the upcoming election, how has the political environment shaped the way this tour is going?
MC: This show is really about how we should feel beautiful and that we define beauty through our own standards. When you feel beautiful, youre going to have more of a willingness to use your voice to speak up, to be very political, to have an opinion and to voice your opinion. Im naked all the time. In my new TV show Im constantly naked. I think its really important for we as people to know what a 39-year-old woman looks like. Thats so vital to me. Im naked all the time because I think its really political to take your clothes off if you feel different, if you have tattoos, or whatever. This is why I love the Suicide Girls, because its so political. Its different. Its beautiful. I think people are so scared of being judged and of being looked at a certain way, scared of feeling like theres something wrong with them. You can be naked and totally unashamed and celebrate it or not to fear it This show is about that nakedness, feeling beautiful and feeling like we are powerful.
EB: You did a mother daughter beauty pageant for the Cho Show. For young women, how do you see the mother daughter relationship as shaping a girls idea of beauty and body. How did your experiences growing up affect your decision to want to do a mother daughter beauty pageant.
MC: My mother and I had a hard time when we were growing up because my mother is a lot curvier than generally Asian women are. Most of the Asian women in my family are super-small and thin and tiny. My mother and I are both pretty curvy for Asian women. She had a hard time with her own body image and feeling good about herself. I had a hard time because I was following her example of constant dieting and constant body shame and fear about and knowing that I was different and feeling really insecure. I thought this mother daughter pageant was great because it allowed all these different women who had never been in a beauty contest before, to finally be able to do it. It was a great moment of exciting fun. I really enjoyed that experience. Its very hard to grow up and feel so insecure and my mom was also very insecure it was very tough because I didnt have that sort of person to look to tell me that I was okay. Nowadays I feel good about myself and my mom feels really good about herself.
EB: On March 21st you blogged about the Pope and how he unveiled some new sins. You added a couple of your own, including tailgating, which should definitely be a cardinal sin
MC: [Laughs]
EB: Being the road warrior you are, what are some of the cardinal sins of touring?
MC: Shitting on the tour bus. Never. Dont ever. No solids.
[Both laugh]
Margaret Cho is currently on tour with Beautiful. For more information and to check out her blog, go to http://www.margaretcho.com/.
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