Comedian Margaret Cho says her goal when she takes the stage at Popejoy Hall Friday is to make people both laugh and walk away looking at life in a different way.
The Korean-American comic, actor and author said she is bringing her latest stand-up routine, "Notorious C.H.O.," to the masses with the hope that she entertains, connects with an audience and shares insight into her life-long battle with a negative body image.
"I've had a body obsession for my entire life," she said. "My show is mostly about body issues and how the body observed and body inhabited can really dictate your life. It especially relates to feminism and politics."
Cho has battled depression, anorexia and bulimia and uses the stage to discuss how she was always conscious of her appearance.
"For me this is about turning over and getting rid of all these problems," she said. "This is my chance to just finally experience life without that obsession."
While her show sounds like it has the potential to digress into one bad after school special or self-help convention, anyone who knows Cho's comedy understands that she rises above those clichÇs, illustrating how she made it through harder times by relying on side-splitting humor.
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Cho's undeniable gift for making others laugh has carried her through some of the more difficult times in her life and the vivid, honest nature of her humor allows her to connect with people in a unique way.
"It really was the greatest release for me and something I always wanted to do," she said. "In that sense, I feel really lucky that this is my job and am thrilled with the direction my career has taken."
At age 16, Cho started performing stand-up in a comedy club called The Rose & Thistle above a bookstore her parents ran. Soon after, she won a comedy contest where first prize was opening for Jerry Seinfeld.
"I've been doing comedy for 17 years and it's just been a way for me to develop and grow as a person," she said. "I've gotten acceptance from it more than anything else, which explains how I could take on a career that basically is a fishbowl while having to deal with body issues."
In her early 20s, Cho hit the college circuit, where she became the most booked act in the market and garnered a nomination for Campus Comedian of the Year.
She performed more than 300 concerts within two years and subsequently won the American Comedy Award for Female Comedian in 1994. Arsenio Hall introduced her to late-night audiences, Bob Hope put her on a prime-time special and Cho became a national celebrity.
She followed that with a sitcom, "All American Girl." She said the show was billed as a heavily ethnic-based comedy because it was the first time an Asian woman played a starring role in a national show.
Cho said with so much pressure associated with ethnicity and not being racist that it was watered down to the point that it was no longer her comedy.
Cho said she was pleased with the opportunity to do the show.
Channeling her energy into writing and performing, Cho wrote "I'm the One that I Want," a wildly successful off-Broadway show that garnered rave reviews and numerous awards. She also wrote a book by the same name.
"The one-woman-show was a great experience, and while I was doing that, I wrote the stand-up routine I'm now performing," she said. "It was a more structured form of expression, and it's great to be back doing more traditional stand-up."
Another book, more touring and possibly a brief rest are what Cho forecasts for her future, but she added that she is content to go with the flow and head wherever life takes her.
"I'm really happy right now playing large venues and really drawing from the amazing time you have whenever performing for a live audience," she said.
Cho will perform at Popejoy Hall Friday at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $23.50, $27.50 and $32.50, and can be purchased outside the UNM Bookstore, by calling 1-800-905-3315 or at www.tickets.com.
