Notorious C.H.O., The  B
By Kage Alan

Never let it be said that Margaret Cho doesn’t have an agenda.  She does and it’s one I wholeheartedly respect and support.  It’s spreading the word of equality, being who you are, accepting who you are, being tolerant of others, not being fooled by the media and loving who you want to love.  That’s not a bad message, is it?  Unfortunately, many will try to find fault with her logic and reasoning, only I won’t be one of them.

As with “I’m The One That I Want”, this is her most recent stand-up show filmed before an audience during her 2001/2002 tour.  Topics this time around include her then recent trip to Scotland and finding the only gay bar there, friends from high school who do something funky with an ice cream cone, S&M clubs, how she likes to be pleased in bed, how straight men would deal with a monthly biological visitor if they had one and many other various topics as we take a journey through her life experiences.  Nothing is safe and very few stones are left unturned, but this is where Margaret shines the most.  It’s her honesty and sincerity coupled with her outrageous and often vulgar delivery that make her so formidable and, well, notorious.

Unfortunately, as funny as this show is, it’s not as good as her previous “I’m The One That I Want”.  Maybe it was an off night for her to be recorded, but her pacing felt extremely sluggish at times and some of the jokes just never found their mark.  It was possible to be laughing hysterically one moment and then not crack a smile for several minutes the next, which made for a very uneven experience.  Despite this, the finale where Margaret discusses how she perceives herself and how we should ignore the things that society constantly pushes on us about beauty more than makes up for any lapses of non-laughter.  Her heart wins us over.