Margaret Cho: CHO Revolution

Fundamentally, there are two comediennes who work under the name of Margaret Cho.

There is the highly verbal, acid-tongued, trash-talking woman who does not suffer fools gladly and verbally lays waste to everything in her path. This Margaret Cho appeared in "I'm the One That I Want" and "Notorious C.H.O.". She is brilliant and almost literally made me wet myself laughing.

There is another Margaret Cho who does physical comedy based on contortions, facial gestures, and making fun of accents she doesn't know that well in the first place. This Margaret Cho came out briefly in "I'm the One That I Want". Do you remember the routine where she jumped around the stage for 5 or 10 minutes, aping a black accent and saying "I'm here to wash your Va****"? Well, that Margaret Cho is back in force in this film. She probably gets the better part of an hour of the film's run time. If you find that Margaret Cho to be funny, then you'll loooove Revolution! I find her annoying. She's all right as a counterpoint to the verbal Margaret Cho, but I would be annoyed to spend an evening in her company.

Unfortunately, since the physical Margaret gets most of the stage time, that's pretty much what happened the other night.

I want to be sympathetic to Margaret Cho the artist. She probably wants to expand her routine and not put out show after show that is pretty much like the last one she put out. Unfortunately, Physical Margaret is just not a quarter as funny as Verbal Margaret. Viewer beware.

Margaret Cho's `Revolution' falls apart right from the beginning; her opening comments seem scattered and unfocused. She relies far too much on mugging and draws out her routines far too long, not to make a point, but to fill in time, as if she hadn't prepared enough material. The by now infamous `Persimmon Diet ` routine starts funny, progresses to disgusting and ends up boring. She is at her best( and her very best was her first effort `I'm the One that I Want') when she makes her mordantly funny, touching, FOCUSED observations on life among the marginalized (insert whatever marginalized group you identify with here). Save for a few bits that feel like preliminary sketches for what one hopes will become fully realized pieces, this is not worthy of her. Is she now a `victim' of her own success? Is she so secure in her following that she will serve up anything and call it dinner? As a once and future fan, I hope not.

Margaret Cho never looked better, never was funnier, and never hammered her views home on the gay situation and her own insights on the slice of life like in her stand-up comedy routine REVOLUTION. Displaying a physical grace which enhances her comic interjections, she runs the gamut from absolutely side-splitting hysterical to making you think -- even get a little angry. When talking about her own heritage she's always walked the line between poignant observations mixed with finely toned impersonations of her own relatives -- namely, her parents. The best moments in the entire show are when she talks about not being able to get a decent part in movies: never being Scarlett O'Hara, never being the heroine in a Merchant-Ivory film, but only being the sidekick or the opium smoking junkie; when she talks about how once she had the impossible urge to go to the bathroom on the middle of the road and nowhere to exit; and the definition of gay love as seen from a fisting scene. If one thing makes it a little dull is that right at the beginning she has a comic introduce her who's sleep-inducing, but other than that, she's in top form.

Margaret Cho's 2 previous filmed standup efforts - "I'm the One that I Want" and "Notorious CHO" were great fun: relevant, uproarious, uplifting and endearingly offensive. This one just does not have the charm or humor of its predecessors. The jokes feel forced, and the more vile and provocative bits of her set -- which are usually the most hysterical -- here feel too contrived and deliberate.

There are a few good laughs (detailing the expulsive results of a persimmon diet), but they are too often countered by jokes that are only mildly amusing (random catch phrases dedicated to a certain portion of the female body) or flat out dull. What's worked in her other routines is her ability -- like Richard Pryor -- to find humor in her heartbreak. Her identity and others' perception of her body have always come across as apropos and moving; that is not the case here. Even her tried and true tales of her mother's suffocating brand of love feel obligatory this go around.

Its short running time and padded jokes seem to confirm the notion that perhaps Ms. Cho needs a much-deserved break to give her time to add more depth and humor to her routine. She's been hysterical in the past and I'm sure she will again, but this one didn't do a whole lot for me.

CHO Revolution is twenty years old and I think this is the comedienne at her best. Margaret looks positively stunning in her evening gown, but is also hilarious pulling multiple rubber-faces that are comical and downright ugly by turns, with physical comedy that gives some of the better-known classic male comedians a run for their money. Asian. Chicken. Salad.

I just legitimately find this set to be a really funny one, despite its advanced age, and I am comparing it to her more recent stuff like PsyCHO and her collaboration with Awkwafina - both are alright but just don't have the same punch as her earlier work. The ending here is also more inspiring and heartfelt.