Margaret Cho: CHO Revolution

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 `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.

Straight to the point; most of the material in Cho's new act is not funny. She can turn an occasional observation, and get a laugh, but most of the material on this DVD was just not humorous.

Which is too bad because there's some real material that Cho could've worked with and taken the distance, but, unfortunately never fully explores the actual issues she wants to put on the table. Instead she vents her personal frustrations, and, like a lot of her ilk, passes it off as comic phrasing.

One of the problems with performers on the comeback trail is that they're so blinded by their personal struggles that they forget that it was their ability to pull away the serious curtain on everyday life that made them funny and popular. Instead indulge in a kind of self-help prattle that's better left in a doctor's office. Cho is no exception, and occasionally does this on this DVD. Though much of the time she's just delivering blue statements she believes are undeniable truths, for which, for some reason, her devout fans cheer her on.

I'd say I barely cracked a smile through three-quarters of this thing, and as offensive and idiotic as I believed a lot of the material was, and is, I sat through it to give the thing a chance. And I have to admit that I did laugh about three or four times. But most of the material is predicated on the assumption that Cho's observations are fact, when in fact they're just her opinions recited to her audience as fact. And because she asserts them as facts, even though they aren't, she garnishes a loud cheer from people who really don't know a whole lot about Cho's issues, including Cho herself.

It makes you feel sorry for her at times. Here's this comedienne who's doing her best to give a good performance, yet the material comes across as a self help session, factually wrong, disgusting at times, and with the audience trying to help her to the next "break through." It's like a therapy session gone bad. I'll bet Cho'll look back at this DVD in thirty years with embarrassment, but that itself is assuming she grows from this experience.

Now, if you can get by all that, then you might like this DVD, but be warned, Cho's material is heavy on the blue-side, and not for the feint of heart. On the whole it's not worth it. If you're an Amer-Asian with leftest politics, and "gay" friends skirting the fringes of edge-driven society, then you might want to spin Cho's DVD.

Otherwise skip it, if you can help it. It's a waste of money.

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.

I have always been impressed with Margaret Cho as a performer. She's funny, irreverent, with dead-on and hilarious impressions of her mother, etc. Unfortunately, she has become too preachy for me. She needs to get off her soapbox and stop whining about being Asian and female and her fluctuating weight. I don't watch stand up comedians to get a lecture about how to be more politically-correct. Her performance has become a vehicle for her agenda, and it's gotten old. And Margaret, stop blaming the media for getting fat! You are an adult - the only one who makes decisions for what you put in your mouth. I wish I could keep renting Cho's concerts, because she can be extremely funny, but I've had enough, at least for now. An honorable mention is deserved by Tony Daniels. I predict he will become a star in his own right. His low-key comedy complements Cho's over-the-top style.