People come to Margaret Cho with "Asian problems."
"Like, when they can't figure out Sudoku. Or they need an alteration. Or technical support."
Known for her profanity-laden commentary on race (and sex and her weight problems and gay issues and her Korean mother), Cho brings her "Beautiful" tour to Anchorage Monday.
If you're wondering how Cho is tackling this "Beautiful" theme, just look at her Web page, where she's bursting out of a belly-baring mesh top, seductively biting on a straw stuck into a bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce. Lite soy sauce, of course.
On the phone from a tour stop in Portland, Ore., Cho said audiences can expect to hear plenty about self-image. The tour's theme was inspired by Cho's insulting encounter with a radio DJ who asked her, "What would you do if you woke up one morning and you were beautiful?"
Her new material also draws from recent escapades from the filming of her new VH-1 reality series, "The Cho Show." Her on-camera adventures include getting a collagen injection in her G-spot, which supposedly heightens a woman's orgasm. Um, ouch.
In the first episode, slated to air in July, she will awkwardly accept an award for Korean of the Year.
"It's hard because I feel such a weird relationship with the Korean community," she said.
"They haven't always accepted me because I'm so outspoken and controversial and I have a filthy, dirty mind and mouth, while the culture is really sexist and conservative. So I'm being honored by this community and at the same time being reviled."
Here, Cho weighs in on everything from Barack Obama's campaign to her "so pamous" mom.
On being mistaken for other Asian celebrities, most recently Lucy Liu: "It's very funny to point out that many people think all Asians look alike. It's very common. ... It's how racism works. There's not specific people, they're just sort of all the same. ... Although I do think she's hot, so I don't mind being mistaken for her that much."
On her current tour: "The show is, like, the most filthy, dirty stand-up comedy show, and it's all about sex. It's super-raunchy, hard-core, and that's why it's called "Beautiful," because ... I've reached a new level of honesty with myself about being in my own body."
On frequently being asked about North Korean politics: "Yeah, of course, people ask me all the time, and I have no idea. I really don't. I have no idea what's going on at all."
On Barack Obama: "It's so interesting, because I've dealt with so many of the same issues. People talk about if he's too black or not black enough. People have said that about me -- I'm too Asian or not Asian enough -- since I've been doing stand-up. ... I think it's great his candidacy is getting people talking about race in a very big way."
On how her "so pamous" mom reacts to being parodied:"She's very funny, a really silly, funny person, really cute and really lovely. She loves that I do impressions of her. She thinks it's hysterical."
Find Play reporter Sarah Henning at adn.com/contact/shenning or call 257-4323.
Margaret Cho
When: 8 p.m. Monday
Where: Atwood Concert Hall
How much: $38-$50, 263-2787, www.centertix.net
Web: www.margaretcho.com, myspace.com/margaretcho
By Sarah Henning
shenning@adn.com