Review of Margaret Cho: I'm the One That I Want

It's a torrent of self-hate that pours through this scabrously funny ninety-minute concert by the Korean-American comedian Margaret Cho, whose work here is a peak that bears comparison to Chris Rock and Richard Pryor--the tallest praise I can muster. Cho's unclassifiable id--Asian-American omnisexual is a poor sticker for the self she unloads here--can find no name, no resting place, and no club that will have it as a member. Never has alienation been so explosively hilarious. And beyond the content of her work, Cho is a master of her craft, a genius manipulator of silence, long-held muggy faces, microphone-stand grasps, lunges for the water bottle, and sheer stillness. Her precision can be scary. There is a little too much face-pulling and playing to the balcony of Boys' Town (Cho's "I am a faghag!" shtik seems designed to churn up microwaved warmth from her fan base). But there are many moments--especially Cho's rendering of her inexplicably insane-seeming mom--that could stand toe to toe with Lenny Bruce and Pryor at their tops.