Margaret Cho

Opinionated and sometimes bawdy, comedian Margaret Cho isn't afraid to reinvent herself. After her meteoric rise to fame in the early '90s, she landed her own sitcom on ABC, All American Girl. The road got a little rough at that point. It was ostensibly the first network TV show to have an Asian lead, and its producers told Cho she was too ethnic, and yet not ethnic enough. Then the network reportedly criticized the roundness of her face, leading Cho to try to lose weight rapidly, which affected her health. The show was soon canceled, but Cho managed to turn lemons into lemonade by chronicling the experience in a Broadway show called I'm the One that I Want. That was followed by the more politically inspired State of Emergency. Her new tour, Beautiful, explores people's perceptions of what attractiveness is, and the rigid standards that go along with it. The show premiered in Sydney, Australia, in late February, and she is touring the U.S. through June.
Fri., April 25, 8 p.m., 2008