July 14, 2026 • 46 mins
Comedy legend Margaret Cho opens up about building a legacy, surviving Hollywood's brutal body standards, and why fart jokes are a bipartisan unifier. From activism to her "Cho-ligarchy" tour, she proves that choosing to be fiercely yourself…body art, bone lipstick, and all …is the ultimate power move.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Girl. Welcome
to I Choose Me, the podcast about making choices, the
ones that define us, the ones that surprise us, and
sometimes the ones that take courage. I am joined by
(00:21):
a true force of nature today. A comedian, actor, musician, activist,
and someone who has spent decades unapologetically carving her own path.
Margaret cho has made us laugh, she's made us think,
and she's helped us feel seen, all while staying fiercely
(00:43):
herself in an industry that often asks people to be
anything but Margaret Choe. I am so happy you're here
with me today.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Today's dog party. It's a dog party.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
She's so cute. We have your beautiful Lucia in the house. Baby.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
She is a good girl. She just when she meets
other dogs, she's gotta be like mean for a little bit.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
That's okay, that's okay, it's dog behavior. Dottie is very
excited to meet her. I've been talking her up, Oh
good all morning. So look she's she's ready.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
She's so cute. I love that she's like rubbing her
little face on the carpet.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Go ahead and have her own party over there and
Lucia can watch so cute. Oh my gosh, it's great
to meet you.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
We have been working our booties off since the late eighties.
That's right alongside one another. That's right different arenas, Yes,
and so I feel like we are I don't know,
there's something incredible about both of us that we're here,
we're still here. I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It's good. It's good, I mean, and I enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Like it's just different, like we watched like show business
change so much. Yeah, you know, and I enjoy it
right now. I think it's really fun. I think it's
really different. I couldn't even imagined what it, you know,
would be calm, but it's very it's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I mean, yeah, no, no part of me could have
imagined social media.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Or the internet, like the Internet in general, I.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Know, just so why the world at your fingertips? Yeah,
it's everyone knows everyone. I love it. I know. It's
really very connecting, yeah, and unifying and in the best
all the best ways. But I love it. It's kind
of gonna be rough, yes, But you've had so many
chapters in this long career that you've had multiple decade
career you've been obviously comedian, an actor, a musician, and activist.
(02:35):
Which of those versions of Margaret do you think is
the truest.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Oh, comedian. It's the one thing that I do the most.
I mean, it's the one thing that I have to
do because you get if you don't do it for
a long time, you get really unfamiliar with it.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, it's like to be a muscle.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
You have to seah, it's a muscle. It's just like
you really have to stay fit. So you have to
do it as much as you can. So you'll you'll
see comedians like I have to have to work out
every week.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
You'll go and like work stuff out.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah, you do that. So Yeah, the comedy Store mostly.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
That's a good night if you just happened to be
at the comedy Store and you stroll in.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, it's but it's everybody's good. Everybody. You know, you'll
see everybody from like I usually do shows there with
like Jay Leno or Bilberr. You know the these like
everybody like Ali Wong or Whitney Cummings or you know,
the people that are really really famous and that do
this don't do it for a long long time. People
like our Cineo hall. You know, you know it's like
(03:39):
it's it's important because we have to keep doing it.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, if you don't use it, you'll lose it, yes.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And quickly. So I I do it a little bit
less than those guys because I live far. I feel
like I live far. I lived by you. I'm actually
bright here. Okay, it's actually as city. Yeah, so it's
actually far to go into Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yes, I understand. Yeah, and you don't really want to.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
It feels like a real like it's you know, if
I lived in the Hollywood Hills, I think I would
have an easier time of it, which a lot of
those guys do you know they live right down the street.
So I have to commute a little bit.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, you have to make an effort, like take a flight.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, it is almost like that, go to the airport.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
You've had ten stand up? Am I correct on that? Ten?
Live just huge tours or.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, I think so about that, probably more, But I
don't know. It's all one long, continuous tour in my mind,
because there's never there's never been a stop, you know,
because when one ends, another one starts right, so there's
anover a real break. So that to me, it's all
(04:47):
just one long thing, I.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Think, one long career. Yeah, doing what you love, Yeah,
which is incredible. It's good, it's incredible. You've also spent
decades speaking your mind, even when it hasn't been easy,
and even when it hasn't been popular. You were outspoken.
I love that about you. Do you think that comes
(05:09):
from a fearlessness that you have or does it come
from something else?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Well, it was my upbringing because when I was a
really little kid, my parents owned a gay bookstore and.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
The the that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah. All the people that worked for in San Francisco
and San Francisco, all the people that worked for them
were early early followers of Harvey Milk, who was the
first openly gay elected official in the in existence. So
gay politics have always been a part of my life,
you know, since I was a little little kid. So
(05:46):
I think, you know, being from that, it's part of
my destiny. It's like what I was always meant to do,
you know. So you know, it went from you know,
being from there to uh fundraising and helping people living
and dying of AIDS, and then it was working towards
(06:07):
equality for gay people, which is really really important. So
you know, the trajectory of it is, I've I've been
able to watch the queer community really rise in power politically,
and so it's just been a part of my life.
But yet I think it starts from my childhood from
where I'm from.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
That's so interesting that you had that kind of community
at such a young age. I think that a lot
of people didn't know anything about at that time. Yeah,
or we're afraid of right.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
It sort of started to rise in the eighties, Like
it was really actually in the seventies when people recognizing
that there was this mysterious disease that was seemingly killing
gay men and they called it a gay cancer. And
then throughout the eighties then we really started to see
these men die in really devastating numbers. And then by
(06:56):
the nineties it was a full on pandemic, know, and
so I think like that's when we were focusing a
lot on fundraising. That's when you saw a lot of
people at the awards shows were the red ribbon on
their lapel and then it became a cause for celebrities
to get behind. I think the person who was really
(07:19):
responsible for that is Elizabeth Taylor. You know, Elizabeth Taylor.
I think after the death of Rock Hudson realized that
all of her friends, which Elizabeth Taylor, who was pretty
much like the quint essential or like the Queen of
all hags, like she was the Hag of hags, and
(07:39):
she was trying to trying to make sense of all
of her people dying. So she realized that if I
step in and make it a thing, make it cool or.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Maybe a conversation, yeah, to support people with AIDS, support
AIDS fundraising, and so she I think.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Had a lot to do with the acceptance her and
I think Princess Diana who was holding AIDS patients, like
physically touching them, hugging them the time. We saw that, Yeah,
going into these like hospice rooms and being with you know,
with these patients who people were afraid to touch, right,
So I think, yeah, both of them in conjunction with
(08:22):
kind of people being more understanding of gay lifestyles, understanding
that gay people are just like everybody else, you know,
that that was Yeah, So that all sort of developed
around eighties and nineties, and you know, there's still a
lot of homophobia still very much.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
We've come so far, Yeah, we still have so far
to go. Yes, I don't know. I feel optimistic because
I have a very strong community of gay friends. My
best friends are always gay. Yeah, because I don't know
what it is. There's a realness there. There's like a
(09:02):
connection that I don't feel from from most other people.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Also, what's this when you have a connection and you
don't let it go? Like a rooted and solid friendships
made out of substance. Yes, you know, Yes, And I
just I've always been an advocate and like just surround myself.
And also they're the most fun people. Hello. Yeah, Like
they're my favorite people to be around.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah. So there there's like an artistic nature to the community.
There's I mean, there's so much. But I think that
what happens is that a lot of times gay men
are really attracted to female strengths. Yeah, you know, and
that's usually what it is. Is they're attracted to female strength,
They're attracted to female beauty, they're attracted to female intelligence.
(09:48):
You know, there's all these qualities that make for a
good hag. But I think it's a very I think
it's a it's a really important part of my life.
I've always been connected to gay men and I'm gay myself.
So that's part of it too, But I have an
even tighter connection with gay man.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Can you define hag for hag? Is it can sound bad?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah, it's it's not a bad it's not a bad thing.
It's it is it is a woman who hangs out
with gay men and.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
He just loves surrounding herself with gay men.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, and who is often chosen by the gay man
to be like you know, and that's like Madonna. Madonna
is the ultimate hag. You know, there's nobody more beautiful,
nobody more cool.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Oh my god, wait your Madonna layout on Instagram that
you recreated her life?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Thank you? Oh yeah, I did her a healthy photo shoot.
It was very fun. I'm so excited about it. Yeah,
my friend put that together. He's a gay man, and
it was his idea and he did the photographs. He
did the look too, like he actually got the outfit
together with the swatchwatch and every like. It was really
like spot on as really incredible because gay men often
(11:02):
if they're in the arts, paved a lot of attention
to detail. So he was very very meticulous about like
curating the look and making it as perfect as he could.
And so it was really really special.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I love that characteristic in anybody, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I love better and it gave attention to detail because
it's aesthetics and it's like it has to be right.
It's powerful.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Well, the one thing that was different about your picture
of Donna's is you have this incredible body.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Art all over you.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Oh yes, and I am mesmerized. Like all they want
to do is say what why do you have that
tattoo right there? And what does that one mean to?
We could talk for hours because yeah, just full body.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I'm full body. They're like they don't have meaning as
much as the meaning is really in the tattooer. Every
art piece that I have is memorable because I had
a relationship with the tattooer that was a deep friendship
that sometimes was a love that sometimes was just an
artistic connection. So right now now I'm actually getting tattooed
(12:02):
this weekend. I get tattooed fairly infrequently nowadays, just because
I have very little space left but on your body,
on my body, but I mostly get Right now, I'm
in relationship with Korean tattooers. Okay, so I'm working with
this one right now that he's going to tattoo me
this weekend, who's really really special and he you know,
(12:24):
it's still like kind of illegal in Korea, and so
they come to America, but they still have tattoos salons
there and artists work there, but they have to have
like medical licenses. They have to sort of be like
categories under doctor in a way. It's really it's like
a medical thing. Yeah, it's it's very strange. And you know,
(12:44):
they have bath houses in Korea and they won't let
you in with tattoos sometimes because a lot of people
who are heavily tattooed were connected to like gang gang
stuff and like organized crime.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yeah, so it's very it's a stereotypic, it's very weird.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah, so tattooing is not as accepted there, but for
some reason, the artists are really really exceptional. For some reason,
it's made the illegality of it has made them the
best in the world. And you love body art, I
do you love it? I do?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
I love it too.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
I think it's fun.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
It's just a form of self expression.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Well, it's just I don't know, I'm just used to it.
And all the people that worked for my father when
I was growing up at the bookstore at the gay
bookstore were all heavily tattooed, and so I knew that
was going to be my destiny. Like I was, this
is my family and where we're all going to be
heavily tattooed, which is in the seventies was really unusual.
(13:41):
So I kind of learned it from them, and I
always knew that's what I would do. And my father
would put photographs of like these men who were fully tattooed,
would like he would put photographs of them naked on
our refrigerator like some people would put like painting that
the kids would do, or like a you know, a
(14:02):
paper that you got an a on, or test that
you raced. No, my father had pictures of these naked
men with full body tattoos on our refrigerator, like under
a magnet, So we would like that was our primary image.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Would you put the magnet over the penis or.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Did well, you didn't really see the penis the art.
You would just see like the butt and like the
It was more the focus of the pictures were more
to get the tattoos.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
The beauty of the arts. Yeah, oh that's gorgeous though,
but very unusual.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Very usual, but there was one guy who had penises
all in the arts. Okay, so then you did get
penis there.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Okay, I wanted you to see the penis on the fridge.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
There were a lot of penises there.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Okay, good, Okay. You have helped so many people through
your advocacy, so many people that you have made feel
seen and heard, which is so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Who is it that makes you feel seen or when
do you feel the most seen in her?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I guess when I see other Asian American women doing comedy,
Like for me, it's really powerful to watch somebody like
Ali Wang. It's really special for me because it's like, oh,
it's my that's my legacy, you know, that's like I
started that.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Now you're number one.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Now I get to sit back and enjoy what people
like otsco ok is doing. Like she's just phenomenal. I
haven't seen she's amazing. So she Otsko Okotska, Yeah, Otsko
is fabulous and she you've seen her, you know, you
see she's got the bowl haircut. She's the beautiful Asian
(15:39):
woman with the book.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
That's a good look.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
That's her. She's fabulous. So she is, you know, like
somebody that when I see her, I'm like, oh, it's
like watching my kids, you know, And so like when
I see Bowen Yang, it's like watching my son where
Joel Kim Booster he's my firstborn son.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Oh my god, So you paved the way. Yeah, for
all these upcoming artists.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
These amazing Asian American comedians who are just doing such
incredible work. So for me, it's like a just a
powerful thing. So that makes me feel seen because I'm like, oh,
this is like something that I started and they're continuing on.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You must be so proud of them.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
That's a really good feeling, I know, because like I
can really because of my girls, Like when I see them,
you know, facing similar challenges that I did and overcoming them. Yeah,
it's the same feeling of like I must have had
a part in that, I must have done something right.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, exactly. It's like a wonderful feeling of satisfaction. Like
I don't have children, but if.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I have children, I have like a lot of r children.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I have three cats too, so I have a lot
of animals. But I have a kind of a familial
feeling towards a lot of people in comedy that's nice.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yeah. Do you feel like you have that maternal and sink,
just that maternal energy in you?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I think so. Also. I come from like the I
was mothered a lot in comedy by Joan Rivers, who
was really affectionate and warm and stood by me for years,
you know, and she's just so supportive and so just
incredibly giving. And I'm just I'm so lucky to have
(17:27):
experienced that.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah. I am so inspired by Margaret and her confidence.
Sometimes confidence comes from within, and sometimes what we choose
to wear can bring us even more confidence, and that
can start with something as simple as getting dressed in
the morning. That is why I created Me by Jenny
(17:50):
Garth with QBC. It's a collection designed to help women
feel confident and comfortable and effortlessly stylish, no matter what
stage of life you're in. Please check it out. Head
over to QBC dot com and explore my brand Me
by Jenny Garth. All of our newest collections are there,
(18:10):
and styling tips can also be found by following us
on Instagram at Me by Jenny Garth. We work so
hard at it, We love it so much and I
hope you do too.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Hey, there, Amy Robot and TJ Holmes here from the
Amy and TJ podcast, where we are doing the exact
opposite of taking a summer vacation. Yeah, I can't do that.
There's entirely too much going on in the world right
now to not be talking about all this stuff. Yes,
drama at the White House, drama at the World Cup,
drama about the Reflecting pool, and yes, drama at the
Villa pool on Love Island. All day, every day we
(18:41):
have you covered with the latest breaking news in the
stories everyone will be talking about. Listen to Amy and
TJ on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you
listen to podcasts.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
You have a new tour.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yes, sooligarchy, it's like that. It's like oligarchy says we know,
you know, people have like these billionaires who are just
buying up everything and taking all the money and taking
all the resources. So I wanted to do my own.
I want to be the choligarchy where it's my nation,
it's your nation, it's you know, it's giving you the market.
I'm like the dictator and I want everybody to be
(19:18):
part of my country. And so that's what it is.
That's your jokes.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yes, like and be on the ride. I love this. Yes,
that's like taking the bowl by the horns.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yeah, it's like, let's let's join my country for the
ninety minutes that we have and you know you'll be
transported to a new commonwealth.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Do you think that's like there are people that you
know because we grow as artists, as comedian, you grow
and things you're interested in talking about you're not interested
in now maybe, like do you think your audience holds
you to something that maybe maybe doesn't feel like what
you want to focus on right now in your career.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
I don't know, Like I feel so invigorated by performing
and like kind of what my audience is telling me
what they want to talk about. Because when you're doing comedy,
like you really see where the country's at. You really
see what people are laughing at, what they want to
hear more about. Like, right right now, it is very politicized.
People are very angry, you know, they're really really frustrated
(20:18):
and what's happening. They're first frustrated to have much everything costs.
They're angry that we're at a war if they don't
understand why they're in there, frustrated at the stupidity of
what's going on daily, you know, in this administration. So
for me, it's it's a pleasure to write about that
and talk about that because I'm also frustrated.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
I mean, everyone on both sides is frustrated with some
aspect of what's going on, Yes, for sure, So what
a great opportunity to bring levity to it. And yeah,
it's so polarizing, and so it's.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Crazy, it's really crazy. And I thought it was bad before,
Like I thought it was. I was really a very
very loud critic of the Bush administration, and now I
would have been campaigning for him for a third term.
Like I'm like I was, So we were so we
didn't know how good we had it.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Uh huh. So you've always done political comedy, you know
here and there. Yeah I love that because a lot
of people are afraid to do it.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah yeah, but it's also what I find funny and
what I find interesting. So there's some people that are
really really great at it, and like, so I'm just
trying to figure out my place there, you know. So
my my focus right now is basically politics, but it's
also I like to go very high brow and also
(21:38):
very low brow. So it's as high minded as you
can get and as crass as you can get.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I heard you say that when something's bombing and you
can feel it, it makes you go harder. Yeah, like
you want it to bomb.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
So bad, Like I'm my philosophy is like if you
don't like me, I'm going to make you hate me.
And that's really not a good attitude to have. But
it's also really funny because people get so mad. But
it's also that's just part of live performance. You just
have to put it all out there.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
It sounds more interesting than feeling bad about yourself.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
No, it's very combat it. It's very comb at it.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
But also it's your standing up for you yourself.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Yeah, and it's just words, you know, it's just talking.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
You have something like in your that you can remember
where that was like happening, and like what level it
got to.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Well, it's only gotten to a level now where it
was really bad, Like it's got really violent, Like there
was a woman who threatened to murder me, Like she
actually had to be removed from the show room. And
then I was trying to walk from one show. It
was a place that had two theaters and I'm trying
to walk to the other theater to do a show there,
(22:51):
and she grabbed me and she said that she was
going to pump my head full of bullets. And this
was really I mean, it was so crazy. And I
then she was removed by security, and they you know,
stayed with me, you know, they had like arm guards
stay with me all night, and they you know, put
me in my car at the end of the night.
(23:11):
But I was like, this is just over something that
is so stupid. It's not even like I don't even
know why she was so angry about it, but it
was like her her identity had been threatened, you know,
because I was talking about Donald Trump and talking about
mega and my feelings about it. Just the fact that
(23:32):
I was talking about it made her want to kill me.
And she had said that she was a gun owner.
She had said that she had a gun and she
could she could do that at any time, and that
it was going to happen. And so it was like,
you go, well, the reality of gun violence is really terrifying,
because that's the true thing. But I was making a
joke that wasn't even it could be a bipartisan joke
(23:53):
because it was about Trump having diarrhea, which he legitimately has,
and that's something that a Republican knows it's true.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
How do you know he has diarrhea?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Well, I think that all of the audio captured from
the Oval Office, the amount of like wet farts that
you've heard that's been captured by you know, CNN or
even but any out any news outlet, would be happy
to provide you with any number. It's got to be
(24:24):
like outtakes, like a real yea of all far and
people holding their nose. It's like it's such a to me,
it's like totally a bipartisan issue, Like that's not even
I think Trump himself would admit to having.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Funny no matter who has that.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
It's funny no matter who has them, and it's not
even really a political statement. But this woman felt like
it threatened her so much that she had to kill.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Me over a fart joke.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, it's really haying. But it's like if I have
to die for that, I think that's I mean, I
guess that's all right. I don't know, like I think
it's really I think it's really sad, Becau because you
used there used to be Republicans and Democrats used to
be able to talk to each other like there used
to be debates. There used to be a kind of
(25:08):
cordial nature across the aisle that you know, we agree
to disagree, agreed to disagree, and just move on to
the next thing because we just want what's best for
the American people and that's all we want. And now
it's become something different. So yeah, it's very strange. But yeah,
that's that's what I'm still doing comedy for.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I hope you don't have an encounter with anyone like that.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
I hope not. I hope not. It's not fun, but
it's also the reality of putting yourself out there, putting
yourself out there in the reality that there are a
lot of guns out there, which to me is really
I'm really scared about that. You know, guns in general, Yeah,
guns are final. Yeah, you know, I just don't want
(25:54):
I don't I don't want to have to be a
part of that. I really am scared of maths to
so I'm scared of the amount of guns that are
out there.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Scared of mass shootings.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Yeah, I've developed like a fear of going to the
grocery store, yeah, going to the movies.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Yeah, because we're not safe anywhere, you know, because it's
like our lives are just you know, there were I
think something like eight mass shootings in America on fourth
of July, and they don't cover it in the news.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
They don't what, they didn't even mention those.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Yeah, they don't cover it in the news because it's
such a daily occurrence that it's almost like not newsworthy anymore.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Some people are scared. Some people are like, oh, when
it's your time, it's your time.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I don't, but I don't. I think it's so unnatural,
like it shouldn't be our time. Like it's like there's
so many other things that are going.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
To kill you, you.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Know, like you there's so many, so many things that
but guns are just something that you could it could preventable.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Let's move on to something. You are playing a why
character in second season now of Disney Plus show called
Percy Jackson. Oh Yes, and the Olympics, and you play
a character called Wasp. I love it. Yes, you have
one eye or tooth.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
We share an ee me and Sander Bernhard and Christian
Shawl share one eyeball and we pop it between. It's
it's such a fabulous, fantastical show. You know, I love
this rise of like fantasy. You know, we have so
much of this, you know, of course of like House
of the Dragon and Game of Thrones and now you
know Percy Jackson, which is so tremendous, and so it's
(27:33):
a beautiful. It's a beautiful world that they've created. And
the books are so people are such huge fans. So
we're from the books and yeah, we all share one eye.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Okay, it's really fun. It sounds fun. I've never seen it.
I've got to check it out because I like the movie. Yes,
and so now there's a series.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yes, and the kids are so they're just beautiful and
they are it's just a very like exciting show. So
I love that it's so successful, and you know, there's
such a world around it, and there's such a fandom
that are just so excited about it.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
I mean, you said Sandra Bernhardt. Yes, did the kids
know who's among them the queens of.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
I mean I think they've been told. But of course,
I mean Sandra, I was always freaking out about Sandra
is my friend and I'm a Sandra Bernhardt ologist, So
she gets her ear talked off because I'm always asking
her a million questions about her career and her life.
You know, she's just, to me, just the pinnacle of cool.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, she's a cool lady. That is definitely for sure.
Speaker 5 (28:40):
Welcome to the Orange Doesn't Fall Far the podcast where
Reality TV meets real life. I'm Tamra, Judge.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
And I'm Sophia.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Each week we're spilling the tea on pop culture, relationships, motherhood, dating, drama,
and what it's really like growing up in the middle
of reality TV chaos.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
One of us lived it.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
One of us survived it. Listen to the Orange Doesn't
Fall Far. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, and
wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
You've lived in the world of fame for a long
time and it, you know, it has not always great.
What do you think do you think if you were
to do it over, would you choose fame again?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Well, I live in a very low level of it,
so you know. And also, comedians are like the work
courses of the entertainment industry. So nobody's that excited when
they see a comic. I mean not really. They're like
kind of cool. But also, I'm so non descript. There's
something about me. I never get recognized. It never it's
never an issue like I never had to you know, but.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
You've had a lot of different iterations like your style,
and you've reinvented your look so many times.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
But nobody's ever I've never felt like my privacy has
been invaded. I have a couple of friends who are
like super who when we went out, they would have
to wear a full like disguise because they just could
not be seen in public or would just never be
able to do anything, you know, And I find that
really suffocating and it was really hard for them. So
(30:15):
I've never approached that level. It might be fun to
do it, I don't know, it might be fun to
experience it, but I've never had that experience.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
But there's still like, do you think that the pros
outweigh that.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Cons Yes, yes, yes for you.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
I think your friends that have it on a different
level would say that.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I think so because it's like the I think the
benefit of being able to really like sort of stretch
out as an artist, you know, you know, they're like
really great actors, so that they've been able to do
so many things because of their fame too, because of
their notoriety. It's been very helpful. But then also it's
painful when it fades and then they're like what do I?
(30:54):
Who am I without that? That's really hard?
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean I reach that point just as
a human when I was fifty, Like you're fifty seven,
I'm fifty four, But you reached that point. What was
it like for you? Because I can tell you what
it was like for me, but like, what was it
like for you as you entered your fifties and that
sort of new era of your life?
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Well? I think for me, I mean, it was really
it was great not to have a period. I love menopause,
Like it was great not to bleed Like that was
so awesome.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
I know, because it's torturous. Yes, we've endored it long enough.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
For so long, and it was really physically like like
menopause for me was physically really easy because I got
into hormone replacements therapy super early and so I found
the right combination of things that I needed and worked
with that easily. Yeah, so that it was easy. But yeah,
(31:55):
like because I was never an angeneu, I've never been
like a pretty girl. I've never been like sort of
held up to any kind of beauty standard. So I've
always felt like kind of the same all the way,
and there's some ease to that because when you're old
then it doesn't really matter. He just kind of like
(32:16):
it's like you.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
People are more accepting.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
People are totally accepting because I don't have a legendary
beauty that faded, like there was nothing that sort of
set me apart that way. I was always funny, So
that was to me, like my strength or my beauty
was in the fact that I was funny, not in
anything else. So it was very easy to age.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
What about the time for the show All American Girl,
they asked you to lose weight?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Right, Yes, well they forced me. It wasn't an ass
It was like, you have to lose weight or else
we're not going to be able to do the show.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Were you overweight? It wasn't something that I saw as
an issue.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
No, But for television I was. I mean I wasn't
a physically I didn't feel that physically large. But for television,
I mean, in nineteen ninety.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Four, they weren't concerned about your health.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
No, but I was like a book fifty one hundred
and fifty pounds. That's like monstrous in TV, you know,
I mean, that is like to be one hundred and
fifty pounds on television in the nineties for a woman
was like, not, that's not happening, like never seen before, right,
I mean I think, well, for maybe Rosanne could have
(33:27):
gotten away with it, but she was like she was
so castigated for her body, but she was maybe one
sixty you know, like she was not that large. But
there was such a around the nineties and around women's bodies.
Then there was such a yeah stereotype that you had
(33:48):
to be really really.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Think that was the heroin chic yeah era.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Yeah, and even even like it went outside of like
culture and fashion sort for me the world, and then
I think in a lot of ways it got worse
and like y t U K and the early part
of the two thousands, you know where we saw a
real like just a need to control women's bodies, but
(34:16):
shaming you know, people's bodies. And you know when they
were saying like Jessica Simpson was like overweight and she
was not she at all.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Maybe she was just bloated that day, like her.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Bodies do thing, but she looked great. And it's just
when you look back at like how we shamed women
so much for just having bodies that I'm like shocked
by all of that. But yeah, for me, it was
the same. You know that there was so much a
scrutiny put on us, but also because we were the
first Asian American family on television, so and there was
(34:48):
a stereotype about Asian American women that were not Asian
American women, but Asian women in general, that were like
petite and like you know, delicate, and I was not.
So that was very difficult. So yeah, I lost a
lot of weight in a very short period of time,
and I think I never quite got over it. I
think it gave me a very legitimate eating disorder, which
(35:08):
I still kind of struggle with. Like when you have
that in your history, you know that you're yeah, but
you're told to be too fat to exist, then you're
it's really shattering.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
So and it sticks with you.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yeah, it sticks with you your whole life.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
How do you manage it? Now?
Speaker 2 (35:27):
I think now I'm so like I'm just over it,
Like I don't care, I don't care, I don't care.
But it also like and also now I'm at a
weight that I consider safe, You're healthiest, healthy, and also manageable,
like because I'm not dieting to get to this weight,
I don't do anything. Like it's kind of like for me,
(35:47):
it's it's just freedom. But it's also a kind of
maturity that you get to your like, oh I don't
care anymore. It doesn't really make a difference.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
So you think about longevity now at your age, and
like you alter your diets and your exercise and like
how you take care of yourself.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Yeah, I'm mostly concerned with dementia, like you're mostly concerned.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
About like brain health.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Yeah, brain health, and like I'm like, cognitive decline is
my biggest fear, so you know, and then in order
to stave off that, you have to have a good diet,
you have to have exercise, you have to move in order.
It's not just one part of the body, you know,
it's like everything works together. But yeah, that's what keeps me.
Like I play music and I'm a multi instrumentalist, so
(36:33):
I play a lot of different instruments just to keep
my brain kind of functioning and learning because that's where
I get really nervous.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Yeah. Same, It's something we're talking about more and more now.
I mean, first we're talking about cardiac health. Now we're
talking about brain health, which I'm the Yeah, I'm definitely
on your same page about that. Because you want to
be able to remember things. I think I need your
memory to be a comedian.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Right, So it's very important, Like, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
You don't want to lose your just your grasp.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
On things, right. And also you want to be able
to still be adaptable and still be able to Like
what's so great about youth is that you like adaptable
to you able to take on new ideas and understand
things from other perspectives and you're not so rigid. And
so I want to keep my mind youthful.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
It's so important. What do you think it is that
keeps you grounded in life?
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Well, my animals, so I have to, like, you know,
when you have cats, it's like you you're at their
beck and call twenty more seven. So I have to
make sure that they're doing okay. I have to have
to groom them a lot. I do clean a lot
of ears. I cut about seventy two nails a week
because I have, you know, four animals, So I have
(37:55):
to cut all their nails a little bit, just a
little bit, because I don't want to have a big deal,
So I just cut them a little bit. I do
all the stuff. Oh my god, I love you.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
I cut my dog's hairs too, Yeah, my hairs. I
cut their hair. I don't want to send them out.
I don't think they enjoy that.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
They don't like that. I mean, I don't like I
had a van come around and they would do the
grooming in the van, but they don't like that either.
So I just do it all myself. And then it's
just a little bit at a time. But it keeps
you grounded because it's like you're just like.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
You're taking care of something.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
It's like gardening, but with an animal. I garden also
do a little bit. I mean a lot of my
pants die, but I'm very I like to buy them.
It's really fun to buy.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Play and they look so pretty when you buy them.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
They're so pretty when you buy them, and they're pretty
if they last. You know, some cactuses are thriving.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
You're doing you're doing good with Yeah, they're really good
cactus forever. What is what is something that you've experienced
in your career? Let was a setback in the moment
that you now, with this new perspective of age and
wisdom see differently.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Well, I think like doing my television show All American
Girl was canceled out after one season, and it was
so devastating, and I realized that if I had continue
with the show, if it had been able to go
on for years, maybe I would be disinterested now in comedy,
Like I wouldn't be as good of a comedian because
because I wasn't wasn't able to succeed as a television star,
(39:17):
it made me really focused on being a comedian, and
I worked really hard to get to a place of
like doing it, and I learned to like really be
obsessed with it and really love it, and I do
it daily now, So I may not be as interested
of like all those things. Like I think if I'd
been a success as a television star, I might just
(39:39):
you know, have you know, huge estate in Santa Barbara
and never leave. Like I might have a golf tournament
like every year as just one and have like all
the famous and then that's it. Like I might be
selling jam you know, giving Megan Markle a run for
her Jammy money. Like you know, there was like a
(40:00):
hunger that I have as an artist that I don't
think I would have had if I had been able
to sort of make that trajectory as a television star.
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
It makes sense. What is it that motivates you now
more than when you were younger? Like was your motivation
younger to work to survive?
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Yes, all those things all?
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Or was it for the art?
Speaker 2 (40:22):
It is all of those things. It's all like just
to be better, to be good, to understand who I
am as a comedian, to understand how to be a
good actor too. Like acting is just this mystery that
I still like, I can't get my head around, Like
how do people do this? And you know, like it's
just a miracle thing, like you between those words action
(40:44):
and cut, you get to be somebody else for those
like few sacred minutes and like what is that about?
And I'm still trying to figure out that mystery.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
It's addictive. Yeah, that moment And I always talk about
that too, because there's so much about the business and
the industry that I don't enjoy, but it's that moment
between action and cut. Yeah, that's something magical happens, and
it's like it just turns something on inside of you.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Yeah, And it's this rare thing that nobody in the
world gets to experience except actors.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Yes, you know, being outside of your life.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Yeah, for this moment, you're not you. You're this person
and that person is that is that person, and we're
not us, but we're something else and we're creating a
reality so that people can watch and feel something. It's powerful.
So I still find it such a divine mystery, and
I'm so curious about all of these other people and
(41:39):
their ways of doing it. So way. I love working
with people who are really into it, you know, actors
who are really into it that can show me new
ways of doing this. You know, it's powerful.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
What do you ask them?
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Well, Like, the thing that I was really impressed with
recently is I did a movie with Patrick Wilson. He's great,
He's such a beautiful actor. And so it's a movie
about a school shooting and he plays a teacher who
was shot and I'm like a principal who comes in
and I'm trying to like boss everybody around. I'm like
the bad guy, and he's like a hero in the school.
(42:13):
But he and I were fighting in scenes and his arm,
his character's arm is like not working anymore because it
was shot and he hid it from me. In the scenes,
so I as a as a person like me, I
didn't even notice that he had that weakness. I didn't
(42:34):
notice it until we watched it on the big screen
and I was watching him hiding his arm and I
was like, that is so interesting because that frailty was
not perceptible to me in the moment, but on the
screen it was so profound. And I was asking him.
I was like, you're hiding your arm that whole time.
(42:55):
He's like, yeah, yeah, I was, And I was like
I didn't even know. And it's just so cool to
see an actor who believes in it and carries through
and commits for that that right, that that like thing
where like his character is this and he's going to
do things that you may not understand and just because
you're in a scene together doesn't mean you're gonna know
(43:16):
what he's doing. And I just love that, Like.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
It's just seeing, like to look at other actors' choices.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Yeah. Yeah, I was just so moved and so like
I was really honored, Like Wow, this is a truth.
This is the truth. This is like, you know, I'm
not sure about like the method acting that people talk about,
whether they're in like character the whole day and that's
super weird. I've seen that too, and that's really weird.
But for somebody like you know Patrick, who's just a
master and can do everything, Like he can sing, he
(43:45):
can dance, he's like a Broadway musical theater person. But
he's also this like incredible like dramatic actor. It's just
it's just powerful. So I just love watching people's process.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
That's that's what motivates you. I love that is there
part of your story that you think there's still so
much more to explore.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
Well, I just want to be like one of the
I would really love to be like an old lady
murder mystery lady, Like I want to be like Angela
Lansbury like a murder She wrote, I love an old
lady crime solver. Oh yeah, like that's my favorite, like
a Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect, Like I love like
a British crime show, So.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
That you could think that that's for you in the future.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
Yeah, I want to be like an old lady crime solver.
That's to me so fun and so cool when like,
because an old lady's going to know exactly what's going on.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Oh yeah, she's seen it all.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
Yeah, so she's gonna she's gonna be like the best
crime solver. So for me, that's like, yeah, old lady sleuth,
old lady like detective. That's the best.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
It really is. I did not expect that, Yeah, but
I kind of like it. Yeah you need a hat,
you need a.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Hat, you need like afternoon tea. You need like a
little Maltese dog. Yeah, you know, some she can work out.
She can work it out. She would be really good.
Maybe she could have extensions, okay, and she could be
a Maltese. But yeah, I love crime shows. So I
work on a really amazing crime show called Will Trent.
So exciting and so crazy, so I love I love
(45:18):
the genre of it. So you know, for me, it's
a special Dirney to keep on doing. Like I got
to do a Law and Order once and it was
so exciting, you know, to just be like there, you know,
in that girl Lushka and like to do sees with her,
and like I was just so enthralled with it all.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
It is fascinating and it's going on right now, like
people are out there doing that right now. Yes, while
we're talking.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
Yes, I love it so cool.
Speaker 1 (45:44):
It has been so much fun to talk to.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
You and thank you.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
Visit me. I've loved it all.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
And Dottie fell asleep.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Yeah, we put her to sleep. But before I let
you go, Margaret Choe, what was your last I choose
me moment?
Speaker 2 (45:57):
My last I choose me moment? I think was put
on this slipstick because I know it's unflattering, but I
like it.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
What is it?
Speaker 2 (46:03):
It's kind of a bone, it's a bone.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
It's of spice.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Yeah, it's spice. It's not spice, but it is like
a spice. It's like a stone, but it's grate. It's
ninety s grae. I like it, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
I opted to go with a brighter one pretty just
to pep things. Oh, I like it. So we balance
each other out.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
I love that warm and cool.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Oh my gosh. Everybody find Margaret's tour stops that are
closest to you, or maybe just take a trip and
see her. It's so work them. Go to Margaret show
dot com and check out the dates because you are
on the road. Yes, goot it, guys, Okay, love it.
Thank you, so thank you.
You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Girl. Welcome
to I Choose Me, the podcast about making choices, the
ones that define us, the ones that surprise us, and
sometimes the ones that take courage. I am joined by
(00:21):
a true force of nature today. A comedian, actor, musician, activist,
and someone who has spent decades unapologetically carving her own path.
Margaret cho has made us laugh, she's made us think,
and she's helped us feel seen, all while staying fiercely
(00:43):
herself in an industry that often asks people to be
anything but Margaret Choe. I am so happy you're here
with me today.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Today's dog party. It's a dog party.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
She's so cute. We have your beautiful Lucia in the house. Baby.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
She is a good girl. She just when she meets
other dogs, she's gotta be like mean for a little bit.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
That's okay, that's okay, it's dog behavior. Dottie is very
excited to meet her. I've been talking her up, Oh
good all morning. So look she's she's ready.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
She's so cute. I love that she's like rubbing her
little face on the carpet.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Go ahead and have her own party over there and
Lucia can watch so cute. Oh my gosh, it's great
to meet you.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
We have been working our booties off since the late eighties.
That's right alongside one another. That's right different arenas, Yes,
and so I feel like we are I don't know,
there's something incredible about both of us that we're here,
we're still here. I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It's good. It's good, I mean, and I enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Like it's just different, like we watched like show business
change so much. Yeah, you know, and I enjoy it
right now. I think it's really fun. I think it's
really different. I couldn't even imagined what it, you know,
would be calm, but it's very it's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I mean, yeah, no, no part of me could have
imagined social media.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Or the internet, like the Internet in general, I.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Know, just so why the world at your fingertips? Yeah,
it's everyone knows everyone. I love it. I know. It's
really very connecting, yeah, and unifying and in the best
all the best ways. But I love it. It's kind
of gonna be rough, yes, But you've had so many
chapters in this long career that you've had multiple decade
career you've been obviously comedian, an actor, a musician, and activist.
(02:35):
Which of those versions of Margaret do you think is
the truest.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Oh, comedian. It's the one thing that I do the most.
I mean, it's the one thing that I have to
do because you get if you don't do it for
a long time, you get really unfamiliar with it.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, it's like to be a muscle.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
You have to seah, it's a muscle. It's just like
you really have to stay fit. So you have to
do it as much as you can. So you'll you'll
see comedians like I have to have to work out
every week.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
You'll go and like work stuff out.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah, you do that. So Yeah, the comedy Store mostly.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
That's a good night if you just happened to be
at the comedy Store and you stroll in.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, it's but it's everybody's good. Everybody. You know, you'll
see everybody from like I usually do shows there with
like Jay Leno or Bilberr. You know the these like
everybody like Ali Wong or Whitney Cummings or you know,
the people that are really really famous and that do
this don't do it for a long long time. People
like our Cineo hall. You know, you know it's like
(03:39):
it's it's important because we have to keep doing it.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, if you don't use it, you'll lose it, yes.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And quickly. So I I do it a little bit
less than those guys because I live far. I feel
like I live far. I lived by you. I'm actually
bright here. Okay, it's actually as city. Yeah, so it's
actually far to go into Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yes, I understand. Yeah, and you don't really want to.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
It feels like a real like it's you know, if
I lived in the Hollywood Hills, I think I would
have an easier time of it, which a lot of
those guys do you know they live right down the street.
So I have to commute a little bit.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, you have to make an effort, like take a flight.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, it is almost like that, go to the airport.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
You've had ten stand up? Am I correct on that? Ten?
Live just huge tours or.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, I think so about that, probably more, But I
don't know. It's all one long, continuous tour in my mind,
because there's never there's never been a stop, you know,
because when one ends, another one starts right, so there's
anover a real break. So that to me, it's all
(04:47):
just one long thing, I.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Think, one long career. Yeah, doing what you love, Yeah,
which is incredible. It's good, it's incredible. You've also spent
decades speaking your mind, even when it hasn't been easy,
and even when it hasn't been popular. You were outspoken.
I love that about you. Do you think that comes
(05:09):
from a fearlessness that you have or does it come
from something else?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Well, it was my upbringing because when I was a
really little kid, my parents owned a gay bookstore and.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
The the that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah. All the people that worked for in San Francisco
and San Francisco, all the people that worked for them
were early early followers of Harvey Milk, who was the
first openly gay elected official in the in existence. So
gay politics have always been a part of my life,
you know, since I was a little little kid. So
(05:46):
I think, you know, being from that, it's part of
my destiny. It's like what I was always meant to do,
you know. So you know, it went from you know,
being from there to uh fundraising and helping people living
and dying of AIDS, and then it was working towards
(06:07):
equality for gay people, which is really really important. So
you know, the trajectory of it is, I've I've been
able to watch the queer community really rise in power politically,
and so it's just been a part of my life.
But yet I think it starts from my childhood from
where I'm from.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
That's so interesting that you had that kind of community
at such a young age. I think that a lot
of people didn't know anything about at that time. Yeah,
or we're afraid of right.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
It sort of started to rise in the eighties, Like
it was really actually in the seventies when people recognizing
that there was this mysterious disease that was seemingly killing
gay men and they called it a gay cancer. And
then throughout the eighties then we really started to see
these men die in really devastating numbers. And then by
(06:56):
the nineties it was a full on pandemic, know, and
so I think like that's when we were focusing a
lot on fundraising. That's when you saw a lot of
people at the awards shows were the red ribbon on
their lapel and then it became a cause for celebrities
to get behind. I think the person who was really
(07:19):
responsible for that is Elizabeth Taylor. You know, Elizabeth Taylor.
I think after the death of Rock Hudson realized that
all of her friends, which Elizabeth Taylor, who was pretty
much like the quint essential or like the Queen of
all hags, like she was the Hag of hags, and
(07:39):
she was trying to trying to make sense of all
of her people dying. So she realized that if I
step in and make it a thing, make it cool or.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Maybe a conversation, yeah, to support people with AIDS, support
AIDS fundraising, and so she I think.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Had a lot to do with the acceptance her and
I think Princess Diana who was holding AIDS patients, like
physically touching them, hugging them the time. We saw that, Yeah,
going into these like hospice rooms and being with you know,
with these patients who people were afraid to touch, right,
So I think, yeah, both of them in conjunction with
(08:22):
kind of people being more understanding of gay lifestyles, understanding
that gay people are just like everybody else, you know,
that that was Yeah, So that all sort of developed
around eighties and nineties, and you know, there's still a
lot of homophobia still very much.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
We've come so far, Yeah, we still have so far
to go. Yes, I don't know. I feel optimistic because
I have a very strong community of gay friends. My
best friends are always gay. Yeah, because I don't know
what it is. There's a realness there. There's like a
(09:02):
connection that I don't feel from from most other people.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Also, what's this when you have a connection and you
don't let it go? Like a rooted and solid friendships
made out of substance. Yes, you know, Yes, And I
just I've always been an advocate and like just surround myself.
And also they're the most fun people. Hello. Yeah, Like
they're my favorite people to be around.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah. So there there's like an artistic nature to the community.
There's I mean, there's so much. But I think that
what happens is that a lot of times gay men
are really attracted to female strengths. Yeah, you know, and
that's usually what it is. Is they're attracted to female strength,
They're attracted to female beauty, they're attracted to female intelligence.
(09:48):
You know, there's all these qualities that make for a
good hag. But I think it's a very I think
it's a it's a really important part of my life.
I've always been connected to gay men and I'm gay myself.
So that's part of it too, But I have an
even tighter connection with gay man.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Can you define hag for hag? Is it can sound bad?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah, it's it's not a bad it's not a bad thing.
It's it is it is a woman who hangs out
with gay men and.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
He just loves surrounding herself with gay men.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, and who is often chosen by the gay man
to be like you know, and that's like Madonna. Madonna
is the ultimate hag. You know, there's nobody more beautiful,
nobody more cool.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Oh my god, wait your Madonna layout on Instagram that
you recreated her life?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Thank you? Oh yeah, I did her a healthy photo shoot.
It was very fun. I'm so excited about it. Yeah,
my friend put that together. He's a gay man, and
it was his idea and he did the photographs. He
did the look too, like he actually got the outfit
together with the swatchwatch and every like. It was really
like spot on as really incredible because gay men often
(11:02):
if they're in the arts, paved a lot of attention
to detail. So he was very very meticulous about like
curating the look and making it as perfect as he could.
And so it was really really special.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I love that characteristic in anybody, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I love better and it gave attention to detail because
it's aesthetics and it's like it has to be right.
It's powerful.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Well, the one thing that was different about your picture
of Donna's is you have this incredible body.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Art all over you.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Oh yes, and I am mesmerized. Like all they want
to do is say what why do you have that
tattoo right there? And what does that one mean to?
We could talk for hours because yeah, just full body.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I'm full body. They're like they don't have meaning as
much as the meaning is really in the tattooer. Every
art piece that I have is memorable because I had
a relationship with the tattooer that was a deep friendship
that sometimes was a love that sometimes was just an
artistic connection. So right now now I'm actually getting tattooed
(12:02):
this weekend. I get tattooed fairly infrequently nowadays, just because
I have very little space left but on your body,
on my body, but I mostly get Right now, I'm
in relationship with Korean tattooers. Okay, so I'm working with
this one right now that he's going to tattoo me
this weekend, who's really really special and he you know,
(12:24):
it's still like kind of illegal in Korea, and so
they come to America, but they still have tattoos salons
there and artists work there, but they have to have
like medical licenses. They have to sort of be like
categories under doctor in a way. It's really it's like
a medical thing. Yeah, it's it's very strange. And you know,
(12:44):
they have bath houses in Korea and they won't let
you in with tattoos sometimes because a lot of people
who are heavily tattooed were connected to like gang gang
stuff and like organized crime.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yeah, so it's very it's a stereotypic, it's very weird.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah, so tattooing is not as accepted there, but for
some reason, the artists are really really exceptional. For some reason,
it's made the illegality of it has made them the
best in the world. And you love body art, I
do you love it? I do?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
I love it too.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
I think it's fun.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
It's just a form of self expression.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Well, it's just I don't know, I'm just used to it.
And all the people that worked for my father when
I was growing up at the bookstore at the gay
bookstore were all heavily tattooed, and so I knew that
was going to be my destiny. Like I was, this
is my family and where we're all going to be
heavily tattooed, which is in the seventies was really unusual.
(13:41):
So I kind of learned it from them, and I
always knew that's what I would do. And my father
would put photographs of like these men who were fully tattooed,
would like he would put photographs of them naked on
our refrigerator like some people would put like painting that
the kids would do, or like a you know, a
(14:02):
paper that you got an a on, or test that
you raced. No, my father had pictures of these naked
men with full body tattoos on our refrigerator, like under
a magnet, So we would like that was our primary image.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Would you put the magnet over the penis or.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Did well, you didn't really see the penis the art.
You would just see like the butt and like the
It was more the focus of the pictures were more
to get the tattoos.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
The beauty of the arts. Yeah, oh that's gorgeous though,
but very unusual.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Very usual, but there was one guy who had penises
all in the arts. Okay, so then you did get
penis there.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Okay, I wanted you to see the penis on the fridge.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
There were a lot of penises there.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Okay, good, Okay. You have helped so many people through
your advocacy, so many people that you have made feel
seen and heard, which is so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Who is it that makes you feel seen or when
do you feel the most seen in her?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I guess when I see other Asian American women doing comedy,
Like for me, it's really powerful to watch somebody like
Ali Wang. It's really special for me because it's like, oh,
it's my that's my legacy, you know, that's like I
started that.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Now you're number one.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Now I get to sit back and enjoy what people
like otsco ok is doing. Like she's just phenomenal. I
haven't seen she's amazing. So she Otsko Okotska, Yeah, Otsko
is fabulous and she you've seen her, you know, you
see she's got the bowl haircut. She's the beautiful Asian
(15:39):
woman with the book.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
That's a good look.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
That's her. She's fabulous. So she is, you know, like
somebody that when I see her, I'm like, oh, it's
like watching my kids, you know, And so like when
I see Bowen Yang, it's like watching my son where
Joel Kim Booster he's my firstborn son.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Oh my god, So you paved the way. Yeah, for
all these upcoming artists.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
These amazing Asian American comedians who are just doing such
incredible work. So for me, it's like a just a
powerful thing. So that makes me feel seen because I'm like, oh,
this is like something that I started and they're continuing on.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You must be so proud of them.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
That's a really good feeling, I know, because like I
can really because of my girls, Like when I see them,
you know, facing similar challenges that I did and overcoming them. Yeah,
it's the same feeling of like I must have had
a part in that, I must have done something right.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, exactly. It's like a wonderful feeling of satisfaction. Like
I don't have children, but if.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I have children, I have like a lot of r children.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I have three cats too, so I have a lot
of animals. But I have a kind of a familial
feeling towards a lot of people in comedy that's nice.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yeah. Do you feel like you have that maternal and sink,
just that maternal energy in you?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I think so. Also. I come from like the I
was mothered a lot in comedy by Joan Rivers, who
was really affectionate and warm and stood by me for years,
you know, and she's just so supportive and so just
incredibly giving. And I'm just I'm so lucky to have
(17:27):
experienced that.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah. I am so inspired by Margaret and her confidence.
Sometimes confidence comes from within, and sometimes what we choose
to wear can bring us even more confidence, and that
can start with something as simple as getting dressed in
the morning. That is why I created Me by Jenny
(17:50):
Garth with QBC. It's a collection designed to help women
feel confident and comfortable and effortlessly stylish, no matter what
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by Jenny Garth. All of our newest collections are there,
(18:10):
and styling tips can also be found by following us
on Instagram at Me by Jenny Garth. We work so
hard at it, We love it so much and I
hope you do too.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Hey, there, Amy Robot and TJ Holmes here from the
Amy and TJ podcast, where we are doing the exact
opposite of taking a summer vacation. Yeah, I can't do that.
There's entirely too much going on in the world right
now to not be talking about all this stuff. Yes,
drama at the White House, drama at the World Cup,
drama about the Reflecting pool, and yes, drama at the
Villa pool on Love Island. All day, every day we
(18:41):
have you covered with the latest breaking news in the
stories everyone will be talking about. Listen to Amy and
TJ on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you
listen to podcasts.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
You have a new tour.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yes, sooligarchy, it's like that. It's like oligarchy says we know,
you know, people have like these billionaires who are just
buying up everything and taking all the money and taking
all the resources. So I wanted to do my own.
I want to be the choligarchy where it's my nation,
it's your nation, it's you know, it's giving you the market.
I'm like the dictator and I want everybody to be
(19:18):
part of my country. And so that's what it is.
That's your jokes.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yes, like and be on the ride. I love this. Yes,
that's like taking the bowl by the horns.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yeah, it's like, let's let's join my country for the
ninety minutes that we have and you know you'll be
transported to a new commonwealth.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Do you think that's like there are people that you
know because we grow as artists, as comedian, you grow
and things you're interested in talking about you're not interested
in now maybe, like do you think your audience holds
you to something that maybe maybe doesn't feel like what
you want to focus on right now in your career.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
I don't know, Like I feel so invigorated by performing
and like kind of what my audience is telling me
what they want to talk about. Because when you're doing comedy,
like you really see where the country's at. You really
see what people are laughing at, what they want to
hear more about. Like, right right now, it is very politicized.
People are very angry, you know, they're really really frustrated
(20:18):
and what's happening. They're first frustrated to have much everything costs.
They're angry that we're at a war if they don't
understand why they're in there, frustrated at the stupidity of
what's going on daily, you know, in this administration. So
for me, it's it's a pleasure to write about that
and talk about that because I'm also frustrated.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
I mean, everyone on both sides is frustrated with some
aspect of what's going on, Yes, for sure, So what
a great opportunity to bring levity to it. And yeah,
it's so polarizing, and so it's.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Crazy, it's really crazy. And I thought it was bad before,
Like I thought it was. I was really a very
very loud critic of the Bush administration, and now I
would have been campaigning for him for a third term.
Like I'm like I was, So we were so we
didn't know how good we had it.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Uh huh. So you've always done political comedy, you know
here and there. Yeah I love that because a lot
of people are afraid to do it.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah yeah, but it's also what I find funny and
what I find interesting. So there's some people that are
really really great at it, and like, so I'm just
trying to figure out my place there, you know. So
my my focus right now is basically politics, but it's
also I like to go very high brow and also
(21:38):
very low brow. So it's as high minded as you
can get and as crass as you can get.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I heard you say that when something's bombing and you
can feel it, it makes you go harder. Yeah, like
you want it to bomb.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
So bad, Like I'm my philosophy is like if you
don't like me, I'm going to make you hate me.
And that's really not a good attitude to have. But
it's also really funny because people get so mad. But
it's also that's just part of live performance. You just
have to put it all out there.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
It sounds more interesting than feeling bad about yourself.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
No, it's very combat it. It's very comb at it.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
But also it's your standing up for you yourself.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Yeah, and it's just words, you know, it's just talking.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
You have something like in your that you can remember
where that was like happening, and like what level it
got to.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Well, it's only gotten to a level now where it
was really bad, Like it's got really violent, Like there
was a woman who threatened to murder me, Like she
actually had to be removed from the show room. And
then I was trying to walk from one show. It
was a place that had two theaters and I'm trying
to walk to the other theater to do a show there,
(22:51):
and she grabbed me and she said that she was
going to pump my head full of bullets. And this
was really I mean, it was so crazy. And I
then she was removed by security, and they you know,
stayed with me, you know, they had like arm guards
stay with me all night, and they you know, put
me in my car at the end of the night.
(23:11):
But I was like, this is just over something that
is so stupid. It's not even like I don't even
know why she was so angry about it, but it
was like her her identity had been threatened, you know,
because I was talking about Donald Trump and talking about
mega and my feelings about it. Just the fact that
(23:32):
I was talking about it made her want to kill me.
And she had said that she was a gun owner.
She had said that she had a gun and she
could she could do that at any time, and that
it was going to happen. And so it was like,
you go, well, the reality of gun violence is really terrifying,
because that's the true thing. But I was making a
joke that wasn't even it could be a bipartisan joke
(23:53):
because it was about Trump having diarrhea, which he legitimately has,
and that's something that a Republican knows it's true.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
How do you know he has diarrhea?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Well, I think that all of the audio captured from
the Oval Office, the amount of like wet farts that
you've heard that's been captured by you know, CNN or
even but any out any news outlet, would be happy
to provide you with any number. It's got to be
(24:24):
like outtakes, like a real yea of all far and
people holding their nose. It's like it's such a to me,
it's like totally a bipartisan issue, Like that's not even
I think Trump himself would admit to having.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Funny no matter who has that.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
It's funny no matter who has them, and it's not
even really a political statement. But this woman felt like
it threatened her so much that she had to kill.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Me over a fart joke.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, it's really haying. But it's like if I have
to die for that, I think that's I mean, I
guess that's all right. I don't know, like I think
it's really I think it's really sad, Becau because you
used there used to be Republicans and Democrats used to
be able to talk to each other like there used
to be debates. There used to be a kind of
(25:08):
cordial nature across the aisle that you know, we agree
to disagree, agreed to disagree, and just move on to
the next thing because we just want what's best for
the American people and that's all we want. And now
it's become something different. So yeah, it's very strange. But yeah,
that's that's what I'm still doing comedy for.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I hope you don't have an encounter with anyone like that.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
I hope not. I hope not. It's not fun, but
it's also the reality of putting yourself out there, putting
yourself out there in the reality that there are a
lot of guns out there, which to me is really
I'm really scared about that. You know, guns in general, Yeah,
guns are final. Yeah, you know, I just don't want
(25:54):
I don't I don't want to have to be a
part of that. I really am scared of maths to
so I'm scared of the amount of guns that are
out there.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Scared of mass shootings.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Yeah, I've developed like a fear of going to the
grocery store, yeah, going to the movies.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Yeah, because we're not safe anywhere, you know, because it's
like our lives are just you know, there were I
think something like eight mass shootings in America on fourth
of July, and they don't cover it in the news.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
They don't what, they didn't even mention those.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Yeah, they don't cover it in the news because it's
such a daily occurrence that it's almost like not newsworthy anymore.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Some people are scared. Some people are like, oh, when
it's your time, it's your time.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I don't, but I don't. I think it's so unnatural,
like it shouldn't be our time. Like it's like there's
so many other things that are going.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
To kill you, you.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Know, like you there's so many, so many things that
but guns are just something that you could it could preventable.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Let's move on to something. You are playing a why
character in second season now of Disney Plus show called
Percy Jackson. Oh Yes, and the Olympics, and you play
a character called Wasp. I love it. Yes, you have
one eye or tooth.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
We share an ee me and Sander Bernhard and Christian
Shawl share one eyeball and we pop it between. It's
it's such a fabulous, fantastical show. You know, I love
this rise of like fantasy. You know, we have so
much of this, you know, of course of like House
of the Dragon and Game of Thrones and now you
know Percy Jackson, which is so tremendous, and so it's
(27:33):
a beautiful. It's a beautiful world that they've created. And
the books are so people are such huge fans. So
we're from the books and yeah, we all share one eye.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Okay, it's really fun. It sounds fun. I've never seen it.
I've got to check it out because I like the movie. Yes,
and so now there's a series.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yes, and the kids are so they're just beautiful and
they are it's just a very like exciting show. So
I love that it's so successful, and you know, there's
such a world around it, and there's such a fandom
that are just so excited about it.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
I mean, you said Sandra Bernhardt. Yes, did the kids
know who's among them the queens of.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
I mean I think they've been told. But of course,
I mean Sandra, I was always freaking out about Sandra
is my friend and I'm a Sandra Bernhardt ologist, So
she gets her ear talked off because I'm always asking
her a million questions about her career and her life.
You know, she's just, to me, just the pinnacle of cool.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, she's a cool lady. That is definitely for sure.
Speaker 5 (28:40):
Welcome to the Orange Doesn't Fall Far the podcast where
Reality TV meets real life. I'm Tamra, Judge.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
And I'm Sophia.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Each week we're spilling the tea on pop culture, relationships, motherhood, dating, drama,
and what it's really like growing up in the middle
of reality TV chaos.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
One of us lived it.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
One of us survived it. Listen to the Orange Doesn't
Fall Far. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, and
wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
You've lived in the world of fame for a long
time and it, you know, it has not always great.
What do you think do you think if you were
to do it over, would you choose fame again?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Well, I live in a very low level of it,
so you know. And also, comedians are like the work
courses of the entertainment industry. So nobody's that excited when
they see a comic. I mean not really. They're like
kind of cool. But also, I'm so non descript. There's
something about me. I never get recognized. It never it's
never an issue like I never had to you know, but.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
You've had a lot of different iterations like your style,
and you've reinvented your look so many times.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
But nobody's ever I've never felt like my privacy has
been invaded. I have a couple of friends who are
like super who when we went out, they would have
to wear a full like disguise because they just could
not be seen in public or would just never be
able to do anything, you know, And I find that
really suffocating and it was really hard for them. So
(30:15):
I've never approached that level. It might be fun to
do it, I don't know, it might be fun to
experience it, but I've never had that experience.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
But there's still like, do you think that the pros
outweigh that.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Cons Yes, yes, yes for you.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
I think your friends that have it on a different
level would say that.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I think so because it's like the I think the
benefit of being able to really like sort of stretch
out as an artist, you know, you know, they're like
really great actors, so that they've been able to do
so many things because of their fame too, because of
their notoriety. It's been very helpful. But then also it's
painful when it fades and then they're like what do I?
(30:54):
Who am I without that? That's really hard?
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean I reach that point just as
a human when I was fifty, Like you're fifty seven,
I'm fifty four, But you reached that point. What was
it like for you? Because I can tell you what
it was like for me, but like, what was it
like for you as you entered your fifties and that
sort of new era of your life?
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Well? I think for me, I mean, it was really
it was great not to have a period. I love menopause,
Like it was great not to bleed Like that was
so awesome.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
I know, because it's torturous. Yes, we've endored it long enough.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
For so long, and it was really physically like like
menopause for me was physically really easy because I got
into hormone replacements therapy super early and so I found
the right combination of things that I needed and worked
with that easily. Yeah, so that it was easy. But yeah,
(31:55):
like because I was never an angeneu, I've never been
like a pretty girl. I've never been like sort of
held up to any kind of beauty standard. So I've
always felt like kind of the same all the way,
and there's some ease to that because when you're old
then it doesn't really matter. He just kind of like
(32:16):
it's like you.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
People are more accepting.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
People are totally accepting because I don't have a legendary
beauty that faded, like there was nothing that sort of
set me apart that way. I was always funny, So
that was to me, like my strength or my beauty
was in the fact that I was funny, not in
anything else. So it was very easy to age.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
What about the time for the show All American Girl,
they asked you to lose weight?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Right, Yes, well they forced me. It wasn't an ass
It was like, you have to lose weight or else
we're not going to be able to do the show.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Were you overweight? It wasn't something that I saw as
an issue.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
No, But for television I was. I mean I wasn't
a physically I didn't feel that physically large. But for television,
I mean, in nineteen ninety.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Four, they weren't concerned about your health.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
No, but I was like a book fifty one hundred
and fifty pounds. That's like monstrous in TV, you know,
I mean, that is like to be one hundred and
fifty pounds on television in the nineties for a woman
was like, not, that's not happening, like never seen before, right,
I mean I think, well, for maybe Rosanne could have
(33:27):
gotten away with it, but she was like she was
so castigated for her body, but she was maybe one
sixty you know, like she was not that large. But
there was such a around the nineties and around women's bodies.
Then there was such a yeah stereotype that you had
(33:48):
to be really really.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Think that was the heroin chic yeah era.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Yeah, and even even like it went outside of like
culture and fashion sort for me the world, and then
I think in a lot of ways it got worse
and like y t U K and the early part
of the two thousands, you know where we saw a
real like just a need to control women's bodies, but
(34:16):
shaming you know, people's bodies. And you know when they
were saying like Jessica Simpson was like overweight and she
was not she at all.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Maybe she was just bloated that day, like her.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Bodies do thing, but she looked great. And it's just
when you look back at like how we shamed women
so much for just having bodies that I'm like shocked
by all of that. But yeah, for me, it was
the same. You know that there was so much a
scrutiny put on us, but also because we were the
first Asian American family on television, so and there was
(34:48):
a stereotype about Asian American women that were not Asian
American women, but Asian women in general, that were like
petite and like you know, delicate, and I was not.
So that was very difficult. So yeah, I lost a
lot of weight in a very short period of time,
and I think I never quite got over it. I
think it gave me a very legitimate eating disorder, which
(35:08):
I still kind of struggle with. Like when you have
that in your history, you know that you're yeah, but
you're told to be too fat to exist, then you're
it's really shattering.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
So and it sticks with you.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yeah, it sticks with you your whole life.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
How do you manage it? Now?
Speaker 2 (35:27):
I think now I'm so like I'm just over it,
Like I don't care, I don't care, I don't care.
But it also like and also now I'm at a
weight that I consider safe, You're healthiest, healthy, and also manageable,
like because I'm not dieting to get to this weight,
I don't do anything. Like it's kind of like for me,
(35:47):
it's it's just freedom. But it's also a kind of
maturity that you get to your like, oh I don't
care anymore. It doesn't really make a difference.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
So you think about longevity now at your age, and
like you alter your diets and your exercise and like
how you take care of yourself.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Yeah, I'm mostly concerned with dementia, like you're mostly concerned.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
About like brain health.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Yeah, brain health, and like I'm like, cognitive decline is
my biggest fear, so you know, and then in order
to stave off that, you have to have a good diet,
you have to have exercise, you have to move in order.
It's not just one part of the body, you know,
it's like everything works together. But yeah, that's what keeps me.
Like I play music and I'm a multi instrumentalist, so
(36:33):
I play a lot of different instruments just to keep
my brain kind of functioning and learning because that's where
I get really nervous.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Yeah. Same, It's something we're talking about more and more now.
I mean, first we're talking about cardiac health. Now we're
talking about brain health, which I'm the Yeah, I'm definitely
on your same page about that. Because you want to
be able to remember things. I think I need your
memory to be a comedian.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Right, So it's very important, Like, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
You don't want to lose your just your grasp.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
On things, right. And also you want to be able
to still be adaptable and still be able to Like
what's so great about youth is that you like adaptable
to you able to take on new ideas and understand
things from other perspectives and you're not so rigid. And
so I want to keep my mind youthful.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
It's so important. What do you think it is that
keeps you grounded in life?
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Well, my animals, so I have to, like, you know,
when you have cats, it's like you you're at their
beck and call twenty more seven. So I have to
make sure that they're doing okay. I have to have
to groom them a lot. I do clean a lot
of ears. I cut about seventy two nails a week
because I have, you know, four animals, So I have
(37:55):
to cut all their nails a little bit, just a
little bit, because I don't want to have a big deal,
So I just cut them a little bit. I do
all the stuff. Oh my god, I love you.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
I cut my dog's hairs too, Yeah, my hairs. I
cut their hair. I don't want to send them out.
I don't think they enjoy that.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
They don't like that. I mean, I don't like I
had a van come around and they would do the
grooming in the van, but they don't like that either.
So I just do it all myself. And then it's
just a little bit at a time. But it keeps
you grounded because it's like you're just like.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
You're taking care of something.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
It's like gardening, but with an animal. I garden also
do a little bit. I mean a lot of my
pants die, but I'm very I like to buy them.
It's really fun to buy.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Play and they look so pretty when you buy them.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
They're so pretty when you buy them, and they're pretty
if they last. You know, some cactuses are thriving.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
You're doing you're doing good with Yeah, they're really good
cactus forever. What is what is something that you've experienced
in your career? Let was a setback in the moment
that you now, with this new perspective of age and
wisdom see differently.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Well, I think like doing my television show All American
Girl was canceled out after one season, and it was
so devastating, and I realized that if I had continue
with the show, if it had been able to go
on for years, maybe I would be disinterested now in comedy,
Like I wouldn't be as good of a comedian because
because I wasn't wasn't able to succeed as a television star,
(39:17):
it made me really focused on being a comedian, and
I worked really hard to get to a place of
like doing it, and I learned to like really be
obsessed with it and really love it, and I do
it daily now, So I may not be as interested
of like all those things. Like I think if I'd
been a success as a television star, I might just
(39:39):
you know, have you know, huge estate in Santa Barbara
and never leave. Like I might have a golf tournament
like every year as just one and have like all
the famous and then that's it. Like I might be
selling jam you know, giving Megan Markle a run for
her Jammy money. Like you know, there was like a
(40:00):
hunger that I have as an artist that I don't
think I would have had if I had been able
to sort of make that trajectory as a television star.
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
It makes sense. What is it that motivates you now
more than when you were younger? Like was your motivation
younger to work to survive?
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Yes, all those things all?
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Or was it for the art?
Speaker 2 (40:22):
It is all of those things. It's all like just
to be better, to be good, to understand who I
am as a comedian, to understand how to be a
good actor too. Like acting is just this mystery that
I still like, I can't get my head around, Like
how do people do this? And you know, like it's
just a miracle thing, like you between those words action
(40:44):
and cut, you get to be somebody else for those
like few sacred minutes and like what is that about?
And I'm still trying to figure out that mystery.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
It's addictive. Yeah, that moment And I always talk about
that too, because there's so much about the business and
the industry that I don't enjoy, but it's that moment
between action and cut. Yeah, that's something magical happens, and
it's like it just turns something on inside of you.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Yeah, And it's this rare thing that nobody in the
world gets to experience except actors.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Yes, you know, being outside of your life.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Yeah, for this moment, you're not you. You're this person
and that person is that is that person, and we're
not us, but we're something else and we're creating a
reality so that people can watch and feel something. It's powerful.
So I still find it such a divine mystery, and
I'm so curious about all of these other people and
(41:39):
their ways of doing it. So way. I love working
with people who are really into it, you know, actors
who are really into it that can show me new
ways of doing this. You know, it's powerful.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
What do you ask them?
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Well, Like, the thing that I was really impressed with
recently is I did a movie with Patrick Wilson. He's great,
He's such a beautiful actor. And so it's a movie
about a school shooting and he plays a teacher who
was shot and I'm like a principal who comes in
and I'm trying to like boss everybody around. I'm like
the bad guy, and he's like a hero in the school.
(42:13):
But he and I were fighting in scenes and his arm,
his character's arm is like not working anymore because it
was shot and he hid it from me. In the scenes,
so I as a as a person like me, I
didn't even notice that he had that weakness. I didn't
(42:34):
notice it until we watched it on the big screen
and I was watching him hiding his arm and I
was like, that is so interesting because that frailty was
not perceptible to me in the moment, but on the
screen it was so profound. And I was asking him.
I was like, you're hiding your arm that whole time.
(42:55):
He's like, yeah, yeah, I was, And I was like
I didn't even know. And it's just so cool to
see an actor who believes in it and carries through
and commits for that that right, that that like thing
where like his character is this and he's going to
do things that you may not understand and just because
you're in a scene together doesn't mean you're gonna know
(43:16):
what he's doing. And I just love that, Like.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
It's just seeing, like to look at other actors' choices.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Yeah. Yeah, I was just so moved and so like
I was really honored, Like Wow, this is a truth.
This is the truth. This is like, you know, I'm
not sure about like the method acting that people talk about,
whether they're in like character the whole day and that's
super weird. I've seen that too, and that's really weird.
But for somebody like you know Patrick, who's just a
master and can do everything, Like he can sing, he
(43:45):
can dance, he's like a Broadway musical theater person. But
he's also this like incredible like dramatic actor. It's just
it's just powerful. So I just love watching people's process.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
That's that's what motivates you. I love that is there
part of your story that you think there's still so
much more to explore.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
Well, I just want to be like one of the
I would really love to be like an old lady
murder mystery lady, Like I want to be like Angela
Lansbury like a murder She wrote, I love an old
lady crime solver. Oh yeah, like that's my favorite, like
a Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect, Like I love like
a British crime show, So.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
That you could think that that's for you in the future.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
Yeah, I want to be like an old lady crime solver.
That's to me so fun and so cool when like,
because an old lady's going to know exactly what's going on.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Oh yeah, she's seen it all.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
Yeah, so she's gonna she's gonna be like the best
crime solver. So for me, that's like, yeah, old lady sleuth,
old lady like detective. That's the best.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
It really is. I did not expect that, Yeah, but
I kind of like it. Yeah you need a hat,
you need a.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Hat, you need like afternoon tea. You need like a
little Maltese dog. Yeah, you know, some she can work out.
She can work it out. She would be really good.
Maybe she could have extensions, okay, and she could be
a Maltese. But yeah, I love crime shows. So I
work on a really amazing crime show called Will Trent.
So exciting and so crazy, so I love I love
(45:18):
the genre of it. So you know, for me, it's
a special Dirney to keep on doing. Like I got
to do a Law and Order once and it was
so exciting, you know, to just be like there, you know,
in that girl Lushka and like to do sees with her,
and like I was just so enthralled with it all.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
It is fascinating and it's going on right now, like
people are out there doing that right now. Yes, while
we're talking.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
Yes, I love it so cool.
Speaker 1 (45:44):
It has been so much fun to talk to.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
You and thank you.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
Visit me. I've loved it all.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
And Dottie fell asleep.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Yeah, we put her to sleep. But before I let
you go, Margaret Choe, what was your last I choose
me moment?
Speaker 2 (45:57):
My last I choose me moment? I think was put
on this slipstick because I know it's unflattering, but I
like it.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
What is it?
Speaker 2 (46:03):
It's kind of a bone, it's a bone.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
It's of spice.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Yeah, it's spice. It's not spice, but it is like
a spice. It's like a stone, but it's grate. It's
ninety s grae. I like it, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
I opted to go with a brighter one pretty just
to pep things. Oh, I like it. So we balance
each other out.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
I love that warm and cool.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Oh my gosh. Everybody find Margaret's tour stops that are
closest to you, or maybe just take a trip and
see her. It's so work them. Go to Margaret show
dot com and check out the dates because you are
on the road. Yes, goot it, guys, Okay, love it.
Thank you, so thank you.
Host
Jennie Garth
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