May 11, 2022 • 41 mins
Jonathan and Jaymes are joined by the very funny Margaret Cho for laugh out loud moments as she shares her feelings of pride, the progress of lgbtq+ rights, and the effects menopause has had on her sexual orientation.
Plus Jonathan and Jaymes are in full go mode for the upcoming ‘Fire Island’ movie!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Pridecast with Jonathan Bennett James on I Heart Radio. Hey,
it's Jonathan Bennett and this is I Heart Radio's Pridecast,
your weekly dose of love, laughter, and hopefully a little
inspiration for the l g B t Q plus community
(00:23):
and a reminder to be proud of who you are.
I'm joined by my husband as usual, James. Hi, baby,
I'm very proud of who I am. You are very
proud of who you are. I am very proud to
be here with you. There's so much pride happening on podcast.
You would think it would be called podcast. Oh wait,
it is. It is. I'm really proud of I just
(00:44):
saw the trailer. I know it's been out for a
couple of weeks and I've been seeing snippets up on Instagram,
but I finally sat down and watch the entire trailer.
And our producer Raymond is here with us as well.
You can tell me if you saw it, the trailer
for the new movie Fire Island. Have you seen a Raymond?
I've seen it, guys. I'm so excited. What do you think.
I can't wait. It's just it's like a moment. It
is a moment because if you think about, like, we
(01:05):
didn't have these kind of movies growing up, and now
it's just a rom com where everybody is part of
our community, and it's it's so cool to see and
it looks hysterical, it looks really funny, funny story. I
think I'm auditioned for it, but we're still waiting to
hear still wait in here if I get it. I
I don't. I don't think the chances are looking good
right now, but I'm still in the mix. I think, Yeah,
(01:29):
I think Nick Adams, Broadway legend, Nick Adams, who's fantastic
and adorable and just so sweet, he's in it, and
I think I auditioned for his role. But you know what,
Nick looks so good in a bathing suit that I
get why they cast him. He's talented and he looks
better than me in a bathing suit, and they he
should have the role. You know, you see certain people
you're like, oh man, I was after that, and then
you see who they cast, You're like, you know what,
(01:50):
you probably do that better, So good for you, Nick Adams. Yeah.
So the movie stars Joe, Kim Booster and Bowen Yang,
and it's really cool. We get to see a group
of Asian friends going to Fire Island having their experience
because it's just it's more people being represented from our community.
It's so cool and it's done really well. I mean,
I was cracking up at the trailer watching all the stuff.
(02:12):
This is what I love about it. So joke and
Booster said, because this is something you and I always
say a lot, is that maybe can you turn on
the air? Is that what we normally say? Oh, like,
you do this stuff because you want to inspire people
and give them hope, right, And so he said, I
want people, especially gay men, especially queer people, to walk
away from the movie happy that they're gay. Yes, I
(02:33):
love that, And it is a movie that like I
watch it and I'm like this, this is kind of
like anybody's group of friends going to have this experience.
It you you can identify with it whoever you are
in the community, and it does I think there's something
really important about that about that, Like, that's what we
do with with you know, our Hallmark movies and some
of the other movies I've been in, which I love
is that they're normalizing what gay people look like in
(02:56):
the media. It's not a movie about gay people it's
just a movie about people that happened to be gay.
You know, there's a huge difference there, and I think
when we take the otherness away from it, it it helps
to change the hearts and minds of people that are
watching at home as well. And have you, James, you've
been to Fire Island. I actually shot a movie on
Fire Island to fire, I've had the Fire Island experience.
(03:17):
I went to Fire Island during the off season, the
very off you gotta wear winter during the pandemic, during
a pandemic with you because you were shooting a movie there.
I shot a movie two years ago on fire or
a year ago on Fire Island, and it was a thriller,
so everyone died. But it's much different experience than I
think this version of Fire Island. Ours was the thriller version.
(03:39):
And you've had the real fire because you were a
young gay in New York. Okay, let me just talk
real quick about the first time I went to Fire Island.
I was nineteen years old. I maybe wait a hundred
and ten pounds, soaking wet. I was twink of the year,
just like living my best life. And my friend calls me,
he says, I was living in New York at the time.
He's like, Hey, let's go to Fire Island for the weekend.
(04:00):
We got a house. I said, great, what's Fire Island.
Little did I know what I was about to embark on.
So we I get there and it's just like gay Mecca.
Like I've never seen so many gay people in one
place in my entire life. And I end up coming
from Ohio, like a small town in Ohio. This was
such a culture shock but also exciting. At the same time.
(04:21):
I was nervous, I was excited. We went around the island,
but I remember this one moment specifically. We went to
a party at Tommy Tuns house. There's like the famous
Tommy Tunes house over I think it's in the pines.
He sounds so old. I'm so old. Wait, it gets older,
so I'm I'm not like, I think I'm nineteen or twenty,
like I said. And I go to the house. There's
(04:42):
a party. Everyone's in the pool. Everyone's got like speedos
on and like at the time, like everyone was just
jacked and buff and like they were just like it
was a very early two thousands. Muscles were in It
was very like a thing, and I was so nervous
to take off my shirt and like go in the
pool because I was so skinny, and I felt so
self conscious and uncomfortable, like at zero body fat, I
(05:03):
was just like this little thing. And I was nervous
to get go in the pool with everyone else because
I felt insecure. And this this old queen just sitting
next to me, he's smoking a cigarette and he just goes, Honey,
you'll never be this young or this thing. Get in
the pool. And I did. He was right, and so
(05:26):
I took my shirt off and I lived my best life.
And that's like the one thing I remember from my
first Fire Island experience is like having the old queen
just be like, honey, getting the ball like and he
was right. It was great. Raven, have you been to
Fire Island? I haven't been yet because I just moved
to New York, so I have Okay, but I'm going
this summer after Pride. It's a show. You can watch
(05:51):
the movie ahead of time too, it to kind of
prep you for it to see what the experience is
going to be like, because it looks it looks pretty
spot on for what I've been told. It is my
experience though, yes, baby, talk show was so good in
the off season, they still do the drag shows, right,
So we're there, we kind of got the island basically
to ourselves. There's a couple of locals and a few
people that come over. But they performed the drag show
at one of the one of the bars there, and
(06:12):
it was a show called The Assassins, and I looked
it up. I want to make sure I give these
girls credit because, oh my goodness, they performed in the
off season like it was the on season and the
house was packed all the way. Kimmy Moore, Boudwala Floor
and Nick Gaga put on this show that was choreography
after choreography, performance after performance. They jumped off of things,
(06:32):
they climbed on things, They had the most amazing costumes.
It was. It was so it was like we were
watching the finale episode of Drag Race and they were
like lips sticking for like two thousand dollars. Like yeah,
So when when you go Raymond, I highly recommend that
you check out The Assassin Show because if it was
that in the off season for like fifteen of us
and our chicken tenders we had ordered, I can only
(06:53):
imagine what It's like when all of the gays have
descended up on Fire Island. Chicken it was. It was
chicken tenders were not that great. Get them. They just
weren't that good. And I'm okay with it because we're
watching a drag show and it's barrow food and I'm
fine with it. But I'm a chicken tender connoisseur and
they just weren't that great. I guess I was so
distracted by the fantastic beauty, by the beauty. But um,
(07:15):
speaking of the Fire Island experience and the Fire Island
movie movie, there is just you, I would say, a
queer icon, A queer icon, um A plus the she is.
She is one of the the biggest queer icons and
honestly one of the first queer icons that I remember
(07:36):
seeing in hearing in her stand up specials. Joining us
today on the podcast we have because the She's in
Fire Island, but she's also on podcast right now. Just
a quick note. The following interview was recorded the day
(07:58):
before the draft of this Preme Court decision overturning Rovi
Wade was leaked, and it Justice Alito criticized the decision
in the obergh Failed versus how Just case, which we
all know is the Supreme Court case that legalized same
sex marriage in the US. Now to Margaret Show, joining
us from her bed. All right, here we are welcoming
to the show to pridcast one of the l g
(08:19):
B t Q plus icons in the world, one of
the funniest women on the face of the planet. I
have been a fan since I think two thousand four
I started listening to Margaret Show. Please welcome to the podcast,
the one and only hilarious Margaret Show. Margaret, Hello, Welcome, Hi,
Thank you so much. That's wonderful. This is so exciting
(08:41):
for for me personally as as a member of this
couple here because since I started dating Jonathan five years ago,
you have been in our life every single day. Because okay,
here's okay, Margaret, here's what happened. So I I downloaded
on iTunes back in the day, Assassin to the was
in five You're Special and it's it's like one of
(09:02):
the ones that are downloaded into my phone. It's like
this was before things were streaming, right, So it was
downloaded into the phone and now it just transfers to
every iPhone I own. And because it starts with an A.
When we start the car and it connects automatically to Bluetooth,
Your Special comes on and it's you talking about President
(09:23):
Bush and the gay agenda and every I think I
could quote the whole thing. I've listened to it a
hundred times and I just let it keep playing half
the time because it's just so so comforting. So you're
a huge part of our lives, whether you know it
or not. Yeah, well that's amazing. I love you. That's incredible.
So every single day, because this one never lets me
(09:44):
drive the car, he always drives. It's his phone that
connects and I hear you every single day to start
our day. And what a crazy time because we think
of it, we think we we listen to that Special
and you know we're talking about marriage equality, you're talking
about marriage quality, hadn't hadn't happened yet, and now look
where we are. So is it? Is it crazy? Need
to look back on like the stuff you did back
in you know, two thousands, the early two thousands to
(10:05):
where we are now and how much has changed. Yes,
it's so crazy. But at the same time, it's like
we move forward and then we move backwards with the
don't say gay Bill. And you know, with all of
the crazy stuff happening with the right wing being like
very anti gay, like, it's almost it's almost as if
(10:26):
we like went forward and then came back further, but
then we still have you know, euphoria, we still have
are like means death. We still have little masacs and
you know, so we we have so much and then
we we don't have so much. It's a very strange time.
(10:48):
So how do you use your comedy as as it
evolves to then combat? Okay, we made progress, but now
we're moving backwards, Like how how does that affect your comedy? Well?
I think that it's it's really just about observing and
and kind of coming away with like why are these
things happening? And you know it's I usually just go
(11:09):
with my gut reactions, Like right now, my gut reaction
is Marjorie Taylor's green has such a dip face. Like
when I look at her, she has a lesbian face,
like she has the dyke Is face. I know that face.
I have that face. I have sat on that face.
So it's like when you can just observe, like what's
(11:30):
going on, it's like why are you so against gage
when your let's have never touched it clearly like you are,
so let's be like it's just a softball playing face
that I can't get away from. Like it's so weird
how they're so gay but they're so anti gay, Like
Lindsey Graham's like, bro, please bitch, sit down, like you know,
(11:53):
like it's so ridiculous. Um, it's it's really it's really
the weird or to stink, but so you know, you
kind of make light of it, and that's what infuriates
that community the most is when you don't take them seriously.
But it gives us a lot of freedom to be
able to laugh at it, have joy around it, because
(12:15):
isn't it always such a projection? You always find out
nine of the time a girl, it was you you
were fighting against. Yeah, it was like it was like
my best friend in college I went away from we
we separated in college and I went and did something else,
moved to New York, and he stayed in college and
he was my best friend, Tony, and we he was
gay as well, And there was one bully that lived
(12:35):
on our floor freshman year that like really picked on us,
and then senior year he calls me, he goes, You'll
never believe who I hooked up with. And I was like, bam,
and I said his name, he goes, Yep, I go,
I knew it. It's always the ones that are finding
it that are that are the ones that are being
the biggest jerks, right because they fear their own uh power,
(12:57):
and you know, I mean it's like their faith, fear
their own strength, which is their gayness. You know, they
fear their own truth. So you know, it's like you
have to be sad for people who are so afraid
of themselves. Really, you know, it's just yeah, it's very
it's it's very sad. But it's also the thing is
(13:17):
the problem is that there are real life consequences. There
are real life horrible things happening to gay kids, trance kids.
I mean, the absolute craziness of all this homophobic rhetoric.
It's really affecting young people. You know, we've like grown up,
I've grown up through so many ages of homophobius or
(13:40):
I can handle it, but it's like the young generation
who are really just kind of like learning about what's
the world's like, it's very dangerous. So I'm I'm really
scared for them, and it's like it makes me so
angry because it's not like we've ever taught gay anything
anywhere in schools, Like there's no consciousness of that. It's
just putting this atmosphere of fear around corners that is
(14:03):
not cool. And you sit here and you talk about,
you know, our generation and how we're at a different
place than the younger generation and yet we sall so
far to go. But you know, this is podcast we
talk about being proud of who you are and what
pride means to you, and it's something we love to
share and I think people love hearing what that means
(14:25):
to everyone. So I have to ask you, what does
pride mean to you and where you are in life? Well,
I have been attending Gay Pride celebration since nineteen, you know,
and every time, you know, like being at the head
of the parade, listening to the Dike sun bikes roar
through the motorcycles, it really wells up in my heart,
(14:47):
like this feeling of joy and hope for the future,
and this feeling of like we can be ourselves, we
can enjoy being ourselves, and we can really celebrate who
we are and come into visibility into society in a
way that's really special and so I um and pribade
(15:08):
is so important. I think pride is really um something
that brings us all together. And it's renews too, because
there's so many different avenues of queerness that are now
like being embraced by that was just LGBT before, and
now we're more inclusive of the non binary community, of
(15:28):
the ACE community, great sexual the questioning the allies. You know,
there's so much to expand, like and look at who
is queer and what is quere and I love that. Yeah,
And it's cool when that happens because it allows us
to kind of look past what we thought we were
(15:49):
and opens us to the possibility of maybe there's more
to who we are as well, because I know you
had said you identify as bisexual, but I know that's
evolved for you, and I think I read that you
I did fight as as pan sexual. Now is that
I think that now I'm actually closer to a sexual,
you know, which is pretty much the same as being
(16:11):
pan sexual in a lot of ways. It's like when
you are kind of removing the the sort of ideas
of what romance is a romantic a sexual you remove
these ideas of like heteronormative sexuality or romance or relationship,
(16:31):
and it it sort of becomes like you're like in
a different sphere. I think that for me it's come
with age. I'm just really interested in cacti and succulents,
So that's my my feeling of like, yeah, I'm very
into the plant life. Um, I have a very big
(16:53):
affinity for cats and dogs, and so you know, it's
like I've almost got into a phase of my life
where I'm a little bit outside of my own body
and I'm about like nurturing other bodies which are not
necessarily human bodies, which are animals, which are plants. So
it's weird, like how menopause really changes you and m
(17:15):
hormones really change you and they don't less in your life,
it actually images your life. So I would say I'm
kind of closer to a sexual now, which it feels
right and it feels really good. I think it's beautiful though,
to allow yourself to evolve and find who you are.
You don't have to be one thing, you don't have
to stay in one box. There's there's a spectrum, there's
(17:35):
a scale, there's all that, And I think it's beautiful
to allow yourself to continue to find who you are.
Like it's it's like I do that with work, Like
you know, don't like to jump jobs all the time
because I think you don't have to be stuck doing
one thing, or you can do as many things as
you want. And I think that as we add I
would say this every single episode, probably as we add
letters to the l g B t q I A
(17:56):
plus community. I think it's a beautiful thing because it's
a expanding our horizons. It's expanding who's included and is
expanding letting people see who they can be. And you
said something great, Margaret, you said you're into nurturing other
bodies and nurturing other other things. And I think it's
not lost on anyone how much you nurtured us. I
(18:20):
know my I know people my age. Growing up and
listening to your comedy, it was the first time that
I felt it was the first time I saw because
I grew up in Ohio, Toledo, Ohio, and you know,
very small town, very small town town thinking, and no
one just talked openly about being gay the way you did,
(18:41):
and no one so talked so openly that I had
ever heard about the queer community other than you, and
I remember hearing your stuff for the first time and
just saying, Wow, she has so much braver, she's so strong.
I can't believe there's someone that can do that. I
could never do that. I could never talk about being
gay like that. That would be that would be crazy
to me. And the fact that now here I am
(19:03):
on a podcast called pridecast Out and Loud and Proud
with my husband talking to you about what pride means.
Just so you know, you're what the work you do
is so important and what you've done has been so important.
You've shaped this generation, which will then help to shape
the next generations and it will just keep going. So
I want to say thank you for for inspiring me
(19:25):
and and just making me feel like there was someone
out there that understood me. You have and but no, no,
you inspired us. Who inspired you? Like? Who were who
were the Where did this come from? We're from all
this priory? Who inspired you to? I mean, I know
you grew up in San Francisco and it was probably
(19:45):
a very you know, a very liberal environment, but like,
who inspired you growing up to make you be able
to do this? I think people like carveing Milk for sure,
the people who were working for Harvey Milk, who were
a campaign any with him, who um were holding vigil
after his assassination. You know that incredible thing. You know,
(20:09):
I was being able to witness. So to see the
beginnings of gay power in that way was really inspiring.
And you know, it was just a little kid, but
it made me. It had a lifelong effect. People like
having people like Brownie Mary, who was this very uh
incredible woman who was baking illegally baking marijuana brownies for
(20:35):
AIDS patients in hospice. You know, gay men who were
dying of AIDS and she was alleviating their suffering and
going to jail for it, um and baking brownies for them.
And so she and I she was like eighty something.
She gave me a brownie in San Franciscope, like in
the early nineties, and I'm still high from it. Like so, UM,
(21:01):
I really admire people like that, people who were you know,
helping AIDS patients. UM. People people like you know, Diana Spencer,
people like Princess Diana who were helping AIDS patients, helping
change the world's perception of people with aids. I think
that's really incredible. So there's been a lot of support
(21:24):
that I see all over, but I've sort of been
witnessed to um. But I think, you know, like I
would say, for me, like the most pivotal people would
probably a combination of Harvey Milk and Brownie Married, And
that's kind of where I come from. It's really cool
to hear it inspired you because then like I don't
know where I read it, but um, bow and Yang
(21:45):
who we're gonna get so because I want to talk
about all the stuff that you're talking about. He talked
about how you inspired him. What does that feel like
for you? When you hear that and you're like, Wow,
here's somebody killing it now that they're saying I was
inspiration for them. It's really gratifying. And I love Bowen
and you know, he's really incredible and just such a
(22:06):
beauty and such a talent, and I think like he
actually reminds me of almost um, somebody like with the
with a grandeur, like a like a James Baldwin or
a Truman Capote, like a kind of a legendary voice
that will here for generations. Like we had a joke
on the SETI Fire Island that we all had our
(22:28):
own like podcasts. So my podcast idea for him was
the yang over, which every night after like a fabulous
New York City glittering party, he would like go to
the early morning hours with with somebody with a ball
gown and talk about the party and do sort of
be after after party breakdown, there's the yang over from
(22:50):
the party. So I just think it's such a good
idea because I think that he has such a wonderful
eye on comedy and show business and popca and what's
happening now. Um so yeah, I love Bowen and I'm
really proud of him. And what was it like shooting
Fire Island. You have this new movie coming out, and
(23:12):
I mean, tell us about the experience of that, because
from the trailer it looks absolutely hilarious. This looks like
a group of people I want to have so much fomo,
I know, And I'm just gonna throw it out there.
Audition for Nick Adams role. But you know what, I'm
glad Nick Adams got it because I'm at let it go.
And he did a great job. And he looks really
good in bathing suits. So and he's very funny and talented,
so I'm gonna let this one go. But shooting everybody
(23:36):
was so we had such a great time. Everybody's so
wonderful and we had so much fun, and you know,
it was like, um, just a fabulous summer holiday where
like me and the main cast we just all like
we're on this um sort of like meeting house or
sort of this little hotel that was around a swimming pool,
(23:59):
and so we were just like all in very close quarters.
And um, if somebody got Dick would be really quiet,
like his boyfriends are like, you know, like we're all
like sisters on the island, and um, everybody was just
so fun and I really just fell in love with everyone.
(24:20):
I mean I known every every like like I've known
um Joel and I've known of course Bone, but then
I didn't know Matt very well. I didn't know all
the other cast members very well. So we just got
really close really fast, and you know, we um laughed
and laughed and laughed. It's very similar to what's happening
on screen was what was happening off screen. It just
(24:41):
became a family. So Joel's vision was so brilliant, and
Andrew is such an incredible director. So we have this
incredible visual element to add to the humor um because
it's really painted like an amazing portrait like of gay
life of summer, of this summer romance, which is really amazing,
(25:03):
and it's it's so true because it's almost like they
just took it from the trailer. It looks like you
just took a really great snapshot of what it's like
to have a group of friends that go to Fire
Island in the summer and kind of the summer romances
that happened and all the hilarity that comes with it.
Because we've all been there with with have it, you know,
we've all had I'm sure you have to you you
go to Fire Island for the summer with your group
(25:23):
of friends and it's a blast, and it's it's gay
summer camp. Well that hang on. Not everybody has the gift.
Not everybody gets the gay summer camp experience. Jonathan had it.
I was talking before we got on with you about
how he took me to Fire Island. In the off season,
I shot a movie called Fire Island, but it's a
thriller and we shot at the same year as the
(25:45):
Fire Island Comedy, So we were there when it was
off season, which, by the way, it's just freaky on
its own. I'm sure you've been there during that. That
was gonna ask did you guys filmed during on season
or off season? We actually were there off season, so
it was during the week off season, so it's very quiet,
but um were I actually have over wintered in Province Town,
(26:09):
which is like really like that's very strange. It's very
surreal beautiful, but it's like you're really you're really oscolated,
so it's definitely you know, you feel the wilderness of it.
It's still very like much a sort of foresty coastal landscape,
which is really beautiful. The natural beauty of the place
(26:30):
really comes through. But it's also really scary. Yeah, yeah
it is. And then we were shooting a thriller and
like there was a scene where I had to walk
down to the board you know, you know those boardwalks
when they're deserted and it's night outside, like you don't
know what's in those woods. And there was a scene
where I had to walk and walk down that boardwalk
alone and I was like on camera in the scene,
knowing that they're filming me, and I was still scared,
(26:51):
like I knew, like, hey there's like pas everywhere there's
a director like, I'm fine, but there was a moment
where I'm like, I don't think I'm fine, Like I
don't think I would want to be here by mysel
too scared. It's because it's like the natural. It's like
it's all the trees and yeah, and the creaking. There's
no lives. There's no city sounds. That's why it's scary,
(27:12):
is because there's no sort of civilization, which is what
makes it great when we bring this civilization, you know,
when we're bringing like our like chatter and are like
fun like laughter, and then then it's great to not
have city lights or like car sounds. It's because there's
no car sounds. That's why it's so weird. Yeah. Wait,
(27:32):
so I was trying to figure out from the trailer
your character in Fire Island is she she? What? What
is she? She got like a kind of like a
mom energy, but it's not the mom energy. It's like
it's like in gay culture we have that we haven't
even in our lives. That are that the house mother,
lesbian mother, the house mother, the lesbian mother. Um, yeah,
(27:53):
of course because we get to we get to choose
our family, right, and so I think a lot of
us are really fortunate to end up with the as
being house mom. We have several in our lives that
we love on a door and we're very fortunate to
have them. So it's cool to see that reflected on
screen with what you have with these guys. And what
I what I'm excited about and for people to see
this movie and to see that relationship you have with
this group of this group of people is that it's
(28:14):
it just shows like a chosen family existing and taking
care of each other, which for people that might not
be so adept to gay culture or what it means
to be on Fire Island, they're going to be able
to see, Hey, it's not just it's not just parties
and fun. There's also a lot of heart to it,
and there's there's real people with real feelings and this
woman is helping take care of them and I it's
(28:35):
just the way any any other mother would do. And
I think that's so important for people to see because
I think it changes hearts and minds absolutely, And it's
really about sisters, like it's like you know, of course,
there's like the romance and the hook up. But it's
really about sister, like your gay sisters, Like you know,
all of the the sisters that were like their gay
sisters that we have around us, you know that we
(28:57):
wanted to take care of too. So it's as family
of sisters, it is. And listen to the entertainment reporter
and he's kicking in because I was doing all my
research before this and and beyond Fire Island. You are
so booked and blessed right now, girl, Can I just
do some of the accolades that came up right away?
The first things. She's in Hacks this coming up season,
(29:18):
She's in the current new season of The Flight Attendant.
She's got an episode of the Book of Queer, which
looks so funny, by the way, and and this Dragged
the musical album. I mean, all this stuff is just
it's it's like a the Margaret Choke a Son or something.
It's just Netix is a joke. And she got Netflix Yes,
which is great. Yeah, I love it. Do you resting girl?
(29:39):
Gay icon? And when do you sleep? Yeah, when you're
sleeping right now? Well, I mean I'm basically, like, I mean,
mostly I'm just a cat and a dog sitter, and
then I get to have all these other jobs because
I'm just like taking care of all the time. Some
as long as someone waters the succulents, well you don't
have to. You gotta let him dry out because they
(30:00):
there's some thirsty bottoms of succulents. But then they need
to be get to dried out, you know, speaking of
my husband kills all of our succulents. No, I do
not kill all the succulents. I kill the things that
aren't the sucking lens. That's why. So, Margaret, I'm a
plant gay as well, so I love my plants. I
do very well. I have my fence post cactus is
killing it out back. It's like it's hitting the ceiling
(30:21):
of the patio right now. But it's my other stuff
that's not a sucking that that does not do so well.
But the second that the sucleans are easy, but the
tropicals are really hard. My pala Fea Dottie is like
she's so over me. I had to put her in
a humidity bag like she's I put a bag over
her head and I locked out the house like I
(30:41):
felt like, so I plugged out all her dry leaves
I put a bag over her, and I'm like, by
girl because she hates me. The tropicals are really hard
that prayer plants are sensitive. Right now, what's the name
of the plan again, what do you call it? It's
the athea Dottie, that's my new dragon one Dotty. She's
(31:05):
high drama. She's the most drama. But she's like over it.
She's like so she reads me every time I come
out to the porch to like water her, and she's like, bitch.
She's like, I have mites, I have no humidity. I'm
not giving you any leaves. She's like, so mean to me,
(31:25):
it's so awful. I have kenya. I think it's how
you say it. Given me the exact same attitude outside
right now as we speak, so I I understand where
you're coming from. I get it. I'm gonna put a
bag over his head, pull off all his leaves, just
put a bag over his head. So he says, humid
when I go to shoot this next movie, you just
have to stay here in Your hair's just gonna curl.
(31:46):
But we were talking about plants, not I thought we're
talking about you. You cannot put a plastic bag over
a human's head. No, okay, fine. They all literally said, yeah,
you have to put a human dame over some of
these plants sometimes because you just I'm like, shut up, girl,
and I just put a humidity girl by girl and
so the humidity doome might help her out. I think
(32:07):
it's going to help. But you know, sometimes we sometimes
plants dive. But I had a like, if you like
to water, I love the carnivorous plants. Or grab a
big huge bog of venus fly traps and saracenia and
picture plants that are just in water. So those are
really fun. Oh my gosh, I would just want to
(32:28):
break out into a little shove wars every time I
walked by it. It's so great. On the podcast, we
like to do this thing called like this Week and
Gay History because we have to keep educating the young people.
So I think going to teach me a little something
(32:48):
and we're gonna let you talk about it. Yes, Margaret,
this is what we call this Week and Gay History
because in order for us to know where we're going,
we have to remember where we came from, and we
have to educate those that might not know. So James
tell us about this Week in Gay history. Let's take
a look back in lgbt Q plus history two thousand twelve.
(33:10):
This is cool because the assassin as we talked about
other presidents that weren't so supportive, and I hear it
every time we get in the car. So this is
the first one. My favorite line is when you said
about I think he was about Bush. You were like,
we don't need an amendment to protect a marriage equality.
We need an amendment to protect us from him to
direct quote see direct quote. So here in gay history
(33:33):
in two thousand twelve, a president we didn't need protection
from because in an ABC interview, Barack Obama became the
first sitting US president to publicly support the freedom for
l g b t Q plus couples to marry. That
was that was a beautiful time. I remember like I
was in my first like serious gay relationship then and
(33:55):
I was like, oh wow, this there we could actually
get to a point where we could be able to
get married. It was it was that moment. I hope
do you remember that moment what it was like for
you to see that? Yes, I mean that whole time
was really inspiring. I love Barack Obama as president, and um,
you know, I think that we really grew as a
nation under him, Like that was a really great era
(34:18):
of you know, we got marriage equality, then we got
this like more of an enduring idea of what pride was,
you know, on a on a very very big scale.
So I h that was a great time. Baby, Do
you remember that, because I remember you always said you
didn't think you'd ever get married. I never thought I
would get married because I never thought it was an option.
(34:39):
And just you know, even go back to your assassin
you're special, like how you talked about how you know
we needed marriage equality and then all of a sudden
it happens. And I think for a lot of us,
you know, there's a younger generation out there right now
that doesn't know, which is crazy to say this, Like
I can't believe, I can't believe I'm even saying this.
There's going to be a generation that's coming up now
that doesn't know what it's like to not be able
(34:59):
to not get married, you know what I mean. Like
there it's just gay marriage is normal, is uh, you know,
marrige quality is just we've always had it. So there's
gonna be that generation. But then you have people like
us that we're on the front lines fighting for it,
and we're able to have that moment where all of
a sudden it was okay. And I was at the
rallies as well, and to have it happen, it was
one of those amazing and weird things at the same time,
(35:21):
because you're like, oh, I never wanted to get in
a serious relationship because I could never really get married.
So for a lot of us, for for me especially,
it was like, oh, I don't need to get married,
like we can't do it. And then all of a
sudden it happens, and it literally your whole life changes
in one day. You're like, wait, I can actually seriously
think about this, and then you have to seriously think about, wait,
do I want to get married? Because it was never
(35:42):
an option, and now that it's an option, it's a
whole another, you know, set of circumstances that you have
to really decompress and like go through and think, think
what you really want in life. Yeah, And I I
just I was a See I'm different. I was the
gay kid that always dreamed of his prince Charming the
whole time. Like I was this person my entire life,
(36:02):
Like I would like dream about my wedding, think about
my wedding, what is he gonna be like? And then
we just got married a month ago, Margaret, So I
found it. Congratulation. It's wonderful, thank you very much. But
it is wild to think back and look at the time.
And also I have to correct myself because we can
do this because it's a podcast. Um, two thousand and twelve.
When that happened, I was not in a relationship that
I should have been thinking about marriage. It was prior
to that. That one was a messy one. So I'm
(36:23):
so glad it didn't happen. But the point is we
got there and I found the right one, and here
we are. I love that. It's so it's so fantastic. Well, congratulations,
thank you. Wait, can I can talk about some of
these other shows you're on, because this is what's so
cool to me. You're your own other shows that have
a lot of queer representation. That's that's that's so cool
about right now. There's so much queer representation out there.
I mean, this upcoming season at Hacks Hacks is like
(36:44):
it's there's so many queer superstars I love on there,
and and now you're a part of it. What's that
set like, is it? I love it? I love them
and I love that. I love this show, and I mean,
to me, it's just so exciting to be a part
of that world. So I'm really hoping I get to
(37:05):
go back, you know. To me, it's just so exciting
to be a fan of a show and then get
to be on it because then you get your we
can the script and see what's coming up. So oh
my gosh, that's like the best feeling ever. Wait, can
you tell us about your character at all? Like a
little bit? I mean, I blame myself, so that's really
they left that out even we didn't know that. So
(37:27):
a lot of character research there. Uh huh, very good,
very very big stretch. And then you have the flight Attendant,
which your recurring guests are on for the second season,
a flight Intendant which people can watch which is out now.
How was working on that set? Because I love Kaylie Quoka.
We did a movie together. I think she's just absolutely fabulous.
She's fabulous. She was an amazing actress and what a
(37:47):
great show and I really love it and we did
it in recollect so that was really cool too. When
it was like very dark out into a shooting and
it just felt very exciting and so York, so international.
It was like very It was very midnight sun or
midnight sky, like midnight at noon was very cool. My
(38:10):
favorite thing about doing this with my husband is that
I know when he gets lost and it's like you
say recky Vick and his face was like, I don't
know where it is. I'm like, I don't know what
to say. He started looking around the room like it
was going to be I'm like, how can I go?
She's real far? Reck is real Far. That's that's my
other drag name. It's the plan. All we do is
(38:31):
come up with drag names with Margaret Show on the podcast.
This is so fun. The whole point of this is
when people when they finish an episode to feel proud
and happy and excited about who they are and empowered
in their queerness. What's your favorite thing? What is Margaret
Show's favorite thing about being queer? I think it's just um,
(38:52):
the youthfulness of it. Like, I think being queer really
is about staying young and staying like very vital. Like
there's a vitality to it, there's a youthfulness to it.
There's a real happiness and joy to it. Um. I
(39:13):
don't think it's a coincidence that it's called gay because
gay is happy and it's just happy. So I think
we just stay young. I love that because there's so
many times that I feel like the youthfulness side of
it is. We say like a lot of like gay
men have Peter Pan syndrome because you know, you come
out later, so you're trying to you're kind of living
those years that you should have lived younger at a
later time. But I like your perspective instead that it
(39:36):
keeps us young. It does because the whole community is
ever changing and things are changing on it and and
you really it really keeps you on your toes, you know,
being part of and that's why we do things like podcast,
and that's why we have legends like Margaret Cho icons here.
Margaret Cho, thank you so so much for joining us
(39:58):
today on podcast. You are an absolute I han and
so many people look up to. I know we're huge
fans and I know the world is a huge fan
of you, and we just want to say thank you
so much for being here. Seriously, thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you, thank you for being you. Everything
you've done along the way everything you're continuing to do,
and of course for joining us. Thank you, thank you,
thank you, I love you, thank you. Fire Island um
(40:19):
hits Hulu. By the way, June three, I've done the research,
set those calendars. You can watch it watch Hulu. Everyone,
Thank you for joining us on Pridecast with Margaret Cho
I'm Jonathan Bennett and this is my husband, James Vaughan.
I'm James Vaughan, and a reminder, be proud of who
you are and remember you're never too much and you're
always enough. Hello and welcome to another episode of podcast
(40:53):
produced by iHeart Media, Los Angeles in partnership with l
A Pride. This is Gerald Garth, vice President of Programs
and Initiatives with Christopher Street West l A Pride. I
would like to take this moment to invite all of
our listeners to l A Pride's Pride in the Park.
Pride of the Park is our time to celebrate with
music and festivities in person on Saturday, June eleven at
(41:17):
the Los Angeles State Historic Park. This mega music moment
will be headlined by Christina Aguilera with performances by Anita
said Chica Michaela j Rebecca Black, Baba Drag Queen and Moore.
Visit www dot l A Pride in the Park dot
org to purchase tickets and for more information about l
(41:40):
A Pride's Pride in the Park. For all other information
about l A Pride and our many other events, visit
www dot l A Pride dot org. Thank you and
happy Pride.
This is Pridecast with Jonathan Bennett James on I Heart Radio. Hey,
it's Jonathan Bennett and this is I Heart Radio's Pridecast,
your weekly dose of love, laughter, and hopefully a little
inspiration for the l g B t Q plus community
(00:23):
and a reminder to be proud of who you are.
I'm joined by my husband as usual, James. Hi, baby,
I'm very proud of who I am. You are very
proud of who you are. I am very proud to
be here with you. There's so much pride happening on podcast.
You would think it would be called podcast. Oh wait,
it is. It is. I'm really proud of I just
(00:44):
saw the trailer. I know it's been out for a
couple of weeks and I've been seeing snippets up on Instagram,
but I finally sat down and watch the entire trailer.
And our producer Raymond is here with us as well.
You can tell me if you saw it, the trailer
for the new movie Fire Island. Have you seen a Raymond?
I've seen it, guys. I'm so excited. What do you think.
I can't wait. It's just it's like a moment. It
is a moment because if you think about, like, we
(01:05):
didn't have these kind of movies growing up, and now
it's just a rom com where everybody is part of
our community, and it's it's so cool to see and
it looks hysterical, it looks really funny, funny story. I
think I'm auditioned for it, but we're still waiting to
hear still wait in here if I get it. I
I don't. I don't think the chances are looking good
right now, but I'm still in the mix. I think, Yeah,
(01:29):
I think Nick Adams, Broadway legend, Nick Adams, who's fantastic
and adorable and just so sweet, he's in it, and
I think I auditioned for his role. But you know what,
Nick looks so good in a bathing suit that I
get why they cast him. He's talented and he looks
better than me in a bathing suit, and they he
should have the role. You know, you see certain people
you're like, oh man, I was after that, and then
you see who they cast, You're like, you know what,
(01:50):
you probably do that better, So good for you, Nick Adams. Yeah.
So the movie stars Joe, Kim Booster and Bowen Yang,
and it's really cool. We get to see a group
of Asian friends going to Fire Island having their experience
because it's just it's more people being represented from our community.
It's so cool and it's done really well. I mean,
I was cracking up at the trailer watching all the stuff.
(02:12):
This is what I love about it. So joke and
Booster said, because this is something you and I always
say a lot, is that maybe can you turn on
the air? Is that what we normally say? Oh, like,
you do this stuff because you want to inspire people
and give them hope, right, And so he said, I
want people, especially gay men, especially queer people, to walk
away from the movie happy that they're gay. Yes, I
(02:33):
love that, And it is a movie that like I
watch it and I'm like this, this is kind of
like anybody's group of friends going to have this experience.
It you you can identify with it whoever you are
in the community, and it does I think there's something
really important about that about that, Like, that's what we
do with with you know, our Hallmark movies and some
of the other movies I've been in, which I love
is that they're normalizing what gay people look like in
(02:56):
the media. It's not a movie about gay people it's
just a movie about people that happened to be gay.
You know, there's a huge difference there, and I think
when we take the otherness away from it, it it helps
to change the hearts and minds of people that are
watching at home as well. And have you, James, you've
been to Fire Island. I actually shot a movie on
Fire Island to fire, I've had the Fire Island experience.
(03:17):
I went to Fire Island during the off season, the
very off you gotta wear winter during the pandemic, during
a pandemic with you because you were shooting a movie there.
I shot a movie two years ago on fire or
a year ago on Fire Island, and it was a thriller,
so everyone died. But it's much different experience than I
think this version of Fire Island. Ours was the thriller version.
(03:39):
And you've had the real fire because you were a
young gay in New York. Okay, let me just talk
real quick about the first time I went to Fire Island.
I was nineteen years old. I maybe wait a hundred
and ten pounds, soaking wet. I was twink of the year,
just like living my best life. And my friend calls me,
he says, I was living in New York at the time.
He's like, Hey, let's go to Fire Island for the weekend.
(04:00):
We got a house. I said, great, what's Fire Island.
Little did I know what I was about to embark on.
So we I get there and it's just like gay Mecca.
Like I've never seen so many gay people in one
place in my entire life. And I end up coming
from Ohio, like a small town in Ohio. This was
such a culture shock but also exciting. At the same time.
(04:21):
I was nervous, I was excited. We went around the island,
but I remember this one moment specifically. We went to
a party at Tommy Tuns house. There's like the famous
Tommy Tunes house over I think it's in the pines.
He sounds so old. I'm so old. Wait, it gets older,
so I'm I'm not like, I think I'm nineteen or twenty,
like I said. And I go to the house. There's
(04:42):
a party. Everyone's in the pool. Everyone's got like speedos
on and like at the time, like everyone was just
jacked and buff and like they were just like it
was a very early two thousands. Muscles were in It
was very like a thing, and I was so nervous
to take off my shirt and like go in the
pool because I was so skinny, and I felt so
self conscious and uncomfortable, like at zero body fat, I
(05:03):
was just like this little thing. And I was nervous
to get go in the pool with everyone else because
I felt insecure. And this this old queen just sitting
next to me, he's smoking a cigarette and he just goes, Honey,
you'll never be this young or this thing. Get in
the pool. And I did. He was right, and so
(05:26):
I took my shirt off and I lived my best life.
And that's like the one thing I remember from my
first Fire Island experience is like having the old queen
just be like, honey, getting the ball like and he
was right. It was great. Raven, have you been to
Fire Island? I haven't been yet because I just moved
to New York, so I have Okay, but I'm going
this summer after Pride. It's a show. You can watch
(05:51):
the movie ahead of time too, it to kind of
prep you for it to see what the experience is
going to be like, because it looks it looks pretty
spot on for what I've been told. It is my
experience though, yes, baby, talk show was so good in
the off season, they still do the drag shows, right,
So we're there, we kind of got the island basically
to ourselves. There's a couple of locals and a few
people that come over. But they performed the drag show
at one of the one of the bars there, and
(06:12):
it was a show called The Assassins, and I looked
it up. I want to make sure I give these
girls credit because, oh my goodness, they performed in the
off season like it was the on season and the
house was packed all the way. Kimmy Moore, Boudwala Floor
and Nick Gaga put on this show that was choreography
after choreography, performance after performance. They jumped off of things,
(06:32):
they climbed on things, They had the most amazing costumes.
It was. It was so it was like we were
watching the finale episode of Drag Race and they were
like lips sticking for like two thousand dollars. Like yeah,
So when when you go Raymond, I highly recommend that
you check out The Assassin Show because if it was
that in the off season for like fifteen of us
and our chicken tenders we had ordered, I can only
(06:53):
imagine what It's like when all of the gays have
descended up on Fire Island. Chicken it was. It was
chicken tenders were not that great. Get them. They just
weren't that good. And I'm okay with it because we're
watching a drag show and it's barrow food and I'm
fine with it. But I'm a chicken tender connoisseur and
they just weren't that great. I guess I was so
distracted by the fantastic beauty, by the beauty. But um,
(07:15):
speaking of the Fire Island experience and the Fire Island
movie movie, there is just you, I would say, a
queer icon, A queer icon, um A plus the she is.
She is one of the the biggest queer icons and
honestly one of the first queer icons that I remember
(07:36):
seeing in hearing in her stand up specials. Joining us
today on the podcast we have because the She's in
Fire Island, but she's also on podcast right now. Just
a quick note. The following interview was recorded the day
(07:58):
before the draft of this Preme Court decision overturning Rovi
Wade was leaked, and it Justice Alito criticized the decision
in the obergh Failed versus how Just case, which we
all know is the Supreme Court case that legalized same
sex marriage in the US. Now to Margaret Show, joining
us from her bed. All right, here we are welcoming
to the show to pridcast one of the l g
(08:19):
B t Q plus icons in the world, one of
the funniest women on the face of the planet. I
have been a fan since I think two thousand four
I started listening to Margaret Show. Please welcome to the podcast,
the one and only hilarious Margaret Show. Margaret, Hello, Welcome, Hi,
Thank you so much. That's wonderful. This is so exciting
(08:41):
for for me personally as as a member of this
couple here because since I started dating Jonathan five years ago,
you have been in our life every single day. Because okay,
here's okay, Margaret, here's what happened. So I I downloaded
on iTunes back in the day, Assassin to the was
in five You're Special and it's it's like one of
(09:02):
the ones that are downloaded into my phone. It's like
this was before things were streaming, right, So it was
downloaded into the phone and now it just transfers to
every iPhone I own. And because it starts with an A.
When we start the car and it connects automatically to Bluetooth,
Your Special comes on and it's you talking about President
(09:23):
Bush and the gay agenda and every I think I
could quote the whole thing. I've listened to it a
hundred times and I just let it keep playing half
the time because it's just so so comforting. So you're
a huge part of our lives, whether you know it
or not. Yeah, well that's amazing. I love you. That's incredible.
So every single day, because this one never lets me
(09:44):
drive the car, he always drives. It's his phone that
connects and I hear you every single day to start
our day. And what a crazy time because we think
of it, we think we we listen to that Special
and you know we're talking about marriage equality, you're talking
about marriage quality, hadn't hadn't happened yet, and now look
where we are. So is it? Is it crazy? Need
to look back on like the stuff you did back
in you know, two thousands, the early two thousands to
(10:05):
where we are now and how much has changed. Yes,
it's so crazy. But at the same time, it's like
we move forward and then we move backwards with the
don't say gay Bill. And you know, with all of
the crazy stuff happening with the right wing being like
very anti gay, like, it's almost it's almost as if
(10:26):
we like went forward and then came back further, but
then we still have you know, euphoria, we still have
are like means death. We still have little masacs and
you know, so we we have so much and then
we we don't have so much. It's a very strange time.
(10:48):
So how do you use your comedy as as it
evolves to then combat? Okay, we made progress, but now
we're moving backwards, Like how how does that affect your comedy? Well?
I think that it's it's really just about observing and
and kind of coming away with like why are these
things happening? And you know it's I usually just go
(11:09):
with my gut reactions, Like right now, my gut reaction
is Marjorie Taylor's green has such a dip face. Like
when I look at her, she has a lesbian face,
like she has the dyke Is face. I know that face.
I have that face. I have sat on that face.
So it's like when you can just observe, like what's
(11:30):
going on, it's like why are you so against gage
when your let's have never touched it clearly like you are,
so let's be like it's just a softball playing face
that I can't get away from. Like it's so weird
how they're so gay but they're so anti gay, Like
Lindsey Graham's like, bro, please bitch, sit down, like you know,
(11:53):
like it's so ridiculous. Um, it's it's really it's really
the weird or to stink, but so you know, you
kind of make light of it, and that's what infuriates
that community the most is when you don't take them seriously.
But it gives us a lot of freedom to be
able to laugh at it, have joy around it, because
(12:15):
isn't it always such a projection? You always find out
nine of the time a girl, it was you you
were fighting against. Yeah, it was like it was like
my best friend in college I went away from we
we separated in college and I went and did something else,
moved to New York, and he stayed in college and
he was my best friend, Tony, and we he was
gay as well, And there was one bully that lived
(12:35):
on our floor freshman year that like really picked on us,
and then senior year he calls me, he goes, You'll
never believe who I hooked up with. And I was like, bam,
and I said his name, he goes, Yep, I go,
I knew it. It's always the ones that are finding
it that are that are the ones that are being
the biggest jerks, right because they fear their own uh power,
(12:57):
and you know, I mean it's like their faith, fear
their own strength, which is their gayness. You know, they
fear their own truth. So you know, it's like you
have to be sad for people who are so afraid
of themselves. Really, you know, it's just yeah, it's very
it's it's very sad. But it's also the thing is
(13:17):
the problem is that there are real life consequences. There
are real life horrible things happening to gay kids, trance kids.
I mean, the absolute craziness of all this homophobic rhetoric.
It's really affecting young people. You know, we've like grown up,
I've grown up through so many ages of homophobius or
(13:40):
I can handle it, but it's like the young generation
who are really just kind of like learning about what's
the world's like, it's very dangerous. So I'm I'm really
scared for them, and it's like it makes me so
angry because it's not like we've ever taught gay anything
anywhere in schools, Like there's no consciousness of that. It's
just putting this atmosphere of fear around corners that is
(14:03):
not cool. And you sit here and you talk about,
you know, our generation and how we're at a different
place than the younger generation and yet we sall so
far to go. But you know, this is podcast we
talk about being proud of who you are and what
pride means to you, and it's something we love to
share and I think people love hearing what that means
(14:25):
to everyone. So I have to ask you, what does
pride mean to you and where you are in life? Well,
I have been attending Gay Pride celebration since nineteen, you know,
and every time, you know, like being at the head
of the parade, listening to the Dike sun bikes roar
through the motorcycles, it really wells up in my heart,
(14:47):
like this feeling of joy and hope for the future,
and this feeling of like we can be ourselves, we
can enjoy being ourselves, and we can really celebrate who
we are and come into visibility into society in a
way that's really special and so I um and pribade
(15:08):
is so important. I think pride is really um something
that brings us all together. And it's renews too, because
there's so many different avenues of queerness that are now
like being embraced by that was just LGBT before, and
now we're more inclusive of the non binary community, of
(15:28):
the ACE community, great sexual the questioning the allies. You know,
there's so much to expand, like and look at who
is queer and what is quere and I love that. Yeah,
And it's cool when that happens because it allows us
to kind of look past what we thought we were
(15:49):
and opens us to the possibility of maybe there's more
to who we are as well, because I know you
had said you identify as bisexual, but I know that's
evolved for you, and I think I read that you
I did fight as as pan sexual. Now is that
I think that now I'm actually closer to a sexual,
you know, which is pretty much the same as being
(16:11):
pan sexual in a lot of ways. It's like when
you are kind of removing the the sort of ideas
of what romance is a romantic a sexual you remove
these ideas of like heteronormative sexuality or romance or relationship,
(16:31):
and it it sort of becomes like you're like in
a different sphere. I think that for me it's come
with age. I'm just really interested in cacti and succulents,
So that's my my feeling of like, yeah, I'm very
into the plant life. Um, I have a very big
(16:53):
affinity for cats and dogs, and so you know, it's
like I've almost got into a phase of my life
where I'm a little bit outside of my own body
and I'm about like nurturing other bodies which are not
necessarily human bodies, which are animals, which are plants. So
it's weird, like how menopause really changes you and m
(17:15):
hormones really change you and they don't less in your life,
it actually images your life. So I would say I'm
kind of closer to a sexual now, which it feels
right and it feels really good. I think it's beautiful though,
to allow yourself to evolve and find who you are.
You don't have to be one thing, you don't have
to stay in one box. There's there's a spectrum, there's
(17:35):
a scale, there's all that, And I think it's beautiful
to allow yourself to continue to find who you are.
Like it's it's like I do that with work, Like
you know, don't like to jump jobs all the time
because I think you don't have to be stuck doing
one thing, or you can do as many things as
you want. And I think that as we add I
would say this every single episode, probably as we add
letters to the l g B t q I A
(17:56):
plus community. I think it's a beautiful thing because it's
a expanding our horizons. It's expanding who's included and is
expanding letting people see who they can be. And you
said something great, Margaret, you said you're into nurturing other
bodies and nurturing other other things. And I think it's
not lost on anyone how much you nurtured us. I
(18:20):
know my I know people my age. Growing up and
listening to your comedy, it was the first time that
I felt it was the first time I saw because
I grew up in Ohio, Toledo, Ohio, and you know,
very small town, very small town town thinking, and no
one just talked openly about being gay the way you did,
(18:41):
and no one so talked so openly that I had
ever heard about the queer community other than you, and
I remember hearing your stuff for the first time and
just saying, Wow, she has so much braver, she's so strong.
I can't believe there's someone that can do that. I
could never do that. I could never talk about being
gay like that. That would be that would be crazy
to me. And the fact that now here I am
(19:03):
on a podcast called pridecast Out and Loud and Proud
with my husband talking to you about what pride means.
Just so you know, you're what the work you do
is so important and what you've done has been so important.
You've shaped this generation, which will then help to shape
the next generations and it will just keep going. So
I want to say thank you for for inspiring me
(19:25):
and and just making me feel like there was someone
out there that understood me. You have and but no, no,
you inspired us. Who inspired you? Like? Who were who
were the Where did this come from? We're from all
this priory? Who inspired you to? I mean, I know
you grew up in San Francisco and it was probably
(19:45):
a very you know, a very liberal environment, but like,
who inspired you growing up to make you be able
to do this? I think people like carveing Milk for sure,
the people who were working for Harvey Milk, who were
a campaign any with him, who um were holding vigil
after his assassination. You know that incredible thing. You know,
(20:09):
I was being able to witness. So to see the
beginnings of gay power in that way was really inspiring.
And you know, it was just a little kid, but
it made me. It had a lifelong effect. People like
having people like Brownie Mary, who was this very uh
incredible woman who was baking illegally baking marijuana brownies for
(20:35):
AIDS patients in hospice. You know, gay men who were
dying of AIDS and she was alleviating their suffering and
going to jail for it, um and baking brownies for them.
And so she and I she was like eighty something.
She gave me a brownie in San Franciscope, like in
the early nineties, and I'm still high from it. Like so, UM,
(21:01):
I really admire people like that, people who were you know,
helping AIDS patients. UM. People people like you know, Diana Spencer,
people like Princess Diana who were helping AIDS patients, helping
change the world's perception of people with aids. I think
that's really incredible. So there's been a lot of support
(21:24):
that I see all over, but I've sort of been
witnessed to um. But I think, you know, like I
would say, for me, like the most pivotal people would
probably a combination of Harvey Milk and Brownie Married, And
that's kind of where I come from. It's really cool
to hear it inspired you because then like I don't
know where I read it, but um, bow and Yang
(21:45):
who we're gonna get so because I want to talk
about all the stuff that you're talking about. He talked
about how you inspired him. What does that feel like
for you? When you hear that and you're like, Wow,
here's somebody killing it now that they're saying I was
inspiration for them. It's really gratifying. And I love Bowen
and you know, he's really incredible and just such a
(22:06):
beauty and such a talent, and I think like he
actually reminds me of almost um, somebody like with the
with a grandeur, like a like a James Baldwin or
a Truman Capote, like a kind of a legendary voice
that will here for generations. Like we had a joke
on the SETI Fire Island that we all had our
(22:28):
own like podcasts. So my podcast idea for him was
the yang over, which every night after like a fabulous
New York City glittering party, he would like go to
the early morning hours with with somebody with a ball
gown and talk about the party and do sort of
be after after party breakdown, there's the yang over from
(22:50):
the party. So I just think it's such a good
idea because I think that he has such a wonderful
eye on comedy and show business and popca and what's
happening now. Um so yeah, I love Bowen and I'm
really proud of him. And what was it like shooting
Fire Island. You have this new movie coming out, and
(23:12):
I mean, tell us about the experience of that, because
from the trailer it looks absolutely hilarious. This looks like
a group of people I want to have so much fomo,
I know, And I'm just gonna throw it out there.
Audition for Nick Adams role. But you know what, I'm
glad Nick Adams got it because I'm at let it go.
And he did a great job. And he looks really
good in bathing suits. So and he's very funny and talented,
so I'm gonna let this one go. But shooting everybody
(23:36):
was so we had such a great time. Everybody's so
wonderful and we had so much fun, and you know,
it was like, um, just a fabulous summer holiday where
like me and the main cast we just all like
we're on this um sort of like meeting house or
sort of this little hotel that was around a swimming pool,
(23:59):
and so we were just like all in very close quarters.
And um, if somebody got Dick would be really quiet,
like his boyfriends are like, you know, like we're all
like sisters on the island, and um, everybody was just
so fun and I really just fell in love with everyone.
(24:20):
I mean I known every every like like I've known
um Joel and I've known of course Bone, but then
I didn't know Matt very well. I didn't know all
the other cast members very well. So we just got
really close really fast, and you know, we um laughed
and laughed and laughed. It's very similar to what's happening
on screen was what was happening off screen. It just
(24:41):
became a family. So Joel's vision was so brilliant, and
Andrew is such an incredible director. So we have this
incredible visual element to add to the humor um because
it's really painted like an amazing portrait like of gay
life of summer, of this summer romance, which is really amazing,
(25:03):
and it's it's so true because it's almost like they
just took it from the trailer. It looks like you
just took a really great snapshot of what it's like
to have a group of friends that go to Fire
Island in the summer and kind of the summer romances
that happened and all the hilarity that comes with it.
Because we've all been there with with have it, you know,
we've all had I'm sure you have to you you
go to Fire Island for the summer with your group
(25:23):
of friends and it's a blast, and it's it's gay
summer camp. Well that hang on. Not everybody has the gift.
Not everybody gets the gay summer camp experience. Jonathan had it.
I was talking before we got on with you about
how he took me to Fire Island. In the off season,
I shot a movie called Fire Island, but it's a
thriller and we shot at the same year as the
(25:45):
Fire Island Comedy, So we were there when it was
off season, which, by the way, it's just freaky on
its own. I'm sure you've been there during that. That
was gonna ask did you guys filmed during on season
or off season? We actually were there off season, so
it was during the week off season, so it's very quiet,
but um were I actually have over wintered in Province Town,
(26:09):
which is like really like that's very strange. It's very
surreal beautiful, but it's like you're really you're really oscolated,
so it's definitely you know, you feel the wilderness of it.
It's still very like much a sort of foresty coastal landscape,
which is really beautiful. The natural beauty of the place
(26:30):
really comes through. But it's also really scary. Yeah, yeah
it is. And then we were shooting a thriller and
like there was a scene where I had to walk
down to the board you know, you know those boardwalks
when they're deserted and it's night outside, like you don't
know what's in those woods. And there was a scene
where I had to walk and walk down that boardwalk
alone and I was like on camera in the scene,
knowing that they're filming me, and I was still scared,
(26:51):
like I knew, like, hey there's like pas everywhere there's
a director like, I'm fine, but there was a moment
where I'm like, I don't think I'm fine, Like I
don't think I would want to be here by mysel
too scared. It's because it's like the natural. It's like
it's all the trees and yeah, and the creaking. There's
no lives. There's no city sounds. That's why it's scary,
(27:12):
is because there's no sort of civilization, which is what
makes it great when we bring this civilization, you know,
when we're bringing like our like chatter and are like
fun like laughter, and then then it's great to not
have city lights or like car sounds. It's because there's
no car sounds. That's why it's so weird. Yeah. Wait,
(27:32):
so I was trying to figure out from the trailer
your character in Fire Island is she she? What? What
is she? She got like a kind of like a
mom energy, but it's not the mom energy. It's like
it's like in gay culture we have that we haven't
even in our lives. That are that the house mother,
lesbian mother, the house mother, the lesbian mother. Um, yeah,
(27:53):
of course because we get to we get to choose
our family, right, and so I think a lot of
us are really fortunate to end up with the as
being house mom. We have several in our lives that
we love on a door and we're very fortunate to
have them. So it's cool to see that reflected on
screen with what you have with these guys. And what
I what I'm excited about and for people to see
this movie and to see that relationship you have with
this group of this group of people is that it's
(28:14):
it just shows like a chosen family existing and taking
care of each other, which for people that might not
be so adept to gay culture or what it means
to be on Fire Island, they're going to be able
to see, Hey, it's not just it's not just parties
and fun. There's also a lot of heart to it,
and there's there's real people with real feelings and this
woman is helping take care of them and I it's
(28:35):
just the way any any other mother would do. And
I think that's so important for people to see because
I think it changes hearts and minds absolutely, And it's
really about sisters, like it's like you know, of course,
there's like the romance and the hook up. But it's
really about sister, like your gay sisters, Like you know,
all of the the sisters that were like their gay
sisters that we have around us, you know that we
(28:57):
wanted to take care of too. So it's as family
of sisters, it is. And listen to the entertainment reporter
and he's kicking in because I was doing all my
research before this and and beyond Fire Island. You are
so booked and blessed right now, girl, Can I just
do some of the accolades that came up right away?
The first things. She's in Hacks this coming up season,
(29:18):
She's in the current new season of The Flight Attendant.
She's got an episode of the Book of Queer, which
looks so funny, by the way, and and this Dragged
the musical album. I mean, all this stuff is just
it's it's like a the Margaret Choke a Son or something.
It's just Netix is a joke. And she got Netflix Yes,
which is great. Yeah, I love it. Do you resting girl?
(29:39):
Gay icon? And when do you sleep? Yeah, when you're
sleeping right now? Well, I mean I'm basically, like, I mean,
mostly I'm just a cat and a dog sitter, and
then I get to have all these other jobs because
I'm just like taking care of all the time. Some
as long as someone waters the succulents, well you don't
have to. You gotta let him dry out because they
(30:00):
there's some thirsty bottoms of succulents. But then they need
to be get to dried out, you know, speaking of
my husband kills all of our succulents. No, I do
not kill all the succulents. I kill the things that
aren't the sucking lens. That's why. So, Margaret, I'm a
plant gay as well, so I love my plants. I
do very well. I have my fence post cactus is
killing it out back. It's like it's hitting the ceiling
(30:21):
of the patio right now. But it's my other stuff
that's not a sucking that that does not do so well.
But the second that the sucleans are easy, but the
tropicals are really hard. My pala Fea Dottie is like
she's so over me. I had to put her in
a humidity bag like she's I put a bag over
her head and I locked out the house like I
(30:41):
felt like, so I plugged out all her dry leaves
I put a bag over her, and I'm like, by
girl because she hates me. The tropicals are really hard
that prayer plants are sensitive. Right now, what's the name
of the plan again, what do you call it? It's
the athea Dottie, that's my new dragon one Dotty. She's
(31:05):
high drama. She's the most drama. But she's like over it.
She's like so she reads me every time I come
out to the porch to like water her, and she's like, bitch.
She's like, I have mites, I have no humidity. I'm
not giving you any leaves. She's like, so mean to me,
(31:25):
it's so awful. I have kenya. I think it's how
you say it. Given me the exact same attitude outside
right now as we speak, so I I understand where
you're coming from. I get it. I'm gonna put a
bag over his head, pull off all his leaves, just
put a bag over his head. So he says, humid
when I go to shoot this next movie, you just
have to stay here in Your hair's just gonna curl.
(31:46):
But we were talking about plants, not I thought we're
talking about you. You cannot put a plastic bag over
a human's head. No, okay, fine. They all literally said, yeah,
you have to put a human dame over some of
these plants sometimes because you just I'm like, shut up, girl,
and I just put a humidity girl by girl and
so the humidity doome might help her out. I think
(32:07):
it's going to help. But you know, sometimes we sometimes
plants dive. But I had a like, if you like
to water, I love the carnivorous plants. Or grab a
big huge bog of venus fly traps and saracenia and
picture plants that are just in water. So those are
really fun. Oh my gosh, I would just want to
(32:28):
break out into a little shove wars every time I
walked by it. It's so great. On the podcast, we
like to do this thing called like this Week and
Gay History because we have to keep educating the young people.
So I think going to teach me a little something
(32:48):
and we're gonna let you talk about it. Yes, Margaret,
this is what we call this Week and Gay History
because in order for us to know where we're going,
we have to remember where we came from, and we
have to educate those that might not know. So James
tell us about this Week in Gay history. Let's take
a look back in lgbt Q plus history two thousand twelve.
(33:10):
This is cool because the assassin as we talked about
other presidents that weren't so supportive, and I hear it
every time we get in the car. So this is
the first one. My favorite line is when you said
about I think he was about Bush. You were like,
we don't need an amendment to protect a marriage equality.
We need an amendment to protect us from him to
direct quote see direct quote. So here in gay history
(33:33):
in two thousand twelve, a president we didn't need protection
from because in an ABC interview, Barack Obama became the
first sitting US president to publicly support the freedom for
l g b t Q plus couples to marry. That
was that was a beautiful time. I remember like I
was in my first like serious gay relationship then and
(33:55):
I was like, oh wow, this there we could actually
get to a point where we could be able to
get married. It was it was that moment. I hope
do you remember that moment what it was like for
you to see that? Yes, I mean that whole time
was really inspiring. I love Barack Obama as president, and um,
you know, I think that we really grew as a
nation under him, Like that was a really great era
(34:18):
of you know, we got marriage equality, then we got
this like more of an enduring idea of what pride was,
you know, on a on a very very big scale.
So I h that was a great time. Baby, Do
you remember that, because I remember you always said you
didn't think you'd ever get married. I never thought I
would get married because I never thought it was an option.
(34:39):
And just you know, even go back to your assassin
you're special, like how you talked about how you know
we needed marriage equality and then all of a sudden
it happens. And I think for a lot of us,
you know, there's a younger generation out there right now
that doesn't know, which is crazy to say this, Like
I can't believe, I can't believe I'm even saying this.
There's going to be a generation that's coming up now
that doesn't know what it's like to not be able
(34:59):
to not get married, you know what I mean. Like
there it's just gay marriage is normal, is uh, you know,
marrige quality is just we've always had it. So there's
gonna be that generation. But then you have people like
us that we're on the front lines fighting for it,
and we're able to have that moment where all of
a sudden it was okay. And I was at the
rallies as well, and to have it happen, it was
one of those amazing and weird things at the same time,
(35:21):
because you're like, oh, I never wanted to get in
a serious relationship because I could never really get married.
So for a lot of us, for for me especially,
it was like, oh, I don't need to get married,
like we can't do it. And then all of a
sudden it happens, and it literally your whole life changes
in one day. You're like, wait, I can actually seriously
think about this, and then you have to seriously think about, wait,
do I want to get married? Because it was never
(35:42):
an option, and now that it's an option, it's a
whole another, you know, set of circumstances that you have
to really decompress and like go through and think, think
what you really want in life. Yeah, And I I
just I was a See I'm different. I was the
gay kid that always dreamed of his prince Charming the
whole time. Like I was this person my entire life,
(36:02):
Like I would like dream about my wedding, think about
my wedding, what is he gonna be like? And then
we just got married a month ago, Margaret, So I
found it. Congratulation. It's wonderful, thank you very much. But
it is wild to think back and look at the time.
And also I have to correct myself because we can
do this because it's a podcast. Um, two thousand and twelve.
When that happened, I was not in a relationship that
I should have been thinking about marriage. It was prior
to that. That one was a messy one. So I'm
(36:23):
so glad it didn't happen. But the point is we
got there and I found the right one, and here
we are. I love that. It's so it's so fantastic. Well, congratulations,
thank you. Wait, can I can talk about some of
these other shows you're on, because this is what's so
cool to me. You're your own other shows that have
a lot of queer representation. That's that's that's so cool
about right now. There's so much queer representation out there.
I mean, this upcoming season at Hacks Hacks is like
(36:44):
it's there's so many queer superstars I love on there,
and and now you're a part of it. What's that
set like, is it? I love it? I love them
and I love that. I love this show, and I mean,
to me, it's just so exciting to be a part
of that world. So I'm really hoping I get to
(37:05):
go back, you know. To me, it's just so exciting
to be a fan of a show and then get
to be on it because then you get your we
can the script and see what's coming up. So oh
my gosh, that's like the best feeling ever. Wait, can
you tell us about your character at all? Like a
little bit? I mean, I blame myself, so that's really
they left that out even we didn't know that. So
(37:27):
a lot of character research there. Uh huh, very good,
very very big stretch. And then you have the flight Attendant,
which your recurring guests are on for the second season,
a flight Intendant which people can watch which is out now.
How was working on that set? Because I love Kaylie Quoka.
We did a movie together. I think she's just absolutely fabulous.
She's fabulous. She was an amazing actress and what a
(37:47):
great show and I really love it and we did
it in recollect so that was really cool too. When
it was like very dark out into a shooting and
it just felt very exciting and so York, so international.
It was like very It was very midnight sun or
midnight sky, like midnight at noon was very cool. My
(38:10):
favorite thing about doing this with my husband is that
I know when he gets lost and it's like you
say recky Vick and his face was like, I don't
know where it is. I'm like, I don't know what
to say. He started looking around the room like it
was going to be I'm like, how can I go?
She's real far? Reck is real Far. That's that's my
other drag name. It's the plan. All we do is
(38:31):
come up with drag names with Margaret Show on the podcast.
This is so fun. The whole point of this is
when people when they finish an episode to feel proud
and happy and excited about who they are and empowered
in their queerness. What's your favorite thing? What is Margaret
Show's favorite thing about being queer? I think it's just um,
(38:52):
the youthfulness of it. Like, I think being queer really
is about staying young and staying like very vital. Like
there's a vitality to it, there's a youthfulness to it.
There's a real happiness and joy to it. Um. I
(39:13):
don't think it's a coincidence that it's called gay because
gay is happy and it's just happy. So I think
we just stay young. I love that because there's so
many times that I feel like the youthfulness side of
it is. We say like a lot of like gay
men have Peter Pan syndrome because you know, you come
out later, so you're trying to you're kind of living
those years that you should have lived younger at a
later time. But I like your perspective instead that it
(39:36):
keeps us young. It does because the whole community is
ever changing and things are changing on it and and
you really it really keeps you on your toes, you know,
being part of and that's why we do things like podcast,
and that's why we have legends like Margaret Cho icons here.
Margaret Cho, thank you so so much for joining us
(39:58):
today on podcast. You are an absolute I han and
so many people look up to. I know we're huge
fans and I know the world is a huge fan
of you, and we just want to say thank you
so much for being here. Seriously, thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you, thank you for being you. Everything
you've done along the way everything you're continuing to do,
and of course for joining us. Thank you, thank you,
thank you, I love you, thank you. Fire Island um
(40:19):
hits Hulu. By the way, June three, I've done the research,
set those calendars. You can watch it watch Hulu. Everyone,
Thank you for joining us on Pridecast with Margaret Cho
I'm Jonathan Bennett and this is my husband, James Vaughan.
I'm James Vaughan, and a reminder, be proud of who
you are and remember you're never too much and you're
always enough. Hello and welcome to another episode of podcast
(40:53):
produced by iHeart Media, Los Angeles in partnership with l
A Pride. This is Gerald Garth, vice President of Programs
and Initiatives with Christopher Street West l A Pride. I
would like to take this moment to invite all of
our listeners to l A Pride's Pride in the Park.
Pride of the Park is our time to celebrate with
music and festivities in person on Saturday, June eleven at
(41:17):
the Los Angeles State Historic Park. This mega music moment
will be headlined by Christina Aguilera with performances by Anita
said Chica Michaela j Rebecca Black, Baba Drag Queen and Moore.
Visit www dot l A Pride in the Park dot
org to purchase tickets and for more information about l
(41:40):
A Pride's Pride in the Park. For all other information
about l A Pride and our many other events, visit
www dot l A Pride dot org. Thank you and
happy Pride.
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