American comedian, actress, singer and bisexual faghag extraordinare Margaret Cho returns to London with her brand new show ‘Mother’. We sent Lee Dalloway to have a chinwag with the San Francisco native about tragic divas, her battles with drugs and eating disorders and her relationship with gay men…
You grew up in San Francisco. How do you think that affected what you do now?
It just made me, probably, much more of a political person. It’s certainly made me want to be more socially aware, and when I began doing comedy it was around the same time that there was a lot of AIDS education, awareness and a lot of political stuff going on. That is where I kinda got a lot of my political and social education and, I guess, my outlook.
I remember as a teenager you were in a show called ‘All American Girl’ in the 90s, but it wasn’t one of the easiest experiences for you was it?
It was really hard, because I didn’t really know what I was doing. The network and the producers were very concerned that I was too fat, but the character was based on me, so I don’t know how I could be too fat to be me! I think that really began a very destructive time for me in terms of anorexia and bulimia and, as a by-product, having difficulty with alcohol and drugs. But the whole thing is, if I don’t eat then I will do drugs in order to not be hungry.
What drugs were you into?
Any kind of speed, not really coke ‘cause I couldn’t snort anything. One thing I did do which was really popular in the 90s was Fen Phen, which was an upper and downer combined, it was an appetite suppressant but it was also… it was definitely speed. You take it and you were supposed to eat sensibly, but I would take it and not eat.
It’s awful that money grabbing suits and producers can make a girl feel like that…
Well yeah, it’s really insane, but that’s show business, they do that to everyone. It still goes on, and it’s also very classic. It’s in Judy Garland’s story too. It went on way back then and it still happens today.
It’s made worse by the media and it’s always women; these tragic heroine figures…
Yeah and it’s also kind of lurid. Like Amy Winehouse, who I really loved and I thought she was such a great performer and talent, but people would make fun of her. It is kind of a comic thing, because you do want to look at celebrities and laugh, and think, like, it’s so tragic and you can’t look away, but when they die it’s just so awful. My friend Anna Nicole Smith died and it was awful. It was so hard to deal with that and also hard to deal with the media surrounding it. It becomes like a circus. Your friend is dead and it’s not even mourned. Part of my show is about these figures, like Whitney Houston, that we idolise but peer down at, at the same time. They’re almost like mother figures and we’re using them and we need them, but we don’t respect them and we don’t take care of them.
I was gonna ask about the themes of your show…
It’s some stuff about that, some about motherhood and the idea of these mother figures like Madonna, she’s like the ultimate mother figure, and there’s also stuff about my mother. I’m now looked at like a mother figure; I’m at the age where that’s really my role, even though I don’t have children and I don’t plan on them, but they address women my age as that, especially in the gay community. If you’re a ground down old fag hag, you become like mother. It’s great and I really appreciate it.
You often discuss your obsession for gay men in your stand-up. What do you love about us still?
It’s weird because it’s not like a conscious thing, it’s just a natural thing. A lot of my friends have been gay, and it’s a culture that I know about and like to participate in. I like to highlight women’s roles in the life of gay men. The importance of women in gay men’s life.
Your show mentions a certain type of women that gay men are attracted to and visa versa…
It’s always been that way. It’s kind of our own version of heterosexuality – our version of convention. I have these long standing relationships with gay men that is almost like a marriage, or a very close love affair that goes beyond friendship, but it’s not sexual. I think sexuality can sometimes ruin a relationship [laughs]. When something is pure with no sexual component, it’s more like a sibling thing but there’s not really sibling rivalry – that’s a perfect thing that I have with a lot of my friends.
• Don’t miss Margaret Cho at the Leicester Square Theatre (6 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BX) from Friday 26th October to Wednesday 31st October. For more information and to book tickets, head over to www.leicestersquaretheatre.com.
