Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 18, 1994 TAG: 9409210041
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LISA LEFF THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The previous night, the 25-year-old star of ``All-American Girl,'' a new sitcom airing on ABC, had visited a San Francisco dance club where two musician friends performed a song written in her honor. The band plunged into ``It's Margaret Cho.'' Cho plunged into the mosh pit.
``What other sitcom star can say there is a punk-rock song written about her?'' she mused proudly.
Cho really doesn't have to try to distinguish herself. The first-born child of South Korean immigrants, she has already secured a place in television history as the first Asian-American actor to play the lead in a prime-time network program.
``All-American Girl'' - which airs on WSET-Channel 13 on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m., then settles into the 8:30 p.m. slot the following Wednesday - is the first family sitcom centered around Asian-American characters.
``We are known as being a secretive kind of people, and as a result, we have this mystery that surrounds us,'' Cho said in a telephone interview. ``My purpose is to take away some of that mystery and foreignness, to show this family and make it very identifiable.''
The show is based on the autobiographical stand-up-comedy routine Cho developed in her native San Francisco seven years ago and perfected while touring the college circuit. (Her official biography points out that last year Cho appeared at more campuses than any other comedian.)
Cho plays twentysomething Margaret Kim, an American-born college student delicately straddling the Old World - represented by her traditional parents - and the much different culture of the U.S.A.
Readers of Amy Tan, the Chinese-American author of ``The Joy Luck Club,'' will recognize some of the conflicts, especially those between Margaret and her equally strong-willed mother - Margaret calls her ``a Korean Bea Arthur.''
But instead of drama, ``All-American Girl'' uses comedy to explore the bond. In the show's pilot, for instance, Margaret's mother (played by Jodi Long, a veteran stage actress) turns silent and dons a huge pair of sunglasses to express her displeasure with her daughter. Spotting her for the first time, Margaret cracks, ``You look like Yoko Ono.''
Another episode pierces the common stereotype of Asian women as docile creatures glad to be dominated by men, Cho said. It involves Margaret's relationship with a straight-laced Korean-American man, whom her parents encourage her to date.
``In my effort to be what he wants me to be, I become this very submissive woman,'' Cho explained. ``I try very hard to be that, but there is no way - because it is not me.''
She loves to undercut stereotypes: At the same time she is undercutting the cliche of the submissive Asian woman, she knocks down the image of the small, reticent, Asian man. ``All the male characters are very strong and very attractive, because you rarely see the image of very strong, handsome, potent Asian men,'' Cho said.
``All American Girl'' closely parallels Cho's own life. The parents on the program own a bookstore, just like Cho's parents did when she was a teen-ager. On the show, she has two siblings: an obsequious, overachieving older brother (Tony-award winner B.D. Wong) and a younger brother who worships her. Both characters were modeled on aspects of Cho's real-life little brother.
Cho was often at odds with her parents, and that's reflected in the character of Margaret Kim, a part-time cosmetics saleswoman with a Valley Girl voice.
Cho's mother hoped she would become a concert pianist, but Cho hated the lessons and instead gravitated toward parts in her local community-theater productions.
And even after she was accepted to San Francisco's performing-arts high school and began auditioning for professional roles, her parents worried about her choice. Their misgivings appeared justified at first, Cho said. She couldn't get hired anywhere.
``Even though people would tell me I was talented, it was really hard to get cast in anything, mainly because it was hard for them to see me as anything other than an Asian part, and there were very few Asian parts,'' Cho said.
So, at 18, she decided to try stand-up. Conveniently, there was a club featuring comedy acts located above the Cho-family bookstore. Until then, Cho had always thought of herself as a very serious, slightly awkward, person - more scholar than class clown. Finding her funny side ``was all discovery,'' Cho said. ``I felt like I had to create this new persona.''
| By LISA LEFF| |THE WASHINGTON POST|
Along with a belly ring and FILA sandals, Margaret Cho was wearing some bruises one recent day.
The previous night, the 25-year-old star of ``All-American Girl,'' a new sitcom airing on ABC, had visited a San Francisco dance club where two musician friends performed a song written in her honor. The band plunged into ``It's Margaret Cho.'' Cho plunged into the mosh pit.
``What other sitcom star can say there is a punk-rock song written about her?'' she mused proudly.
Cho really doesn't have to try to distinguish herself. The first-born child of South Korean immigrants, she has already secured a place in television history as the first Asian-American actor to play the lead in a prime-time network program.
``All-American Girl'' - which airs on WSET-Channel 13 on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. - is the first family sitcom centered around Asian-American characters.
``We are known as being a secretive kind of people, and as a result, we have this mystery that surrounds us,'' Cho said in a telephone interview. ``My purpose is to take away some of that mystery and foreignness, to show this family and make it very identifiable.''
The show is based on the autobiographical stand-up-comedy routine Cho developed in her native San Francisco seven years ago and perfected while touring the college circuit. (Her official biography points out that last year Cho appeared at more campuses than any other comedian.)
Cho plays twentysomething Margaret Kim, an American-born college student delicately straddling the Old World - represented by her traditional parents - and the much different culture of the U.S.A.
Readers of Amy Tan, the Chinese-American author of ``The Joy Luck Club,'' will recognize some of the conflicts, especially those between Margaret and her equally strong-willed mother - Margaret calls her ``a Korean Bea Arthur.''
But instead of drama, ``All American Girl'' uses comedy to explore the bond. In the show's pilot, for instance, Margaret's mother (played by Jodi Long, a veteran stage actress) turns silent and dons a huge pair of sunglasses to express her displeasure with her daughter. Spotting her for the first time, Margaret cracks, ``You look like Yoko Ono.''
Another episode pierces the common stereotype of Asian women as docile creatures glad to be dominated by men, Cho said. It involves Margaret's relationship with a straight-laced Korean-American man, whom her parents encourage her to date.
``In my effort to be what he wants me to be, I become this very submissive woman,'' Cho explained. ``I try very hard to be that, but there is no way - because it is not me.''
She loves to undercut stereotypes: At the same time she is undercutting the cliche of the submissive Asian woman, she knocks down the image of the small, reticent, Asian man. ``All the male characters are very strong and very attractive, because you rarely see the image of very strong, handsome, potent Asian men,'' Cho said.
``All American Girl'' closely parallels Cho's own life. The parents on the program own a bookstore, just like Cho's parents did when she was a teen-ager. On the show, she has two siblings: an obsequious, overachieving older brother (Tony-award winner B.D. Wong) and a younger brother who worships her. Both characters were modeled on aspects of Cho's real-life little brother.
Cho was often at odds with her parents, and that's reflected in the character of Margaret Kim, a part-time cosmetics saleswoman with a Valley Girl voice.
Cho's mother hoped she would become a concert pianist, but Cho hated the lessons and instead gravitated toward parts in her local community-theater productions.
And even after she was accepted to San Francisco's performing-arts high school and began auditioning for professional roles, her parents worried about her choice. Their misgivings appeared justified at first, Cho said. She couldn't get hired anywhere.
``Even though people would tell me I was talented, it was really hard to get cast in anything, mainly because it was hard for them to see me as anything other than an Asian part, and there were very few Asian parts,'' Cho said.
So, at 18, she decided to try stand-up. Conveniently, there was a club featuring comedy acts located above the Cho-family bookstore. Until then, Cho had always thought of herself as a very serious, slightly awkward, person - more scholar than class clown. Finding her funny side ``was all discovery,'' Cho said. ``I felt like I had to create this new persona.''
by CNB