Margaret Cho has never been one to pull any punches. So, it’s no surprise that after her recent elimination from the televised Dancing with the Stars competition, that she plans to find fodder for her upcoming stand-up tour amongst the ashes.

Cho says of her material choices, “I’ll be talking a lot about DWTS, drilling everyone a new one. It’s going to be awesome!”

Though she never scored particularly well in the competition, a lot of speculation swirled around her ultimate demise and whether or not her costume choice contributed to the ouster. Was the rainbow dress too gay for primetime?

“I’m just so excited that we got to wear the rainbow colors and really represent and dance about pride,” she says. “That’s so important. I’m so honored to be in the presence of such amazing people and dancers. I had a great time. I’ll miss … the camaraderie and the costumes.

“I had been dancing with my partner for the last month and a half, and now I have separation anxiety.”

Cho’s takeaway from the show extends into more than just material for her act. She also developed a taste for movement that she hopes to hold on to.

“I’m going to keep dancing. I’m not going to quit.” Cho credits her dance partner, Louis van Amstel, with showing her “that I want to be physically active. He’s shown me this direction in my life that I’m going to hang on to forever.”

A love for dancing has been with her since she was a kid in ballet class. Unfortunately, those early experiences weren’t all positive. Cho says she was bullied back in those days – a topic that is, of late, on a lot of people’s minds due to the rash of suicides by LGBT youth who have been bullied. Lending her voice to the chorus of supporters, she contributed a video to the “It Gets Better” series.

Cho recounts the lessons she learned along the way: “Now I realize that someone can say something, and it can stick with you for your whole life. We should never give people that power. Nobody should ever give anybody that power and that’s why I wanted to reach out to kids and people who have been bullied.

“You don’t have to give anybody that kind of power. You really don’t. When you have a moment when you can share that with so many people, it’s very powerful, and I’m so happy I got to do that. Our message really came from the heart.”

Because you can’t really dance without music, Cho has a fondness for that art form, as well. Her passion is so deep that she even made a record, Cho Dependent. She says of the set, “I wanted to make an album that was a joke record in the style of ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic and Dr. Demento, but I wanted to have something that had enduring value musically.”

To achieve that melodic feat, she worked with musicians like Ani DiFranco, Garrison Starr, Ben Lee, Andrew Bird, and Fiona Apple. For the lyrical side, she drew from her life. One song recounts the story of a childhood crush who grew up to be a murderer.

“He was the first person I ever had a crush on, and he didn’t like me. Then I found out that he had killed his wife and stuffed her body in the attic of the house for a month until it was mummified. I didn’t know what to do besides write a song.”

As usual, Cho proves that laughter really is the best medicine.
October 29 – Washington, DC – Warner Theatre
October 30 – Atlantic City, NJ – Caesars Circus Maximus Theatre
November 4 – Montclair, NJ – Wellmont Theatre
November 5 – New York, NY – TBA
November 6 – Mashantucket, CT – Fox Theater
November 19 – Durham, NC – Carolina Theatre
November 20 – Knoxville, TN – Bijou Theatre
December 3 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
December 4 – San Francisco, CA – Nob Hill Masonic Center
December 9 – Clearwater, FL – Ruth Eckerd Hall
December 10 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live
December 11 – Miami Beach, FL – Fillmore at Jackie Gleason Theater
December 12 – Atlanta, GA – The Tabernacle
January 22 – Ottawa, ON – National Arts Centre

Author Bio: Kelly McCartney is an entertainment writer for Best Show Tickets, a site that specializes in comedy tickets such as Margaret Cho tickets and Las Vegas show tickets.

Category: Humor
Keywords: Margaret cho, margaret cho tour, margaret cho comedy, margaret cho tickets, stand-up comedy