Cho's the Show Margaret Cho's one-woman show comes to the big screen by Blase DiStefano

OutSmart: I recently saw part of a special about the GLAAD [Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation] Media Awards on the E! channel, and you won the Golden Gate Award! What is the award for?
Margaret Cho: It's basically an award they give to people who promote gay images in the media. I think it's somebody that is a constant contributor toward and with the gay and lesbian, bisexual, transgender community...kind of an all-encompassing award. So it was really nice. I never expect to get awards-that's not really my intention-but it's amazing to be recognized. think it's really nice.

The awards ceremony seemed to be a lot less formal than other awards shows. It's the only fun awards show, and I love that E! did something on it, because I think that that is really important. GLAAD has really been in the public eye, especially with everything that they've done trying to push Doctor Laura out and getting people really aware about what is happening in the media. It's really exciting.

It's also really exciting that your one-woman show is now a movie [I'm the One That I Want]. It's supposed to start in September, right?
I think that's when it's coming there. It's hard to say because we were producing it ourselves and distributing it ourselves, so we only have about 10 prints and it goes on 17 screens. Every city we've been to, they've wanted to hold it over, so they've asked to hold onto the prints, but we have to open in another city. I don't know how it's getting done, but it's getting done.

Can you tell me a little bit about the filming?
The show was really what I wanted to capture for myself as a performer, as a document for myself. I've always loved live performance films; especially when I was growing up, I loved the films of Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor-those were really influential in my development. I loved their comedy, and I thought that it was an appropriate thing to do. I think that the show was perfect for the time period...I mean it was just right for me. And Iwanted to take the show everywhere, so I was going to city after city. I went to 40 cities, and there was nowhere else that I could travel to. I really felt exhausted by it, and I wanted to take the show where I couldn't go. So that was the intention: to take the messages, what the show is all about -self-love and self-esteem and self-reliance-and spread them out further.

So those of us who never got to see your stage show, or saw it only once, are now going to get to see it as often as we want.

It's wonderful because I've been to a lot of the screenings of the movie and been to a lot of theaters, and there are a lot of people who are fans of the show who have come back to see the movie time and time again, which is really exciting. I just think that people get so much from it and really love it so much. I think people are responding to the fact that we're seeing somebody on screen that we never see in media-like the idea of a woman, a woman of color, somebody who really cares about gay and lesbian issues is a very exciting thing. I think because of that, the film already has been enormously successful.

When did it open?
We just opened [in August] in L.A. and New York. And the response has been amazing. We had the highest per screen average [in box-office receipts] in the country, which is incredible for such a small film.

That's great. It'll probably do well here, too.
Well, I hope so, because I really love Houston. I spent so much time there, and you know that's the one place that I always love to go. I'll be back there in November doing my new show.

That'll be at Laff Stop. Have you played at Laff Stop before?
Yes. I recorded my CD there. I haven't been there for a while.

That was for the Montrose Clinic, right?
Yes.

And how is your life going now?
Things are hectic, which is great. I'm really happy to be finished with the tour. I'm happy to be home and writing and getting ready to write the new show. And I just finished my book [autobiography]. So that'll be coming out next year.

I can't wait to read it. Last question: Gore or Bush?
[Laughs as if the question didn't need to be asked] Oh, Gore.

I'm the One That I Want opens Sept. 15 at Landmark's River Oaks Theatre, 2009 W. Gray,
713/524-2175.