Margaret Cho: PsyCHO

13 September 2016 | 2:13 pm | Cyclone Wehner

"There are salaciously OMG confessions - like how Cho nabbed prescription painkillers from the late glamour model Anna Nicole Smith."

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Margaret Cho's PsyCHO tour, on its last stop in Australia, offers a full night of queer US comedy. It starts with her old pal Ian Harvie as support.

Harvie may have acted in Amazon's Transparent - and, more recently, the soapy Mistresses - but he jokes about still being unknown. The Portland native quickly wins over the audience with his "positive comedy" - telling of his journey from butch lesbian to trans man. Harvie astutely, and charmingly, explores issues of transgender etiquette and identity quandary - covering bathrooms.

Cho's comedy is more acerbic. For the Korean American icon, the personal is political - and provocative. She packs in a huge spectrum of topics: race, ethnicity, gender, bisexuality, body image, substance dependency, family, age and, yes, celebrity. Cho often endearingly mimics her cannily pragmatic mother.

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Though Cho's shock revelation that as a child she was molested by an uncle isn't new, it loses none of its impact in her stand-up. Disturbingly, she also alludes to (lately) leaving an abusive relationship. But Cho's mission is to empower herself and others through comic exposure.

There are salaciously OMG confessions - like how Cho nabbed prescription painkillers from the late glamour model Anna Nicole Smith and her "rock star" liaisons with Chris Isaak, who wrote songs for her and an "Ozzy". And, finally, she shows off those famous tats.