Why Margaret Cho Calls Bullshit On 'Ab Fab''s Racism

Margaret Cho - comedian, actor, singer, rapper, reality star, author and activist - is that rare icon who doesn't stipulate no-go zones in interviews. But, then again, she's long been frank about her shocking personal experiences - of childhood bullying, sexual molestation, and rape... Cho has also proudly proclaimed her bisexuality. The Korean-American's stand-up comedy is fearless, too, exploring race, sexuality and gender. Returning to Australia, Cho's current show, psyCHO, could be her most provocative yet. She'll tackle one of comedy's taboos - sexual abuse. Indeed, Cho is especially encouraged by other women exposing those once untouchable male celebrities guilty of indecent assault. "I feel like we'll be talking a lot about Rolf Harris!" Cho laughs darkly. Her approach is "about looking for empowerment". "When you shine a light on predators, that really makes them powerless, so then they go away - which is a great thing."

Growing up in San Francisco, Cho's decision to pursue comedy wasn't so outlandish - her father wrote Korean joke books. Leaving home early, Cho worked in the sex industry. By the mid-'90s, the now buzz comedian had landed her own ABC sitcom, All-American Girl - loosely autobiographical. While expectations were high for this first major network television series centring on an Asian-American family, it all went awry. Cho was denied creative control, meddling executives compromising her vision (random fact: Quentin Tarantino cameoed as her date). More seriously, they berated Cho's appearance to the extent that she succumbed to an eating disorder - and battled substance abuse. Cho ruminated on her ordeal in her show-cum-memoir I'm The One That I Want. Still, All-American Girl paved the way for Fresh Off The Boat. "It influenced a lot of people, so I'm really grateful for that." Cho secured movie roles, even playing an FBI agent alongside (future comic target) John Travolta in John Woo's speculative action thriller Face/Off.

"In America a lot of Korean people buy liquor stores, so it's very natural to think the next thing would be to get a pot store."

Cho is developing a new "dramedy", Highland - (possibly) for Amazon. "Some of the show is about a family experiencing the big medical marijuana boom in California, or in the United States, but also it's much deeper than that. It has a lot to do with Asian-American history and how a lot of Asian people, when they came to this country, in the '70s, '80s, realised they didn't have to behave - so that the culture has all shifted. And so in my generation we're all a little bit unsure of our parentage - that's the truth, which is a very strange thing, because [people] were allowed to kind of do whatever they wanted. It's weird - in America a lot of Korean people buy liquor stores, so it's very natural to think the next thing would be to get a pot store."

Cho has recorded subversively comic music. She lately dropped a second album, American Myth - presaged by I Wanna Kill My Rapist, its viral video a manifestation of "cathartic rage". Meanwhile, Cho popped up in Peaches' hilarious film-clip for Dick In The Air, both sporting crocheted male genitalia. "She's wonderful - I would love to do a song with her."

Cho continues to expand. This year she joined E!'s Fashion Police. Cho was close to the program's original host, the late Joan Rivers - ironically controversial for her scathing put-downs. Cho saw another side. "She was very kind and very giving and unbelievably supportive of my work and my life - I mean, my personal life also! There was just so much that she gave from her heart and really [she] was a totally different person on stage and off. There's an assumption that she was very mean and, actually, that wasn't true in any way. I think her brand of humour is very different from mine, but also in some ways very similar."

Cho will call out BS. When in late 2015 she learnt that Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie had cast the Caucasian Janette Tough to portray a (male) Japanese fashion designer, Huki Muki, Cho hit Twitter, accusing its makers of perpetuating "yellowface". Diversity in Hollywood a hot topic, opinion pieces ensued. As screenwriter, Jennifer Saunders has since refuted Cho's charge to The Guardian, dismissing it as a misapprehension - Tough's depiction "just a silly little joke," her character obviously not Japanese and the film revelling in pretence. Cho hasn't followed it. "I don't even know because I don't really care." Cho remains unconvinced. "There's no context in which racism is acceptable." Oddly, she's "really good friends with [Ab Fab co-creator] Dawn French." "I really do love Dawn - I love the work that Jennifer and Joanna [Lumley] have done. It's not a comment on that. Those women have done great work over the years - and certainly French And Saunders are a legendary comedy team, but this really tarnishes their legend for me. Unfortunately it does. I'm very sorry about it, too, 'cause I really like them."