NEW VOICE FOR STAND-UP COMIC

Cho Poised For Laughter After Four Years Of Pain

MARGARET Cho has many voices.

There's brassy Stand-Up Margaret. There's heavily accented
Super-Korean Margaret. Valley Girl Margaret. Surfer Dude Margaret.
Margaret from the 'Hood. Margaret's Mom. And, of course, Margaret as
All-American Girl.

These days, however, Cho has found a new voice.

It's quieter than usual. It's more contemplative. It's grateful, yet
determined.

``I know who I am now,'' says Cho, who is one of several performers
who will be featured Sunday at the San Jose Gay Pride Celebration. ``I
have an interesting story to tell and it's wonderful for me to be able
to tell the story and to have survived it.''

Cho's story starts with the demise of her ABC sitcom ``All-American
Girl'' in 1995, which touches off a downward spiral filled with drugs
and alcohol and a four-year bout with depression.

``I think I had a lot of enemies in TV and in the media,'' says Cho.
``But they were all amateurs compared to what I could do to myself.
The drug abuse and alcoholism are the worst part of my story, the
worst part by far. But the most painful things in life can also be the
most funny.''

Those who have seen Cho's new one-woman show, ``I'm the One That I
Want,'' seem to agree. And after a week of previews in Los Angeles and
a three-day run in Cleveland, Cho will take the show to New York City
for an off-Broadway run at the Wesbeth Theatre, the home to Sandra
Bernhard's recent one-woman show, starting June 22.

It's quite a step forward for the comic actress born and raised in San
46rancisco. But she attributes that step to her story as well.

Beyond club

``This story just seemed too big for a comedy club,'' says Cho. ``It
seemed right for theaters, which is a direction I wanted to move in
anyway.''

``I'm the One That I Want'' is another step for the 30-year-old Cho
toward regaining the fame and accolades she had before her move into
network TV. This time, though, it's on her own terms.

Before she took the sitcom in 1994, Cho was seen as a rising star,
known for her amusing stories and quickly paced jokes about the clash
between Asian-American culture and popular culture, which she
delivered in leather miniskirts and skintight outfits.

She landed the American Comedy Award for Best Female Comedian in 1994,
as well as small roles in movies like the Geena Davis vehicle
``Angie'' and up-and-comer Gregg Araki's ``The Doom
Generation.''

But it was ``All-American Girl'' that was supposed to put her in the
spotlight. Cho was supposed to be the Asian-American equivalent of
Ellen DeGeneres. Her sitcom was supposed to be the Korean-American
version of ``The Cosby Show.''

It didn't work.

``I had a lot of insecurities before the show started, but they were
exacerbated by being on television,'' says Cho. ``Being the first
Asian-American star on TV made it even worse. There were a lot of
things I had to deal with that others didn't.''

Most of those things, says Cho, were racially motivated.

``It came from the fact that I didn't look like the average TV star,''
she says. ``Because I came into that situation without a strong sense
of self and self-esteem, I really trusted these executives to give me
my self-worth. I took a lot of stock in other people's opinions of
me.''

Though she had become an Asian-American role model as she busted
stereotypes (``Yes, I'm Korean. No, I don't have a store. And I am a
very good driver, thank you.'') as a stand-up comic, when
``All-American Girl'' started, Cho took a lot of heat. Some
Asian-Americans didn't feel she represented them properly. And that
led to what Cho feels were overreactions at the network.

``We had to do a lot of really ludicrous things in order to satisfy
this sense of Asian-American identity,'' she says. ``They even hired
an Asian-American consultant to make sure the furniture flowed
properly. What is that about? They would never have a Caucasian
consultant on `Melrose Place.' ''

Giving in

The pressure got to be too much.

``I'd always had an affection for drugs and alcohol,'' says Cho. That
soon turned to a need.

When she could no longer perform, Cho realized she needed
help.

Shortly after she hit bottom, she started thinking about the one-woman
show.

``The show is a lot about how I coped,'' she says. ``It was really an
awful time, but that helps make it a really joyful and uplifting show.
I take these painful situations and I entertain myself. It makes it
more endurable for me.''

Cho believes the entire experience has helped make her
funnier.

``My comedy has always come from a place of pain -- that's the way I
live with it,'' she says. ``Now my comedy has more depth to it. I
think people who like my work will enjoy this even more. It goes
beyond what I normally do as a performer and people get to see what
makes me tick.''

She is also eager to come back to the spotlight.

Cho is set to work on a new film after her off-Broadway run. She has a
new CD, ``Margaret Cho Live in Houston,'' with proceeds going to
benefit the Montrose Clinic, which treats HIV-positive patients in
Houston.

And she is set for more stand-up work.

``I can't really do anything else,'' she says, her voice finally
approaching her usual sarcastic, stand-up self. ``I know who I am. I
am a Korean-American, (expletive) upstart girl comic with a lot of
good stories. And I'm going to tell them.''