Customer Reviews

Margaret Cho:Notorious C.H.O.

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Case in point...this supremely explicit and raw comedy. Her failed sitcom had orientalness (and poking fun at it) which may had unnerved some people, particularly those behind the sponsors...

...I, however, laughed my buns off during this one woman show filmed in Seattle. I laughed because Cho's brashness and complete bluntness is disarmingly hilarious and completely brilliant...one would not expect that rawness from a little Korean lady. Her sendups about her motherdear are roll down on the floor funny. And may be construed as derogatory to some Oriental-Americans: she redeems herself for making a plea for true acceptance and equality for all. Her escapades and misadventures--the fisting, the leather club(John Goodman, not Sharon Stone and unzipping the mouth mask)--garners some of the same type of laughs that Pyror is known for. Cho's routine is the kind that makes you laugh because you are embarrassed that you are laughing at something so bold and taboo. And you know what? Cho, notorious or not, is a great comic. Hey! Anyone who makes me laugh that hard has gotta be one. As one interviewee notes at the end of the show, Cho's Notorious ain't for the weak at heart. I say, So What? If a comedian doesn't provoke you every now and then, then mebbe he/she oughtta find a new job. Find this performance and enjoy!

i thought she was so funny. i have not laughed so hard in ages. she has a very blunt gritty humor, which i can really appreciate and relate to. lol. she does talk a lot about sex but that doesnt bother me like it seem some of the other sustomers. sex is a natural part of life. there is humor in it and the experiences we endure and cho really captivates the humor in all of it. highly recommended

It's hilarious the whole way through. She has really topped herself since the last movie! And Revolution is even better! Don't miss this one!

My wife and I had always liked Margaret Cho, and yet going into this disc we had no special expectations except to have a relaxed evening with some laughs. I didn't have to try to like this show, I had to try to endure it. I don't know where she went wrong. She's likeable enough. I like the raunch factor. I just don't know.... Felt like I wasted my time. Not funny.

I like Margaret Cho. I really do. She seems nice. She stands up for gay rights and better self-esteem. She comes across as extremely honest and that may be her downfall as a comic. Beneath every great comic is a complicated, even threatening mystique that keeps us watching, and Cho possesses no such mystique. Her jokes are her. Perhaps this is a breakthrough in sincerity, but not in comedy. Because there is no separation between her jokes and her belief, her self-confessional anecdotes, in a sense, require the audience to find them funny. If you don't laugh, you're not just dismissing a joke but Cho herself. It feels despearte. Or maybe it's just because Cho isn't very witty. Her voices and accents reveal a gifted impersonator and her subject matter is inclined towards the hilarious. But I laughed very little. It could be Cho's candor-as-desperate-comedy or it's that her jokes lack the kind of comedic raucousness that no amount of explicit sex jokes can produce. I like Cho's message, and I was rapt during her performance. But quickly, I realized this was not a laughing affair.

Margaret Cho is raunchy. Not a bad thing necessarily especially since she is so extraordinarily honest about herself and the observations she makes about sex, relationship, family and self-love (yes, both kinds). The Notorious C.H.O. is more of a platform for her call to arms for tolerance and living without fear.

She touches on the attack on New York and at the time of the taping was probably one of the first jokes made after 9/11. And she campaigns for all people who are minorities whether based on race, sexual orientation, body type, social status, etc. to stop believing in all the ad campaigns and prejudices and start loving themselves to hilarious effect.

Unfortunately, this doesn't come close to the bravery of I'm The One That I Want. No where in Notorious does she come close to the depth of soul-searching and honest reflection of herself as she did in I'm The One, which in itself is a hard act to follow.

Notorious C.H.O. is more frivolity and less substance, but that's just fine this time around. With all the chaos in the world that Cho mentions it's wonderful to just sit back and have someone this talented keep you stitches for 90 minutes.

Margaret's comedic timing is a bit off in this, her second feature film. She waits too long to deliver the 1--2 punch, as if the audience won't follow her if she doesn't wait that for that extra pulse. She talks a lot about her sex life, and the pacing and humor of the film slows considerably when she does this.

The segments about her mother are classic, though, and they make viewing this dvd time well spent.

Recommended for fans. Others should rent.

Margaret is the QUEEN of comedy not to mention the queen of fag-hagdom! This follow-up to the first is a bit raunchier but yet still awesome! And what about those facial expressions? =)))

In "I'm the One That I Want" Margaret Cho combined her raunchy humor with an empowering reminiscence of her failed sitcom, subsequent breakdown and journey back to mental health. In "Notorious C.H.O.", she mostly ventures completely into adult territory, graphically, and hilariously, discussing a variety of her sexual experiences. Some topics include insensitive male partners, sensitive gay male friends, her period, her venturing into the BDSM scene, and sexual experiences with women. The result is not just raunchy fun (although it is that), but also political, honest, and empowering. Margaret Cho is such an important performer because she speaks for so many minorities who rarely really have their voices heard: female, asian, gay, etc. And she has the guts to put herself out there in such an uncensored and often unflattering way, that it's no wonder her fans feel such a connection with her.

I had high expectations from this DVD that was given to me as a gift, along with a rave review of a Korean damsel trying to do the black comedy jig. In hindsight, I am glad I didnt shell out for this egregiously uninspired performance, to say the least.

Ms. Cho can break all the sexual taboos she wants (quite frankly most of them have already been smashed many times over) but a very, very fundamental tenet they perhaps teach in Stand-up 101 is to have some decent jokes up your sleeve, and ideally, not to pause for an eternity between them. Cliched punchlines followed by drawn out and thus piquing stops make for a painfully tedious viewing.

If you have a sense of humor even mildly above average, skip this tripe regardless of whatever minority rave you are exposed to.