All-American fag hag

>> Stand-up goddess Margaret Cho on her obsessive gay fans

by JOHN CUSTODIO

A friend of mine once cornered Margaret Cho at a GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) awards banquet. He wanted an autographed photo; she gave him one and signed it "The Fag Hag," underlining "The" twice. Naturally, my curiosity was piqued.

"He asked me to do that," the celebrated stand-up comedienne tells me. "I would never presume that I was 'the' anything. I wouldn't have done that of my own volition."

This coming from the woman who in her last show, the wildly popular I'm the One that I Want, quipped "Thank God for gay men! Otherwise, I wouldn't talk to men at all"? The woman whose memoirs read like a paean to queer sensibility? "Well, I do have lots of gay friends. I've had a charmed existence that way, I've always been surrounded by lovely gay men," says Cho, "but it's not something I consciously set out to do; it's not an affectation. I am quite proud of it, though. It takes a very special woman to really understand and be able to hang."

For Cho, being one of the world's most eligible fag hags is simple: "A matter of stepping into your own grandeur," she says, by way of advice to those who would emulate her example. "Do that and you'll have to beat them off with a stick." But what, I ask, is the attraction for her?

"The guys I hang with are so great," she responds, "so filled with love, and it's always mutual. Their judgment is really important to me. They have a higher standard of people in general, and I love being included in that."

Cho bristles at any suggestion that she actively courts "the gay market," or that she is cashing in on the recent media obsession with hags and their fags, a fascination Cho thinks is a good thing.

"It's the most pure relationship you can get, really, and it should be celebrated. It's nothing new; Valentino had Pola Negri," she observes. "But the media have never explored the straight male-lesbian thing. I know quite a few lesbians who have very close friendships with straight men. I think it works the same way, but I guess they're not as public about it."

As for courting the gay market, Cho is insistent. "I don't do it for my career, or to get gigs. It's an extension of my activism. I want to bring together my worlds of entertainment and politics, so I work in the community where I feel the greatest connection and the greatest love."

If the fans I know are any sort of measure, it's a love that borders on obsession, but given the highly intimate nature of her act, in which she divulges some shockingly personal details of her life, it's an understandable obsession, and Cho is nothing if not sympathetic.

"I get that way about performers too," she admits. "I went to see Bjork two weeks ago, and I sat there for the whole show and cried--I mean hysterically, screaming and everything. It was the Hollywood show and I was in this balcony filled with celebrities--totally embarrassing. I did the same thing at Madonna's show. When people feel that way about me, I appreciate it." :

Margaret Cho performs Notorious C.H.O. on Wednesday, November 21st at Théâtre Maisonneuve