"Al-Gayda" she said!

Margaret Cho - The Assassin Tour

From the top I have to say, though I was not disappointed, I found the Assassin not as funny as "I'm The One That I want"

ITOTIW has a stronger emotional and personal core. The comedy springs forth from being able to laugh at her own life tragedies. It is the pathos that gave ITOTIW an innate knowledge and intelligence about its subject matter that made the delivery seem as if it came from her core.

The only core to this show is being pissed off. See you hear people saying that many Americans are Bush haters. I think they are just pissed-off.

I think they would not care if he was still governor. They are just ticked-off with him and the rest of the Americans who voted for him. Other than that they would probably say he is a good ole boy. See that is what the state of Texas is for - a way to keep most of the wingnuts in one place. They just want the biggest wingnut out of Washington and back on the ranch out of harms way. History will not be kind to W. And, I have a strong feeling his post presidential life will be froth with difficulties.

This makes for great comedy/drama and can be milked for some genuine laughter and Margaret Cho did have some brilliant moments. But not a complete set of them because the material does not have an emotional personal core. Being pissed-off at a lunatic with no personality understandably has no emotional core.

Stemming from the pissed-off-ness was some great Bush bashing and rich gay political humour. At times biting and at times vulgar and always funny. Yet it did not have a depth of brains but variations on themes already out in the foray. Don’t get me wrong it was very smart in places and “I have a dick tooth.” was very clever. She pulled in many pop cultural references. In the cat stevens bit she sings “I’m being followed by an air marshall, air marshall.” I would bet few under 30 recognized the tune of “Moon Shadow”. Most over 30 caught it and appreciated it. And she was pretty vicious to Hollywood starlets and bjork. Her face was uncanny singing bjork.

Though I appreciated the big screen to get a close-up look at all the facial expressions my seat was close enough that I could get all that without the screen. At times I found myself looking more at the screen or at the least it was distracting me. Though I am sure the balcony greatly appreciated it.

One thing I did notice is this show contains a lot more self-referential queer or lesbian remarks. I have not seen Notorious C.H.O. or CHO Revolution so I don't know if this is new or a progression. But she did seem more “OUT” here than in ITOTIW. There was many a splattering of angry queer politics in there. AL-GAYDA I LOVE IT!!

Maybe the more I let the show run through my head I am convincing myself I liked it a lot more than I said. There were many funny moments and a few brilliant one-liners. But yet that core problem is still pestering me. I think ITOTIW had a passion that could only come from that material. It was her at her most vulnerable and raw yet hungry and wickedly funny at the same time. Most other things after that, by comparison can only sound like comedic monologue.

Oh I did indeed laugh and the boy who was sitting next to me was howling so much his cheeks hurt. And she even included some CanCon. Does that mean she can get an award from some Canadian arts thingy? I’d love to see the dress she wears.