The word “icon” gets thrown around carelessly, but when we say that Margaret Cho is a queer icon, we really mean it.

The actress, comedian and advocate has been shaking the table and pushing for equality since the start of her career. She has since been in numerous films and TV series including the Gotham Award and People Choice Award-winning Fire Island as well as The Flight Attendant, Hacks, The L Word: Generation Q, Sex Appeal, Good On Paper, and she flexed her vocal chords on The Masked Singer. She was also was included Rolling Stone‘s 50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time and was included in CNN’s 50 People Who Changed American Comedy. That said, who can forget her numerous comedy specials including I’m The One That I Want, Notorious C.H.O. and PsyCHO. 

Cho is hitting the road again to celebrate her 40 years of comedy with her brand new Live and Livid! tour which kicks off in March 2023. Based on what is happening in the world and the title of the tour, Cho is going to have a lot of things to unpack — with her sense of humor, obviously.

“We just have to laugh or else we’ll cry; we have to laugh or else we’ll die,” Cho told GLAAD’s Anthony Allen Ramos. “We are being targeted from every angle. All of the queer community has to come together and find some strength in laughter.” She adds that we need to laugh at the enemy — and there are a lot enemies.

“It’s just so incredibly obtuse where they’re getting their information — like trying to weaponize their Christianity against drag is really to me very bizarre,” she said. “I think it’s we have to come together and stop these [Republicans] from crying, trying to ‘protect marriage’.”

Luckily, the Respect For Marriage Act was passed, giving a glimmer of hope as we reach the end of 2022 — but Cho doesn’t want to stop there. “I want to present Brittney Griner with the Melissa Etheridge Medal of Freedom,” stated Cho. “She deserves the lesbian Medal of Freedom. I’m so relieved that Brittney Griner is coming home now. She had to go through so much and it’s not even like the conservatives can celebrate that. Why are you angry about something? Of course there’s other people there that need to be rescued. Of course there’s people that are unjustly imprisoned, but she was such a symbol for queer women of color. This is something in the right direction.”

It is without a doubt that Live and Livid! will be unapologetically queer and Cho will be unpacking a lot of issues impacting the LGBTQ community. 

“I’m mad that they took the proud out of gayness,” she explained, pointing out that things like the “Proud Boys” and Christianity have stolen the power of the queer community.  She adds that the community needs “to take our power back because for some reason it’s being wrenched out of our hands for not any purpose other than to support this idea that nobody really believes.”

As mentioned, Cho starred in the critically acclaimed Fire Island directed by Andrew Ahn and written by Joel Kim Booster. The feature moved the needle when it came to intersectional queer identities and experiences. Cho said she had an amazing time a fun experience shooting the film. With its wild success, ideas for a sequel have been floating around… specifically a sequel featuring the lesbian lives of Cherry Grove with Marisa Tomei potentially joining the cast as Cho’s lover.

“I love it,” said Cho. “I think that we could definitely make that happen. I’m pushing for that, I think we would really have a great time.”

You can purchase tickets to Margaret Cho’s “Live & Livid!” Comedy Tour here.