European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 28, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Margaret Cho stands up for asian americans by Dusty Saunders Denver Rocky Mountain news she s hip. She s funny. She s a stand up what makes Margaret Cho different from Brett Butler Ellen Degeneres Orother women stand who have found Success in the world of to situation comedy Cho of korean heritage is the first asian Ameri can woman to Star in a network comedy series All american girl which will open on Abc this fall. The Only other asian american sitcom Lead was Pat Morita in or. Tand Tina which aired on Abc in 1976. And Cho ready for the Challenge is equipped with a sense of humor about her heritage. Last month she greeted Abc affiliate executives with let me introduce myself. I m Margaret Cho. I m korean and i Don t have a regarding her family she says my father writes korean books like 1,001 jokes for Public about her arrival on the to scene now what we need is an asian me Rose place. That could be the next step. But i m really Happy to be me As opposed to Heather Cho also is prepared to shoulder the role Model Burden. I enjoy that position very much Cho says. I think that it s really important to have positive asian role models. There regally Aren t very Many in television. And i think that i along with other cast Mcm Bers who Are All asian can help eliminate some Long standing stereotypes. I Don t feel any added pressure because of the to series. I be been doing stand up now for the past seven years so i be already dealt with Cho claims she encountered very Little prejudice from audiences during her Many months on the Road during comedy performances. People were Al Margaret Cho ways Happy to hear what i had to say because i had a different Point of View and a different comedy perspective. The prejudice i encountered was mostly in tiny towns where i was like the Only you know walking talking Chinatown the Only asian person for Miles. Actually even then it was t exactly racism. It was More like curiosity like what Are you doing Here or of my god you speak English. Those kinds of things not necessarily extremely negative but not always the most pleasant situations to be in. But this gave me fodder for my comedy and Al Lowed me to really experience what the rest of the country was like. Growing up in san Francisco was you know being in the Middle of an incredibly ethnic diverse Community. It was like growing up in a bub ble so i really did t know what was out Cho 25, came to san Francisco with her parents from South Korea when she was 10, because her initial interest was drama she entered the san Francisco state University theater pro Gram in 1988. But after discovering that roles for asian performers were limited Cho began exploring the comedy scene developing her act at the Rose & Thistle a comedy club located atop her parents Bookstore. After performing at notable san Francisco comedy clubs like the improve and the punchline Cho be came the West coast division Champion in the . Comedy Competition and found herself on the Bill Ina Daytona Beach fla., club with Jerry Seinfeld. He was very supportive and gave me solid help in writing material and refining my act Cho recalls. She moved to the los Angeles area in 1992 and began accumulating to credits on the Arsenio Hull show and evening at the i Provon a a Cable. She also portrayed Connie Chung in Tonya the Battle of wounded knee a spoof of the Nancy Kerrigan Tonya Harding controversy on Cable s comedy Cen trial. Her club and to work caught the attention of Disney production executives who signed her for the Abc series. In All american girl Cho plays a College student living at Home. The comedic clashes arise Between the customs of her old world family and her contemporary american lifestyle. I m excited because the series will give us an Opportunity to really be ourselves and show what asian americans Are really like. We Don t have gongs we Don t have bound feet we Don t walk on people s backs and we Don t eat dogs.", set lips Howard news ser Vlco new season shows it s All in the family by Scott Williams a television writer families must fascinate , Why would so Many of the 27new fall series orbit about that singular institution the four major networks Are offering All kinds of shows about All kinds . Families with one Parent me and the boys and daddy s girls. Families with a Parent in Law the five mrs. Buchanan. Plucky families with no parents party of five and on our own. Wacky families with both parents All american girl the boys Are Back and something Wilder. And an All too realistic family with a whimsical introspective 15-year-old daughter my so called life. There s that Twenty something family unit called generation a As featured in the sitcoms wild Oats and friends. And one show starring someone who s like a member of our own family Bill Cosby is Back in the aptly named Cosby mysteries. Sure there Are also workplace shows Blue skies is set in a mail order Catalon House and hardball is about major league baseball. Chicago Hope and . Are Hospital shows. New York undercover is a mean streets cop show while the More lighthearted due South pairs an upright Canadian mountie with a Slick Chicago flatfoot. Meanwhile there Are family workplace shows like madman of the people in which dad works for daughter and Sweet Justice in which daughter does t work for dad but for a competing Law firm instead. & then in the Martin Short show Short plays a family Man who s the Star of his own comedy variety show. And How about that category killer Mckenna it s about a troubled plucky single Parent family deter mined to stay together in the workplace a Western dude ranch. There s science fiction with touched by an Angel think Highway to heaven Earth 2 think Steven Spielberg Fortune Hunter think James . Think Rob Ocop and under suspicion think Coronet Blue if your to memory reaches Back that far. Thanks to you a handful of the fall s new series will be hits. But for most of them think 13 weeks. Andrea Martin Jan Hooks and family Man Martin Short Roll through the Martin Short show. Abc August 28,1994 sunday pages
