Say what you want about Margaret Cho, but she has a fan base for a reason. The newly formed Cho who has lost weight is not above flaunting that she was overweight and really brings on the fact that being thin was not an easy task, and is  ultimately a goal that is unreachable in a metaphorical sense. Through her ways, she is hilarious and makes a statement. Through her ways she demeans her culture by showing how we do so as well. In her ways, Cho really does give a real message about how the real minorities in America are the Asians. Cho, as you may or may not know is someone who was cast away unofficially by American media.

She was deemed too fat to be attractive, and when she headlined her own sitcom, which was funny, it was cancelled for being controversial because she just wasn't Asian enough for her culture, and wasn't American enough for ours, and that's why Cho isn't accepted, and that's why she's damn proud for not being accepted, because she's not your typical conformal image of an Asian. Cho makes a statement through her often very funny laugh out loud comedy that just gives the audience a clear image of her every day life, from her trouble with relationships, her hateful family, and experiencing racism and American ignorance about her culture.

My favorite sketch of course is her experience with a steward on an airplane serving "Asian Chicken Salad", believe me it's as funny as it sounds. And Cho also involves the audience as shown in the beginning of her special where she's having trouble taking off boots, but Cho also reaches down to more every day problems as being pressured in to giving birth to a child and considering adopting a Cambodian like Angelina Jolie ("Because really, who would know the difference?"), and accidentally disposing all over herself in the middle of a freeway, which was the result of a fad diet she'd inhabited for months, and backfired (pun not intended). Cho also shows that she's come to grips with her problems and is happy in her skin, and really does rise above it all in spite of the fact she admits she doesn't want to.

Though, Cho harkens on the older material like the media's refusal to bring Asians in to film beyond the usual arch types ("I can't run up walls! I refuse to star in a musical with a helicopter!"), she really gives her message loud and clear while making the audience laugh till they drop. Through her facial expressions, pouting, and roaring at the top of her lungs, she is hilarious, and, I must admit, attractive. And she's not afraid to be ugly at all when she's screaming on stage with her make-up smearing and dripping from sweat and just gives "A" material such as her lack of satisfaction during sex, her aggressively confronting a child who makes fun of her eyes on a movie poster, and, a very funny sketch in which she traumatizes a couple of skiers wearing SARS masks.

Cho is at her form here and she's fun to watch on-stage playing for the audience and just goes at it for us. And she squeezes in her insightful views every now on then on the mistreatment of homosexuals, the war, and how utterly ignorant we are when approached with another race. While it is very funny, it's also rather disturbing to hear about and it tells us something that we need to hear. We've come so far, yet traveled so little. Cho is funny, charismatic, charming, and this film is all too short for what she has to tell us. And, as I mentioned, she rises above it even though she refuses to.

Many times during the special, I was often cringing because man can Cho go over the top. With screaming and bouncing around Cho can never seem to realize where she's going with her joke. In some instances I was muttering "Alright, already, I get the point". And she's preachy which is sad with stand-up comics most of the time. It's interesting
when occasionally the comedians insert their political views, but when it's what comprises most of the stand-up for the second half of the routine, it gets really old really fast. Alright, Cho, we get it, poor women, poor women are unappreciated in this country. Enough, already. And Cho continues on a tirade of her political views which drown out the purpose of this comedy special and just turns it into this political speech.

As with many comedians these days, Cho, in many ways, can't seem to separate the comedy from the political commentary, and it bogs down the second half of the special, but for what it brings to table, it's a fun comedy special where Cho managed to draw a lot of laughs.

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