Five-time Grammy and Emmy nominated Margaret Cho has taken over the comedy scene and is bringing that same powerhouse energy to music and film. Booked and busy, Margaret will star in season two of Disney’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians as well as Gregg Araki’s new film I Want Your Sex. 2025 also marks the third year of Margaret’s continually extended Live and LIVID! stand up comedy tour and the release of her long-awaited third studio album, Lucky Gift. Margaret opened up to Out in Jersey about everything from sobriety to politics to relationships in this feisty conversation.
Happy Lunar New Year! It is a new year, and a new lunar new year. It is the year of the Snake. What is your Chinese zodiac?
Margaret Cho: The first day of the lunar new year I had all my red on, I did not do any vacuuming, so I am ready for good luck. I am not sweeping any luck away! I am a Monkey, and you?
I am a Snake, actually. Full circle moment! Born in the year of the Snake and it is finally a year of the snake.
MC: Oh great! That’s good. It is a year of transformation. It is a year of letting go, letting go of negativity, and what we don’t need any more to in turn bring in prosperity.
I am all about that. I am ecstatic about your return to music. Lucky Gift marks your third album and first in nine years since 2016’s American Myth. What inspired you to release an album after not releasing any material for so long?
MC: Over the years I was still working on music. I play instruments and sing nearly every day. Music is a part of who I am as a person. Some of the songs even pre-date American Myth.
All the songs I wrote with Roger Rocha were worked on circa 2014 just never released ala Funny Man and Wheels of Gold. The more acoustic songs, which are the songs I worked on with Garrison Starr, are recent projects I have developed over the past few years. Some of these I composed myself which feels like a great accomplishment as a songwriter. I feel I have been able to mature with my instruments and songwriting. The first single, Lucky Gift, is one of the tracks I composed myself which I am really proud of.
I admire the sound of the album, particularly the writing and production. It is both different yet nostalgic at the same time.
MC: It is very much Lilith Fair material (laughs). If I could go back in time, I would be a part of that tour. I was aiming for a 1990s coffee house VH1 sound reminiscent of Sheryl Crow, Ani DiFranco, and Patty Griffin, all of whom are favorites of mine.
The album is quite unique and at times even evocative of The Smashing Pumpkins.
MC: Thank you! That is a huge compliment. I wanted to create an album that was melodic pop in sound yet deeply personal lyrically. I wanted to follow in the footsteps of Liz Phair. I wanted to really encapsulate that 90s vulnerable vibe.
What song do you have the biggest tie to on this new album?
MC: All of them honestly however Lucky Gift holds a special place in my heart. It is about when you feel ugly yet manage to fall in love anyway. Love is not just for the young and the beautiful; it is for everyone. We can feel love deeply inside yet not expect true romance to happen to us… and then it does. I really love the song because I feel it really captures the essence of that feeling.
Is the song based on any particular relationship?
MC: Yes! Not a relationship I am currently in, but a relationship I was in. Ironically then the song 90s Sisyphus is about breaking up with that same person at a rock festival. By track five I have fallen in love and then out of love on the same record.
I love that because it is genuinely relatable. In my last relationship I fell deeply in love and was on a high the entire time. We instantly hit off and started vacationing together by the second week. In one year, we went from traveling all over the country, dining out every night, having sex every night, to it all suddenly coming to a halt. Just as fast as it took off it crashed down.
MC: That is life. We just can’t predict what happens. But it does feed the creative craft because it is a rollercoaster of emotions. I am just grateful I had real experiences to write about.
You have been touring extensively for over two years on the Live & Livid Stand Up Comedy Tour. With all the recent change in the world, what material can we expect on the new dates?
MC: A lot of the material I do in this show is topical. I am always adjusting my set based upon what is taking place around us. I don’t stick with a script. Now the show is braced to discuss what we do now given the horrible era of politics. How do we fight it? Humor. Humor is the one place we can get together, laugh, and motivate each other to fight.
Are you going to integrate the new music on your comedy tour or will they be separate?
MC: I am going to do a music tour separate from my comedy tour. I haven’t figured out exactly what that will look like. I was more focused on releasing the album. Now I am in the process of figuring out performing the music.
You need to bring these tours to New Jersey! The last time I saw you backstage I had so much going on I forgot to suggest we go to the local gay bar, Feathers, afterwards…
MC: We will do that next time. I would love that! Fun to be had for sure.
It was recently announced you were cast as one of the Gray Sisters alongside Sandra Bernhard & Kristen Schaal in season two of Disney’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
MC: I love that show and what was so wonderful is getting the chance to be with both Kristen and Sandra. I am a Bernhardologist. I know everything about everything she has ever done. I have also been friends with her for a while. I absolutely adore her and she is a role model for me in so many different ways.
My parents have always been very into comedy and music. I grew up exposed to some things too early! I just remember watching Sandra a lot growing up and, fast forward, now I am a Sandra fan. How was it filming this season?
MC: It was really hard. We had intense prosthetics and makeup because we are playing these otherworldly creatures. It was so different than what I am used to as an actor. The prosthetics and special effects took hours. It was a unique experience, and I would like to do more in the fantasy realm. We have such incredible technology now which can do so many different things.
You’ve also been cast in Gregg Araki’s next film, I Want Your Sex with Olivia Wilde & Charli XCX.
MC: It was great to work with Gregg again. I just love the movie. It is so sexy, so cool. Olivia was great to work with too. I am obsessed with Charli XCX yet never got to meet her during filming, so I am ecstatic to meet her at the premiere. All my scenes are with Johnny Knoxville, and given I am such a Jackass fan, it was great to work with him. He fell in love with my dog, so he was screaming out Lucia’s name all the time. Johnny is such a great guy and truthfully a beautiful person.
“The early days of sobriety were difficult to get acclimated to yet now I have truly dug into it. I have a great life today and I am lucky to live it.”
2025 marks nine years of sobriety for you. Hollywood is such a tempting town. There are so many parties and after parties with that. I recall speaking to you after you came out of rehab and how hard it was for you. Where do you stand today?
MC: I think sobriety is why I can work as much as I do. Working is my main interest these days. Maybe I am a workaholic, but I love it. The early days of sobriety were difficult to get acclimated to yet now I have truly dug into it. I have a great life today and I am lucky to live it, and moreover, to have survived everything I experienced and to have moved past it all.
I feel when people become sober, they often gloss over how they can be tempted or triggered at times. You are very matter of fact about it which is refreshing. Given the revolving door, and your candor, you really deserve that full-time spot on The View we discussed in years past…
MC: I would LOVE that. I have been a recurring guest for years now. I think I can handle all of those political conversations without feeding into any distraction.
“President Trump is a DEI hire himself. . . People decided to give him a chance because he is not from these [political] communities. He is by definition a DEI hire.”
Speaking of which, there were many companies who were in favor of protecting LGBTQ rights and minority rights. Yet now given the new administrator’s stance on DEI, these companies are all flip-flopping and reversing their stance. Do you fear workplace discrimination will become rampant again?
MC: It makes me very concerned. It is not just the actions of these corporations rescinding these protections; it is the mentality behind it that queer and minority people can’t perform well. It is essentially trying to shut out everyone except white people. It is another form of proclaiming white elitism and racism without saying it.
This negativity around DEI is a code for let’s hire white people only. That is a major problem. It is not just the idea of getting rid of these protections; it is the implementation of only seeking white people for employment and positions of power. The irony is that President Trump is a DEI hire himself. He does not come from the world of politics, he does not have a former office that he has held, there is no history of political life that he has had previously. People decided to give him a chance because he is not from these communities. He is by definition a DEI hire. There has never been a reality star in such a high role of United States government, and thus, he is a DEI hire, that is exactly what DEI is: giving people the opportunity who haven’t held those positions before.
