Seasoned entertainer has 'broad appeal'

Hilarious and shocking are just two of the adjectives you could use to describe entertainer Margaret Cho. Cho is coming to the IU Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. and will speak in honor of the National Day of Silence and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.\nCho got her start in San Francisco, where she was raised by her Korean parents. Although her parents are now very proud of her, she said on her official Web site that it was a rocky beginning.\n"I grew up (in San Francisco) in the '70s," she said. "There were old hippies, ex-druggies, burnouts from the '60s, drag queens and Chinese people. To say it was a melting pot -- that's the least of it."\nEarly on, Cho decided her future was not in being educated but in educating. She flunked out of high school and began performing when she was 16.\nCho soon won numerous awards that gave steam to her budding career as a comedian, including one for which first prize was opening for Jerry Seinfeld. Between 1992 and 1994, she had performed at 300 colleges and consequently won the American Comedy Award for Female Comedian in 1994. Cho also starred on the short-lived ABC sitcom "All-American Girl," a show about a Korean family. The producers on this show required Cho to lose 30 pounds, which she did -- in two weeks. She suffered liver failure, the show was canceled and she moved on, having learned a lot about both herself and the movie industry.\nShe then produced an off-Broadway show, "I'm the One I Want," which, when filmed, went on to be the highest grossing film per print. It also became a book that hit bestseller lists before it hit the shelves. The show ended in 1999, and in 2000 she was awarded GLAAD's first-ever Golden Gate Award.\nCho has been on the Arsenio Hall Show, the Bob Hope Show and Politically Incorrect. She has performed at campuses nationwide.\n"She's bisexual, and that's a positive image for the GLBT community," Edyta Sitko, president of OUT, said. OUT is a co-sponsor of the event. \nBen Kincannon, vice-president of events for OUT, said Cho appeals to a wide range of people.\n"Her humor isn't just gay or for women or for a certain ethnic-minority," Kincannon said. "She has a very broad appeal."\nKincannon described Cho as a good role model.\nMzilikazi Kone, the lectures director for Union Board, said she is excited about Cho coming to IU, and that many people will enjoy the lecture.\n"People should come to the lecture because it will be an amazing lecture," she said. "It's not like a lecture in class. I mean, people know who she is for her comedy because she's a really funny woman. And she has all these life experiences that allow her to relate to people."\nFor more information about obtaining tickets, call Union Board at 855-4682.\nArts editor Jamie Sanders and campus editor Kathryn Helmke contributed to this story.