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Margaret Cho on her Zen-like comedic process: “It’s just trying to use my pain to heal others”

Cho likens stand-up comedy to yoga instruction in introspective video interview with the Village Voice

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Margaret Cho sat down with Village Voice contributor Jessica Pilot for another installment of the video series, “This Is Stand-Up.” (Other comedians featured in the series include Patton Oswalt and Hasan Minhaj.)

“It’s a very difficult art form because it’s the only one that demands that you have a physical reaction from your audience — not just from the work itself, but every ten seconds at least,” Cho said of her profession, which she views through a symbiotically therapeutic lens. “It’s just trying to use my pain to heal others.”

“I think I’m very adored in the comedy community because I adore comics,” she continued. “I have so much respect for everybody who does it, and I have so much hope for everyone who does it.”

The introspective Cho said she thinks of herself as a yoga instructor: “If I can just get you to breathe for an hour and a half, that’s all I ask … I hope that people breathe and they take in laughter and oxygen and ideas and joy and freedom.”

Watch the full feature below, via Village Voice:

By Brendan Gauthier

Brendan Gauthier is a freelance writer.


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