| Ref No | BSUCA/OD/1/47/1 |
| Collection | Oliver Double Collection |
| Title | Margaret Cho interviewed by Oliver Double |
| Name of creator | Double, Oliver, 1965- |
| Date | 19/04/2012 |
| Duration | 25 min. 21 sec. |
| Extent | 1 audio file Broadcast WAVE Format (BWF) |
| Description | Margaret Cho interviewed by Oliver Double, 19th April 2012, by telephone. This interview was conducted by Double for his book 'Getting the Joke: The Inner Workings of Stand-Up Comedy', 2nd Edition (2014) .
[Interview summary]
[0.38] How Cho Started in Stand-Up and failure in comedy. [3.25] Issues in identity onstage and offstage. [5.45] Ethics and truth within Stand-Up. [8.20] The politics of comedy and treading between being an insider and an outsider. [11.47] Vox Pox: interviews with the audience. [13.01] The recording is suddenly stopped, but the second part comes immediately afterwards. [13.36] "It's Not Just Comedy" - Preaching to the converted. [15.45] Having the licence to mock people but from a good place. [16.55] English and American Comedy as an American Comedian. [18.36] Being an international comedian. [19.30] Methodology and how to piece together a show. [21.21] Alternative Comedy. [22.33] Starting as a young comedian and mentoring. [25.20] Recording ends.
[Analysis by Matthew Hoss]
- The comedy community can be very supportive to those with have talent- it is about mentoring. There is a learning process.
- Having faith when it goes bad and having the courage to continue. It is not unusual to fail. You have to keep on rolling onwards.
- It's not necessarily jokes; it is also about narrative which helps the structure.
- As a social outsider, Cho says that is glorious that people she allowed to be an insider on stage with her audience.
- The audience is just as important as the performer. The relationship is a two-way street.
- Comedy can raise a lot of money for charity: Cho raises money for AIDS charities.
- American comedy is about spectacle but in British Comedy is all about a running dialogue. Americans do Jokes after jokes, but British Comedians really engage the audience.
- Cho's shows have a lot of dramatic input - having an energy rise, putting things at stake.
- Alternative has become established comedy.
- Mentoring is a very helpful thing in the comedy world - it encourages the younger comedians. |
| Notes | 1 MiniDisc, digitised to LPCM wave 24 bit 44.1kHz. Digitised using Sony Minidisc Deck MDS-JE53; Roland Edirol UA-25 and Audacity 2.1.0. 2015-05-20. Extract created using Adobe Audition CC 2015. 2015-10-21. |
| This interview was originally recorded on MiniDisc BSUCA/OD/47/1; a digital copy has been made for access purposes. |
| Category | Audio recordings |
| Access conditions | Available for consultation at the University of Kent's Special Collections & Archives reading room, Templeman Library, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NU. Access is available via digital listening copies. The University of Kent acknowledges the intellectual property rights of those named as contributors in this recording and the rights of those not identified. |
| Copyright | Oliver Double; Margaret Cho |
| Level | Item |