Margaret Cho has always been singularly herself. It’s an energy she brings to both her comedy and her music, a venture she first began in 2010 with her first album. Cho Dependent, she tells Consequence, “was really like still a comedy record,” but it was also an opportunity to collaborate with artists she loves, including Andrew Bird, Fiona Apple, and Tegan and Sara. Since then, Cho has continued to explore her musical talents, most recently with her new album Lucky Gift (releasing February 14th).
For Lucky Gift, Cho did “a bulk of the writing of the music along with the lyrics. That made it a very special new experience. And some of these songs are from about like 10 and 11 years ago. So I’m really grateful to finally put them out there.”
When talking about her music, Cho feels like she belongs to the subgenre of comedians who make legitimate music, mentioning Neil Hamburger, Mae Martin, Whitmer Thomas, and the “incredible” Matt Berry. Not to mention Steve Martin, “our patron saint,” she laughs. “Steve Martin is probably the ultimate example of comedians who make serious music. All of those comedians, they also have their separate identities as musicians.”
Cho also notes that there are performers out there who blend both sides seamlessly, like Reggie Watts and Donald Glover/Childish Gambino. “I think Tyler the Creator and Doechii also ride the line of comedy and music, because their songs are so comedic that they’re almost sketches. It’s really interesting how it’s past just music. It’s something much much more.”
It all speaks to the ways in which music and comedy feel connected. “Comedy is lyrical. It’s poetic. It’s rhythmic. There’s repetition,” Cho says. “And choruses and catchphrases or punchlines are really the same thing.”
In selecting 13 comedians whose albums Cho thinks everyone should own, Cho picked a number of folks that she knows or knew personally, as a longtime veteran of the comedy scene. Revisiting their work, she says, was a very emotional experience, especially when it came to old friends who have passed away in recent years: Multiple times, she compared the experience of relistening to these albums to hearing “extinct birdsong.”
Adds Cho, “What a wonderful thing, that I can just get my headphones on and be with them again.” She highly recommends listening to albums with headphones, by the way, even if a filmed version of their performance is available. “There’s an intimacy that you can have with a comedian when they’re right in your ear. To ingest comedy in that way, when you can listen to the comedian… It’s almost like you’re just sitting with them.”
Please find below Cho’s Crate Digging comedy album picks. “This was really fun,” she says. “These are my favorite records, and I’m so happy to share them.”
Bill Hicks — Rant in E-Minor and Arizona Bay
Bill was such an incredible guy. I opened for him a lot, and he was a mentor, he was so considerate. He would always deep-throat the microphone, so he brought his own microphones to shows so that the openers, like myself, would not have to deal with it. Covid safe, early on.
He was super happy, though you wouldn’t necessarily know it from the outset. He would roll up to gigs [wearing] a postal worker’s hat that had bloodstains, because at that time, the shooters were all postal workers. The idea of going postal, right? It was just his sense of humor. So you would think, well, this person must have mental illness. But he was the most sane, well-adjusted, beautiful man. Kind, intelligent, thoughtful — yet he got on stage and he was a monster, in the best way. These albums really capture him in his prime.
Stream Rant in E-Minor on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Buy on Vinyl/CD
Stream Arizona Bay on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Buy on Vinyl/CD