Margaret Cho has not mellowed with age onstage: ‘It gets pretty raunchy’

Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

At the same time, the past year has made her explore what it means to be a United States citizen.

“I’m pretty patriotic,” she said. “I never realized until now how American I felt. It’s my identity. I always felt too American to be Korean. All this crazy stuff with ICE. When they raided that Hyundai plant (in Georgia), that really freaked me out. It’s like this awful feeling of not feeling like you’re able to exist in this country and not considered American anymore. I really feel American expressing a rejection of this administration and what it’s done to us.”

She said she felt betrayed during the 2024 election campaign by some male comics who supported Donald Trump: “Joe Rogan is a friend. Theo Von is really my friend. It’s very upsetting. Theo and I used to go to the Clermont Lounge (in Atlanta) together. It’s a difficult adjustment when people you really love have such different opinions.”

(Both Rogan and Von on their podcasts have criticized Trump for some of his policy actions since he’s been in office.)

Credit: Disney

Credit: Disney

On a professional level, Cho has continued to land roles in various TV shows and movies, and even won an episode of ABC’s “Celebrity Jeopardy” last year.

On ABC’s Atlanta-shot “Will Trent,” she has a recurring role as unconventional therapist Dr. Roach, helping the title character (Ramon Rodriguez) work through his many issues outside the confines of a traditional office, be it at a restaurant or a pickleball court.

“I’m really enjoying doing the show,” Cho said. “Ramon is so great. It’s an amazing ensemble, such a banging show. It’s exciting to be on a show I’m already a fan of.”

The “Will Trent” gig gives the longtime Los Angelino an excuse to revisit Atlanta every few weeks after spending extensive time in the metro area from 2009 to 2014 as a regular cast member of Lifetime’s “Drop Dead Diva” and residing in Midtown.

“Atlanta is so different, especially the Old Fourth Ward,” Cho said, noting a neighborhood that has undergone gentrification since the arrival of the Beltline. “How did it get so bougie? It’s so weird what happened there, but it looks super nice.”

Credit: DISEN

Credit: DISEN

She also pops in on Disney+ fantasy adventure “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” as one of three shape-shifting sisters, along with friends Kristen Schaal and Sandra Bernhard.

“We are in chairs for four hours to put on prosthetics and makeup,” she said. “It was really intense. It’s so cool to do a big fantasy show. I’ve never really done that before. And I love doing it with great friends, Sandra especially.”

And she stars in the recent Amazon movie “All That We Love” with Jesse Tyler Ferguson of “Modern Family” fame. “It’s about the death of a dog,” she said. “It’s really beautiful. The film is really powerful.” (Cho owns a Chihuahua named Lucia she often brings to red carpet events.)

The only sour experience she’s had in recent years was trying to teach the bachelors how to roast each other on “The Bachelor.”

“It was very unpleasant,” she said. “They were just so awful to each other. It wasn’t funny at all. And I’m not even someone who likes to roast people. That’s not my skill set.”

But she isn’t anti-reality show. She’d love to land a spot on Peacock’s “The Traitors.”

“I think that would be super fun,” she said. “I would be good at it, and I love Alan Cumming. He’s an old friend of mine. I’ve spent a lot of time in Scotland but never in a castle.”

IF YOU GO

Margaret Cho: Choligarchy

7 p.m. Saturday, $59.50 and up, Buckhead Theatre, 3110 Roswell Road NE, Atlanta, ticketmaster.com