Rating: 
Summary: CHOckfull of Laughs!
Review: Margaret Cho once again proves why she's one of the funniest stand-up comediennes of our time. Deft, dramatic and zany like always, "The Notorious Cho" is a perfect follow-up to last year's phenomenal "I'm The One that I Want." Where that movie provided more belly-laughs than this does, "Notorious" offers a deeper, more personal recipe for laughter. Cho skips easily from one raunchy topic to another sounding off on all sorts of themes - from her bisexual exploits to her Korean parents to her drag queen best friends, watching from heaven as she tears the roof off the concert hall. Her best bits here revolve around her dead-on imitation of her mother. Cho's followers have come to know and love the parent with a unique opinion on everything and viewers get the chance to meet both her parents in pre and post-concert interviews that accompany the movie. This behind-the-scenes look at her parents only make Cho's bits about her family more hysterical - the touching and funny story she tells in full mother character about her "dad-dee's" gay friend is a showstopper, while mom's ride atop a camel will leave you howling! The raunchy riffs about oral sex - both straight and gay - are inspired, even when she relates her "volunteer" work at Ground Zero in the opening monologue. "I'm the One That I Want" was a more accessible film - sort of an intro to this Korean comic genius - while "Notorious" is a more personal and intimate portrait that some folks may find too sleazy. In any case, it's a whirlwind of hysteria and fun, especially for us CHO fans. This woman tells it like it is, and mature audiences will relish the concert, the interviews and all the extras on this DVD. Buy it and LAUGH!
Rating: 
Summary: Face Hurting Laughter
Review: I don't own this DVD but I did go last night and see this in the theatre and OH MY ...! I mean I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. I am a huge fan of Margaret Cho from her stand up to her "I'm the one I want" now to this. My only problem with her in the past is that she has a tendancy to use material from her old shows but even that isn't a bad thing because she is so funny and there is no such thing as to much Margaret. I was very surprised, a lot of new material in this show and her parents are interviewed which only makes it funnier. I hope she comes out with a million more shows and I will own them all for when times get tough and things don't look to good in your own life, you can easily be brought to tears by laughter by the genius of comedy that is Margaret Cho. She is as real as they come and her directness is admired. I think one thing that makes her so funny is a lot of what she talks about is very relatable to everyone in their every day life. She talks about occurences that everyone has gone through at least once and she says things that maybe you thought but never said yourself. I applaud her and this paticular show is phenomenal. She can do no wrong in my eyes and if you buy this I can only promise that your face will hurt with laughter and for the duration of the show you'll forget all your problems and step into the world of Margaret which is a rollercoaster of belly hurting, can't breath, teary eyed, bellow of laughter. This will be one of the best purchases I'll have made all year.
Rating: 
Summary: Rather watch paint dry
Review: My wife and I had always liked Margaret Cho, and yet going into this disc we had no special expectations except to have a relaxed evening with some laughs. I didn't have to try to like this show, I had to try to endure it. I don't know where she went wrong. She's likeable enough. I like the raunch factor. I just don't know.... Felt like I wasted my time. Not funny.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Fabulous!
Review: It's hilarious the whole way through. She has really topped herself since the last movie! And Revolution is even better! Don't miss this one!
Rating:
Summary: Perfect Follow-up
Review: I had my doubts about "Notorious C.H.O." After all, "I'm the One That I Want" is the pinnacle of stand-up: revelatory while screamingly funny, a trip through dark times to self awareness, angry without being self pitying. All served up with salty language and the kind of insight only experience can bring. And topped off with the hilarious routine about her mother looking at gay porn in their bookstore in San Francisco.After all that, what was left for "Notorious?" As it turns out, plenty. Margaret Cho wisely avoids the inner demons that fueled "I'm the One," and instead just piles on the laughs. There are sad moments, as when she remembers her friends who have died of AIDS, but since she recalls them with tales of their drag queen performance pieces at Baskin Robbins (you'll never look at sprinkles the same way again) and then decides they've become her guardian angels ("Girl, you're going out dressed in that?!"), there's no time for tears. As she says in one of the features, if "I'm the One" was about coming of age, "Notorious" is about being of age. It's mostly about sex, and is quite often nasty without being offensive. Cho takes such a cheerful view of offbeat sexuality (getting fisted by a lesbian dwarf?) that there's no way to be put off by it. Yes, she focuses a lot on her gay friends and fans, but to say she shouldn't is no different from saying she shouldn't talk about being Korean. These are the people in her life, and she turns them all into memorable characters. Finally, the commentary track by her "mother" (Cho in character) is wonderfully bizarre. It wanders a bit, especially as other people join her, but it demonstrates Cho's remarkable grasp of character. It's not always funny, but it's a brilliant acting job, and provides insight into how Cho thinks and develops her work. It's worth the price of admission. Before "I'm the One That I Want," I wasn't much of a Margaret Cho fan. After that film and now this, I'm a convert.
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguingly unfunny
Review: I like Margaret Cho. I really do. She seems nice. She stands up for gay rights and better self-esteem. She comes across as extremely honest and that may be her downfall as a comic. Beneath every great comic is a complicated, even threatening mystique that keeps us watching, and Cho possesses no such mystique. Her jokes are her. Perhaps this is a breakthrough in sincerity, but not in comedy. Because there is no separation between her jokes and her belief, her self-confessional anecdotes, in a sense, require the audience to find them funny. If you don't laugh, you're not just dismissing a joke but Cho herself. It feels despearte. Or maybe it's just because Cho isn't very witty. Her voices and accents reveal a gifted impersonator and her subject matter is inclined towards the hilarious. But I laughed very little. It could be Cho's candor-as-desperate-comedy or it's that her jokes lack the kind of comedic raucousness that no amount of explicit sex jokes can produce. I like Cho's message, and I was rapt during her performance. But quickly, I realized this was not a laughing affair.
Rating:
Summary: hilarious
Review: i thought she was so funny. i have not laughed so hard in ages. she has a very blunt gritty humor, which i can really appreciate and relate to. lol. she does talk a lot about sex but that doesnt bother me like it seem some of the other sustomers. sex is a natural part of life. there is humor in it and the experiences we endure and cho really captivates the humor in all of it. highly recommended
Rating:
Summary: Funny but a one-note show
Review: After reading Margaret Cho's autobiography, I'm the One That I Want, I knew that sex was a large part of her life. Unfortunately, I did not expect that it would in turn comprise a large part of her comedy routine in this movie, The Notorious C.H.O. I don't have anything against it, per se, it's simply that it grew tiring over an hour and a half to hear all the ways that she has experimented with sex. From going to an S&M club to being "fisted," Cho covers it all, in fairly explicit detail. After the first half hour, I lost interest and it just stopped being funny. I don't watch many stand-up films (the last one was Eddie Izzard), so when I do, I want them to be really hilarious--and varied in subject matter. So, since generally I'm pretty picky, I guess I just lost out this time. I'll probably look out for Margaret's next film, though, just in case, because she is one of the funniest comics working today. Love that cover shot.
Rating:
Summary: Honest raunch.
Review: Margaret Cho is raunchy. Not a bad thing necessarily especially since she is so extraordinarily honest about herself and the observations she makes about sex, relationship, family and self-love (yes, both kinds). The Notorious C.H.O. is more of a platform for her call to arms for tolerance and living without fear. She touches on the attack on New York and at the time of the taping was probably one of the first jokes made after 9/11. And she campaigns for all people who are minorities whether based on race, sexual orientation, body type, social status, etc. to stop believing in all the ad campaigns and prejudices and start loving themselves to hilarious effect. Unfortunately, this doesn't come close to the bravery of I'm The One That I Want. No where in Notorious does she come close to the depth of soul-searching and honest reflection of herself as she did in I'm The One, which in itself is a hard act to follow. Notorious C.H.O. is more frivolity and less substance, but that's just fine this time around. With all the chaos in the world that Cho mentions it's wonderful to just sit back and have someone this talented keep you stitches for 90 minutes.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny...in spots.
Review: Margaret's comedic timing is a bit off in this, her second feature film. She waits too long to deliver the 1--2 punch, as if the audience won't follow her if she doesn't wait that for that extra pulse. She talks a lot about her sex life, and the pacing and humor of the film slows considerably when she does this. The segments about her mother are classic, though, and they make viewing this dvd time well spent. Recommended for fans. Others should rent.
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