Following up on her extremely lucrative 1999 Off-Broadway comedy show and concert-film, “I’m the One That I Want,” which grossed $1.3 million with only nine prints (the most money per print for any film in history), Cho again gives us a raunchy tour-de-force performance. Filmed live at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre, the show was part of her recent 37 city tour of North America, which concluded with a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall in January.
For those unfamiliar with the taboo-busting comic-actress, Cho has appeared in films such as John Woo’s “Face/Off” (She makes the most of her brief scenes with John Travolta), provided the voice of the detective in “The Rugrats Movie” and starred in the disastrous Asian-American TV sitcom “All-American Girl, ” which was cancelled after one season by ABC. She has also dated the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Chris Issak over the years.
Inspired by lusty and bawdy rap divas like Li’l Kim and Eve, “Notorious C.H.O.” captures Cho at her most sexually provocative. Highlights include her receiving a “fisting” at the hands of a “short lesbian woman,” a trip to the video store to return “Beaver Fever,” gay personals ads (“Wanted: A*s Bandit to hold up this caboose”), failed attempts to find her G-spot (“It’s like trying to unlock a car door with a coat hanger”), a visit to a trendy L.A. colon irrigation clinic, sex clubs, her preference in women (she wants “a bull d**e who looks like John Goodman”), stories about her best friends from high school, two teenage drag queens (She calls them “Crouching Drag Queen, Hidden Faggot”) and the connection between Star Trek, S&M and leather.
Directed, produced and edited by Filipino-American Lorene Machado, the 95-minute film also includes documentary footage of Cho being interviewed about her now infamous mom and dad. There’s even footage of fans attempting to do her now classic impression of her mother discovering gay porn (“Moran! What is ‘A*s-Master?!”).
Raw, irreverent and uncompromising, Cho transforms her life into a form of performance art like no other.
