So, this is my favorite kind of homecoming: Comedian, actress and San Francisco native Margaret Cho will hit the Castro Theatre this Thursday, Oct. 15 as part of her PsyCHO standup tour.
I shouldn't need to give you a rundown of Cho's extensive résumé -- first Asian-American to have her own network television show, first comedian to appear as a feminized version of Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un at the Golden Globes while sandwiched between Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, yadda yadda yadda.
But in recent years, I've come to appreciate Cho as much for her activism and outspoken, take-no-prisoners approach to political issues as for her comedy. Here are five times I fell just a little bit more in love.
Her "Be Robin" campaign to help the homeless raised nearly $20,000 in less than two weeks. In the days leading up to Christmas last year, Cho began alerting fans on social media that she would be appearing on various street corners in San Francisco, singing songs with a homegrown band (in one case featuring another of our favorite San Franciscans, Hüsker Dü and Sugar's Bob Mould). Channeling Robin Williams, a friend, mentor, and the man she's called a "father figure," Cho raised more than $2000 at each of nine events, and distributed untold numbers of coats, socks, toiletries, canned goods and other basic necessities to folks living on the city's streets.
Here's her talking about how that honors Williams' legacy: