We are audiostack.ai Combining AI writing, the best synthetic voices, with production and delivery. Be it ads podcasts or videos for video. Just like this ad, how would you utilize AI audio? For free! Hi, it's Jesse. Today on the show, you might know her from any one of her many comedy specials. From I'm the one that I want to Cho dependent or her roles in TV and film such as Drop Dead Diva that Fire Island. It's Margaret Cho.
I want to get a really young husband when I'm in my 80s. Like a young twink. Like he probably hasn't been born yet. This is Dinner’s on Me and I'm your host, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Margaret Cho is, oh, hands down for me, one of my personal legends of comedy. Okay, she's not that much older than me, but in my eyes, she has already achieved icon status.
I mean, for me, she is up there with Steve Martin, Chris Rock, and the late great Joan Rivers, who Margaret calls her comedy mother. I was so excited when I was cast opposite her in the upcoming film All That We Love, which is premiering this year at the Tribeca Film Festival, isn't that fancy? I play the best friend of her character, Emma, who is navigating the recent loss of her beloved dog. It's an incredibly beautiful film, and it's also, it's quite funny.
I mean, hello, it's Stars Margaret Cho. And me, I guess. Anyway, I was so excited to have a moment with Margaret before we both went off to New York City to attend the film's premiere. I may have been even more excited to see that she had brought her best friend, Luccia, along with her, who I really, really fell in love with while we were shooting the film. Oh, Luccia. Luccia.
Okay, I guess I should mention that Luccia is her precious adorable dog. Listen, I never thought I was a Chihuahua person, but I don't know. Luccia proved me wrong. Have you been here? I think I have. This is a good one. Yeah. They have the greatest panchang. Yeah. The food is just unmatched. I'm excited. I love cream barbecue. I brought Margaret to Chosen Galby, a renowned Korean barbecue joint in LA's Korea town.
Open over 22 years, it's one of the longest standing spots in K-town and is considered a go-to for its impeccable beef and a cold noodle dish from North Korea that I'm not even going to try to pronounce, but you will hear Margaret saying it. Listen, I admittedly did none of the ordering. I let Margaret take over completely, but the food. I could say this very confidently was incredibly delicious.
I have always loved Korean barbecue and though it's been popular in LA in recent decades, it's a culinary tradition that dates back to 37 BC in Korea. That's a long time ago, y'all. There's something so intimate about having the stove top at your table. I mean, you can hear the sizzle of the grill in the background when we're talking.
We ate everything alongside a variety of panchang, those little side dishes shared at the center of the table, like kimchi, potato salad, bean sprouts, and a fish cake in our case. Okay, let's get to the conversation. Margaret, I haven't seen you since we wrapped our movie. I know, I'm excited to watch it with you at Tribeca next week. So you were saying you saw what you think is an early cut? I loved it. I thought it was beautiful. I did too. You're really, really wonderful in it.
Although I'm wearing a wig, which I can't get past. I don't know. I'm so, every time I look different in something, I'm like always like, that's where we fix it on, yeah. It's so funny I was in the movie Co-Cain Bear, and I was wearing a wig. But I remember reading one of the comments, and someone was like, oh, this movie has everything. It has Mark O'Martin down. It has Eddie's fashion. It has Jesse Tyler Ferguson in a fat suit. And I wasn't wearing a fat suit.
But I kind of loved the idea of like embracing it. Oh, yeah, I really go there for my roles. I love it. I love it. Bye. Did you like to do that? What should we do? How should we do this? I always do the same thing. I just get the Chosen Kallby. Okay. The Prime. There's so much other stuff that comes out like all the punch I've come down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I don't know. What else is there? Is it Chosen Kallby enough for two people to share? Yes. Okay, let's do it.
We could do that, and then do like, Nang Miyeon is good. So what do you think it is? It's like a cold buckwheat noodle. It is the North Korea's special dish. Okay. So that's what you would get if you ever go to North Korea. I haven't been. And then I would say, Japchae? I'm letting you take charge. Okay. I see. Chosen Kallby and Nang Miyeon. Nang Miyeon. Yes. Chosen Kallby, what kind of people do you want? Two people. Yes. Yes. Do you want brown or white? I like white. Yeah, white. Thank you.
Thank you. You play this woman who's grieving from the loss of her dog. I love Yentan wrote and directed this film. Did you know Yentan before? No. No. I didn't either. I had seen some of his other films and I'm a fan of his. So as the robot he asked me to do this. But he wrote this really beautiful, quiet piece about this woman navigating grief and just like how the ripples of that grief affect her friends and her circles and her daughter and her best friend Stan who I play.
And I just thought you handled the quietness of that film in such a beautiful way. And I think for me, you know, I've been a fan of his for a very long time. I told you that when I started working with you, I know you from your early 20s when you were doing that like really like, Ron she's standing comedy. You were doing like all American girl. You were just loud and proud and like talking about, you know, being bisexual and like having different experiences and it was so refreshing.
And then to watch you sort of navigate this character, I had a front row seat to watching you play this woman Emma. And I was just so impressed with your range and thank you. How you Margaret the Margaret I know and have known for so long as a fan just disappeared into that role. And I hope you're really proud of yourself. I am. Well, thank you so much. I'm so glad. I'm so grateful. But yeah, we can we can do a lot of different things.
I think that when you do comedy, it really is possible to do everything because comedy is like humanity. Yeah, so so much about like comedy or like even comedic acting is really about showing your humanity so that it makes other forms of what what you're doing a little easier. So right. That to me made it simpler, but yeah, it was really fun. And I mean, there is certainly comedy in the writing and you know, humor situations.
I mean, I'm going to have very fun memories of this. A scene where my character Stan and your character Emma are lying in bed. And we just start we start singing. It's a really intimate moment in which it's like you've just remembered the song that used to be mine and my partner is song that we used to sing karaoke. And it was a song that me Jesse wasn't personally familiar with.
Yeah, and Tanner director and writer had played me this song before and I you know, made me well up and I was thinking about how this song fits into the story. But I didn't I couldn't I could not memorize the song. It was hard song and you and I ended up taping lyrics to the song onto the ceiling. Yeah, so we could have a cheat sheet. It was so funny and then we couldn't stop singing it like after we finished we kept singing it and we kept laughing about it.
You know, it's remembering this lost love, but also trying to remember the song, you know, it's a very technical aspect. It was really funny. Yeah, yeah, for sure. No, it was a really lovely experience and I can't wait for people to see it. It's going to be great. I think it's going to be great. You and I get to see it at the Tribeca Film Festival next weekend on my tour. I feel like it works my tour. I know. It's just incoming. Yeah, he'll be there. Yeah, you'll see him.
Well, no, no, he's going up from San Francisco to LA. He's doing the AIDS Lifecycle ride. That's an incredible ride. It's an incredible ride. I think it's the seventh year he's done it. It is a good, I mean, to me it's so 90s. It's so gay 90s. Yeah, yeah. Well, there's a day called Red Dress Stating about this where all the guys riding everyone wears red dresses and rides their bike. Look at that that day and their red dresses.
And the other day, an Amazon package arrived with like a tight sequined red dress and a little like blonde ball. I'm like, oh, you're going for it this year. Nice. Nice. So he's going to do like a lady in red. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Fabulous. Fabulous. Yeah. So I'm glad. I'm glad he's having San Francisco in a week to start that speaking of. I mean, I love that you grew up in San Francisco. It's such an interesting time too.
Yeah. At that point in San Francisco, you know, it was the height of the AIDS epidemic. Yeah. Like Harvey Mel could just been assassinated. What was it like to be a kid in San Francisco at that time? Well, it was like this thing where you would see hundreds of men out in the street. And they all had, either their shirts were off or they were dressed as cabboys or policemen. And it was so amazing. Like it was actually walking into like a, a tom of Finland and illustrations.
You know, these guys, young guys with crazy beautiful bodies. Yeah, it comes in there. It's ready. And they were just walking around. And you would look down at an alley. And there would be like blow jobs and, I mean, all manner of sex happening. But as a little girl, it was so normal and so safe. There were no women. There were no girls. So there was no sense of, oh, I'm not a part of this, but I am, it's okay for me to be here because they're happy to see me. They would say, hi. How are you?
You know, like it was a very, I don't know, really incredible time. But then a lot of the men that worked for my dad were early supporters of Harvey Milk. My parents owned a gay bookstore there. So they were like, oh, well, this is just a business that caters to the gay community. They're not gay, but my dad loves male attention because he's really handsome. So he loves when men admire him because he thinks that women don't know what's good. But men know. Like men have good taste.
Just certain taste, yes. He has all these portraits that are like painted of him from all of these admirers, from, you know, 70s, semptisk, all these male admirers who captured his youthful beauty and hate. That's incredible. He hangs in all of us, house, and he loves it. He loves it. That's incredible. It's really incredible. I love, in your comedy, when you're a joke, I love so much, as he said, you always dreamed of being surrounded by beautiful men.
And you just, you guys should have been more specific. So true. So when you say a gay bookstore, I mean, I assume it was like they sold everything from... Like Blue Boy or Hancho Magazine to like the rolling, it was like a revolving rack of gay romance novels. Like, it looked like all of the brothers from Iron Claw, with like tank tops and blue jean cutoffs, like standing by a river in the night. But the bookstore was really just like a different light.
You know, it was a center of the city where people could go and have like book signings from Armistead, Mo Pan, and things like that. Like a big photography and art section with like lots of books by Helmet Newton and things like that. A big John Waters section. How do you say things like that? I mean, it kind of feels like destiny that like you ended up in the career that you ended up in. It just makes so much sense. I feel like you were embraced by that city in such a beautiful way.
And first of all, I mean, I think you just have such an interest in perspective about the gay community. And a lot of it probably comes from just being surrounded by that community at such a young age and having parents who were so progressive. I mean, were your parents first generation with immigrants? They were immigrants, but I think that they just had a lot of acceptance around it.
I think that they experienced so much racism coming to America that any sort of marginalized community was appealing to them. So, you know, we lived in a black neighborhood. We lived in this like gay neighborhood, so there was so much of that that my parents felt really comfortable with. But I think also growing up there made me see gay as the norm and heterosexual was the outlier. Interesting.
Like heterosexuality was the secret part, like don't tell anybody that you're actually sometimes straight. I mean, it's like a magical world that I wish I'd grown up in. Yeah, it was really normal. Every business was like hot and hunky. Hot and hunky was this wonderful hamburger place. That was like in and out, you know, sort of using sexual metaphors or whatever for hamburgers. And so that was like the norm. And we didn't have like it in and out with a John pre-16 logo in their packaging.
Yeah, we had hot and hunky, which would have like big buff guys serving you hamburgers. Yeah. And it was just very normal. Gay was the norm. I love that. Yeah, and you gravitate back towards Empress School a lot. I mean, I'm sure you feel like that's those are your people that's at home. Yeah. I mean, it's changed a lot. But I still love it. But I always gravitate towards those gay mechas, whether that's San Francisco or Cobb and Stown.
I mean, the thing about provinces that they have every week, like for example, you know, there's a week that's like bear week and there's a week that's family week. It's hard for a bear week because all the toilets get clogged. You can't get a table at any restaurant to save your life. I love bear week. I bear week is one of my favorite. Bear week is? Because it's just bear week is the most sexual. That and like carnival. Have you been to Dick Duck? I mean, I've been there in the day.
Yeah. I've never gone at night when it's actually the Dick Duck. I went down to Dick Duck and I was not. How do we explain what the Dick Duck is first? Oh, Dick Duck is. It's part of the appear down where everybody goes to get anonymous sex. And it's all male and they did not appreciate me being there. They were not. I went down there and they were not happy about it. And I think I slipped on some semen. Oh. It's really a slippery. Especially when the air is wet. There's a lot of content.
Sure, sure. I love also talking about this as me being cut and cooked right next to us. But talk to me a little bit about there's two things in your past that I'm fast-sinnied with. You being a phone sex operator when you were 15? Yeah. And also a Dominic tricks. So take me back to that talk. They're similar. They're similar time frame. Uh-huh. I had this one friend. She was a bad. You know how we always get that one friend who's bad.
Yeah. I used to do all sorts of things that you shouldn't do, but you do it because it's cool. So she was that friend. Unfortunately, she died in 2018. Um, but I always think about her because I. She was just the best, you know, she gets you into trouble. So I have to get my own trouble now, but. She was so special and she got us this job as phone sex operators. And then, um, so you would walk by and all the women were in cubicles talking to people and.
You know, they would be slapping their hands to sort of pretend that they were. Thanking them and. Uh-huh. Stefan. And it was very odd to see as a young teenager because I didn't really know what they were doing. Right. So I didn't really know how to do it. And so we got promoted to. Go in the booth and record. Messages for people learning English. And it was called Hot Girls USA. And Jerry would write the copy of like, I am a blonde woman. It was very like simple English.
Yeah. So that people learning English could master bait to it. And, um, so she would write the copy for me. And we would go into the booth and we would read it out loud. So it also helped me learn how to work a sound booth. Uh-huh. Like a Michael. Like, very lifelong skills. So I used today. Yeah. Um, so I was doing that at the same time. Uh, I was working as a raggedy and at F.A.O. Schwartz. Oh my God. So I would still have the makeup like the little red circles on my face. No. Going in.
Um, but yeah, that was like the weirdest array of jobs. What did you get paid to remember? A hundred dollars per, uh, every time we went in. A lot. Yeah. And then the Dominatrix work was, I was just, I was hopeless at. I'm really not good at that. I like really don't care. It could be so good at it. I know why. I could probably be good if it was just paying only, like sensation only. I could probably do that. But I also, it hurts my arm. It's too much.
But I would go to these PDFs and parties where you would have a naked man belly park your car outside and it was so weird. Wait, you would go to these parties and you'd belly your car. Belly, so it would be a naked man outside. So he would, a naked man would get in your car to go park it. Yeah. Okay. But in like a lot and then you would come back in the party and there would be no furniture. But then all these naked men around.
And then if you needed a chair, the two naked men would perform themselves into a chair and you would sit on it. If you wanted a table, another naked man would lay like. It's like a really weird game of improv. Yeah. It was like just weird. Like they would be the furniture. And I'm like, it just smelled like balls. Also like the heady, testicular smell. I couldn't get away from it. And it was just, I didn't feel sexual towards it. I didn't feel, I didn't feel judgmental towards it.
I was just kind of like, I don't know about this. And it's just weird to have a naked man park your car. Food was good. Food was always good at these like BDSM events. One sex party thing. They had the best chili. It was an orthollywood. There was like some delicious like cocoa powder or something in it. I don't know. It was like a cinnamon. Very good. And I've always thought I really, I should go back to that club just to get that chili. Now for a quick break. But don't go away.
When we come back, Margaret tells me about her dating experiences, including having a 50 year old girlfriend as a teenager. Why she thinks getting married was a quote non-events. And her parents insistence that she get on Tinder. Okay, be right back. Don't you just love it when someone looks at you and says, hmm, something's different about you. What were you up to last night?
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So they would make leather sex toys for women like, you know, straps. Like strap-ons and stuff. And this is also where you started doing your comedy, right? Yeah. So I started at 14. So yeah. And your parents had above their store, they had a space. Was it a stage? Was it just like a raw space? It was a bar that had a different entrance, but they had comedy shows at the bar. And they would have these shows where people could buy tomatoes at the entrance and then throw them at the comedians. No.
Which is so horrible. But I never, I never got anything thrown at me. I think it was such a young person. Right. That nothing like that happened. But it's, I mean, it's still a bar, right? Yeah. And like, I mean, I think now if like you saw 15 year old get up and perform a, what I assume was a gay bar. No, no, it wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't. Even though it was like a gay neighborhood. It was still like a sort of like an English pub.
Okay. But yeah, if I saw like a young person, I would be super, I was taken aback when people are really young. Yeah. Doing comedy. Yeah. What was your comedy like then? Do you remember like what your first jokes were? I would open with, because they were doing a lot of Asian driver jokes in 17th to school in the 80s. And so I would have to follow that. And I would just say, I, I, I, I drive very well. And then that would just be it, you know, that was just like the main joke.
I would do a lot of impressions of my mom, which I still do. Uh-huh. Um, big part of my act. Huge part. Um, but yeah, I think like people gave me leeway because I was so young. And that was a novelty. Mm-hmm. Um, but, uh, yeah, I don't think my comedy was that different from what I do now. Right, right, right. How did you navigate those like late teen years when we, when kids do act out and like they do, um, things that piss their parents off?
It seems like you were kind of living in this playground of a city. Yeah. With parents who were very progressive and trusted you a lot. I mean, did you get into a lot of trouble? Yeah. Really? With those things that like were too far for your parents? All of it was really too far, but it was also like, they couldn't control me. So I was sort of beyond any real like, that would just take off. Mm-hmm. And I would like, go live at like, you know, other kids' houses.
Like, I'd like a boy, like a gross, this is gross. I had a boyfriend when I was like, 16. He was like in his late 20s. I had a girlfriend. It was 50. Whoa. When I was like 18. Wow. It's so weird to think about now. I'm like, I could never. As young as I would go is maybe 40, 40, 35. For you. I think. I mean, I've had relationships with people like in their 20s and it's too young. Yeah. Yeah, this woman who was in her mid 50s was dating me and I was like 18.
Wow. And I remember she came to see me do comedy and she brought her friend and her age, same age friend. And I was saying on stage how old I was, I was saying I'm 18. And I saw her friend look at her and hit her. No. Like, it was so funny. But yeah. And I was like, what is, have you, do you remember a point where you're like, I think I'm bisexual or is it just something that you always? When I was younger, I like really felt like I just going to be with women.
I ended up getting into these relationships with guys and it just, I liked the sex. But I didn't really like hanging out with them that much. So, I think it was confusing. Every relationship with how the man has been horrible. But I like the sex. So, I keep going back to it. But with women they've been better. But I like sex with men a lot. Yeah. I just don't like them. Is that bad? That's bad. I mean, if I could just have sex with men and not have them in my life.
Do you find that if you have X's, do you remain friends with the females who dated rather than the men? The friendships usually stand in general. But like, just the act of being in a relationship, so being next to a person day in and day out, I find really challenging. Yeah. Yeah, I know you're single now, right? Yeah. I'll be dating, or you? No. And I keep thinking, oh, I should. And then I'm not enthusiastic about it. What made you, because I know you've always been open sexually.
And I know when you and your husband were together, you had an open marriage. What made you want to get married? What made you want to take that lead? I just thought, oh, I want to have a dress and a thing. I want to have the wedding. It's so stupid now to think about it, because it was such a mess. We had it at our house, and it was so hard to clean up after. It's just a mess to have a wedding at your house. Yeah. And I was like, oh, I would like, this must mean something. People do it.
It must mean something. So I wanted that. And then when we had it, it was like such a non-event. It was so non- it wasn't pleasant for anybody. Were your parents there? Yeah. They brought, this is so annoying. They brought a chicken and a rooster. Live. Because that's part of the Korean ceremony. You have a chicken and a rooster, and then you have them next to each other. And then, because we had dogs, they left them in my backyard. They said, oh, the dog can play with that.
No, that's not how it works. So we had to find them in the yard, and then put them in a box and take them to animal control. Oh, my God. It was really a hassle. But my parents are so inconsiderate that way. They just left a chicken and a rooster. Or they're like, oh, you can't cheer it. It's so delicious. What? Oh, my God. Nah, it's just so. Incredible. I mean, that's really beyond. Why would they, why would it, what's not appropriate for a guest to bring livestock? No, I don't think so.
Not good. I mean, what do they think about like your sort of carefree way of being in relationships? My parents are okay with whatever except what I'm doing now. They hate that I'm single. That's really upsetting. So my mom keeps trying to get me to download Tinder. Uh-huh. Because if you do Timber, you can find Timber. And then they'll like want me to go to Korea and get a matchmaker service. Oh, wow. No. No. Why would I do that? Why would I do that? But it's like very distressing. Thank you.
That I would even like think about being alone. That to them is really hard. Right, right, right, right, right. Wait, what's in here? These are the noodles. This is beautiful. The glassy glass, buckwheat noodles, and a pair, a slice of pear, and like brisket, a stirrer. A slice of pear? Yeah, the pear is cold, so it's icy. I've never had this. It's very good. Cold brisket. I've never had cold brisket. What an adventure for me. It's delicious. It is good.
One of the ways I discovered you, I think a lot of people discovered you this way, was when you did your comedy special, I'm the one that I want. Oh, yeah. In 2000, I think, right? It's a while ago. Gosh, almost 25 years ago. Yeah. Wow. But that's sort of the first thing I saw. And then I remembered seeing all American girls. Yeah. But I was really drawn to the story that you told on the one that I want about how tricky that time was for you.
And it's really, it was really interesting, obviously, hearing you reclaim that narrative and like, through your own story and like, in your own comedy and telling it in a very funny way. But also a way that was very shocking. Yeah. You listened to that comedy special. You hear people in the audience gas. Yeah. And this is at a time when I think those things were not unheard of. Right. There's a different era in Hollywood altogether. And the 90s is way more conservative than we realize.
Like, we look back on it now and we think, oh, it's like, grunge. All that stuff. But in truth, like, there was so many rigid views about queerness. So many rigid views about race. And so it was a very difficult time to like even be a woman and be a woman of color and be queer. So you couldn't really fit in anywhere. It was really difficult. And I think doing a show where I could sort of metabolize all of the isms was really helpful for me.
And it helped me like realize, oh, well, I don't have to actually rely on a network or a studio. I can actually just do comedy and do what I do and enjoy that. And so it helped me have more longevity, I think, as an artist to keep on rediscovering. So I'm glad for the experience, but it's weird to look back on and see how conservative it all was. Right, right. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Margaret tells me about her quote, girl interrupted days in rehab.
And the joys and pitfalls of being one of the first queer Asian women with prominence in Hollywood. Okay, be right back. Are you hydrated? Are you drinking enough water drinks some more water drinks some more water? You're looking hot. You're looking dehydrated. These are the things I would hear my mother say to me when I was a kid. And these are the things I am saying to my children now as a parent.
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And when you started in this industry, you talk a lot about being drunk or doing drugs and that was part of your comedy. I mean, it's kind of an interesting time capsule to be able to have that to look back on. Yeah. Yeah. It's weird. It's weird, but it's also like that's like a young person who just didn't know. I didn't know what I was doing and I was just happy. Like I think the more that my addictions progressed, I wasn't talking about it.
Because then it was just about hiding anything to do with that. So when you're talking about how fun it is to be drunk and doing drugs, that's different from like just never saying anything and just getting wasted in your hotel room. You know, like it was like a really different way to think about addiction, but yeah, like I think I have such a different relationship to any of that now. Right. But I listen to it. It's like a totally different person doing that kind of comedy.
Yeah, I mean, I listen to some of your, what was the, was it drunk with power? Yeah, I go with power. Yeah, yeah. It's a funny one. It's a good question. But like you're talking about things that I'm like, they're so far away from you now. Yeah, so different. So different. So I wouldn't do any of those things. And I also have my, my voice is much higher pitched. Yeah, I did notice that. Yeah. I'm so like a little muppet baby version of myself. We all were.
We're so, we're so young. It's so weird. Yeah. Yeah. You've also been very honest about like, we lapsing and having it be an ongoing struggle, which I think is so important. Yeah. So like, you're sort of candidness about being sober. I mean, what made you want to talk about it? Well, I think it's important to talk about, which is a big part of my life. Like now recovery is such a huge part of my life. And it's a big part of the way that I approach life.
So I think talking about is really therapeutic. But it's also just a funny aspect of humanity. It's a funny thing that we get hung up on these addictions. You know, and rely on these substances to get by, but they often make our lives a million times worse. Right. So I, I just think it's a problem, but also a problem that currently is solved. But I could always go back. So I keep talking about it in order so that I'm reminded of how bad things could get. Right.
I know you, you spoke about having an intervention. I think I had a birthday party. Yeah. No, they said it. This is so evil. My friend said it was a birthday party that I could not miss. And then it was actually an intervention. Like, you know, like they forced me to go to a birthday party that was not happening. It was just my intervention. And then I went to treatment, which I love rehab. I'm like a big fan of institutionalization. I really think that's really where I belong.
Like I'm very girl interrupted. I love when no, no, or Angelina. I'm very Angelina, like I'm the bad girl in rehab. Like I love a hospital gown. You know, like a Terry cloth, a juicy, um, tracksuit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very me and eggs, like flipping around with my hair and a scrunchy, um, and makeup all over my face. Like I love it. I think rehab is just good because people are like making you food. You just get to go and like sit with other people and talk about your feelings.
You can make, um, crafts. How long did that last for you? I was in my facility for a year and nine months. Wow. People usually just stay for 30 days. But I moved in. Yeah, I loved it. I was in there with like really kind of amazing people. Like 20 people died from my facility. So it was really like the people who were like amazing, but they just died. Because they just wanted to try it one more time. And then people get fentanyl and then just die. Wow. Yeah. So it was really crazy.
Oh, it's crazy to be around such people who are in such a, you know, a razor edge with that. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And then being in recovery is really open my mind up to so many things. You know, my heavy meditator. I have like what kind of meditation do you do? It's I guess it's I could be like TM, but I don't know what I've been doing. Yeah, TM is really good. Like just it's what you do is you split it to twice a day, 20 minutes each time.
Right. But I usually do one chunk of 40 in the morning. And then I do it with other people. Like I have a meditation group. Yeah, I think you told me about that one. Yeah. So I'll just go to like my teacher's house and we'll just sit there. Right. And meditate, which is really improved my life greatly. Because it's a daily thing. Yeah. I need to get back into it. I have definitely on myself still put that, but I used to do it, you know, pretty religiously. Yeah. It's good for you.
I can see the difference when I'm not doing it. It's good for you. I did want to talk about in one of your recent comedy specials. You open up talking about fresh off the boat. Mm-hmm. And I think you're sort of around to help out with that show. Yeah. Yeah. Which, you know, obviously, is must have been a very gratifying thing to do. Right. It's so great. It's so interesting because I think you were talking about how like white people were nervous about the title of fresh off the boat.
Yeah. And I remember being with modern family because it was also on ABC. And we were at the ABC up front. And it was the same with that blackish and fresh off the boat we're premiering. Yeah. And I remember thinking like, oh god, these are like big swings for a variety of shows. Yeah. And there had been a show on since all American girls. No. That was about a Korean American family. Or had an Asian cast. Or had an Asian cast, right? At all. Right.
I mean, the fact that it took 20 years, you know, was really shocking, but also not. You know, but we have a lot more Asian American faces on TV and movies now. It's very gratifying. But it's incredible. Yeah. It's absolutely incredible. And I think there is something also about the story you were telling with all American girl is so important. And like, you sort of, you were so young at that time. Yeah. There's something of perspective and like having some space away from it.
And also with kind of Hollywood changing a bit. Like, was there, did it even an opportunity for you to like revisit that story? Oh, I would love to. I mean, I think my dream now is to go back and do like a multi-cam sitcom. And I have a piece of family based. And, you know, to me, that would be really exciting. Because I also love the art form of the multi-cam sitcom. Yeah. Like, I love those old shows. Like, if I'm a school, an audience. Yeah. It's to me very alive.
It's a format that is not used often nowadays, but it's so fresh and so fun. So hopefully, I'll be able to get to do that again. Yeah. That's my dream. I mean, it's such a great marriage of like being on stage and, you know. It's made for stand-up comics. Yeah, absolutely. You know, it really is. And it's just so, I don't know. Like, to me, it just feels, that's what what show business is. Yeah. You know, so yeah, that would love to get back to that. Yeah. Kudos to you, first of all.
Like, I mean, you should definitely take your flowers for that. Yeah. I think you've done a really remarkable job of paving the way for a lot of incredible Asian actors and actresses. Yeah. And who's exciting you now? I love Sabrina Wu. They are incredible. They're just genius, you know. Dylan Adler, Sam O. These wonderful queer Asian American comics who are just so funny, so alive. I love Otsuko Otsuko. Yes. She's a really good friend of mine and also my kid, you know, she's in our movie.
Of course, Joel Kimbooster. Yeah. You know, he's like my, my eldest son, my pride and joy. Alley Wong, who's my most successful daughter. Well, that's all you have. I just really admire her. And so there's so many people doing great stuff. You're one of those comedians who, I just feel it's like so iconic. When I list, like the people that are working now that are just like, top of their game, have always been incredible and have like rich history in that world of stand-up comedy.
Like you're on the top of the list. Thank you. Does that make you feel like, I mean, for me, I'm getting to that point where I meet people like, oh, I grew up watching my modern family and I have to be proud of that. I can't believe it. You have to be. You have to be. No, it's great. Because it doesn't. It makes me very happy. It's really exciting.
Yeah. It's really exciting and it's really important because you're like one of the first people to bring gay family into the truth of like television, into like the true, like coming to people's homes. Right. Like that's so such an achievement. Right, right. And that's something to be very proud of. So yeah, we can't allow all of the baggage that we have about time passing to affect that achievement, which is really profound.
Yeah. I have a lot of friends and maybe even some family members who like really dread their birthdays and like makes such a big deal about how they hate getting older. I'm like, we can't do anything about it. We can't. We have to celebrate it that we're here still to tell the tale. Like I probably could have died earlier, but I just decided to stick it out. But yeah, like I should be around. I'm estimating another 50 years maybe. I'm so old.
I want to get a really young husband when I'm like in my 80s, like a young twink. Okay. Like he probably hasn't been born yet. Who will like, you know, wheel me around when I get that, you know, the Kennedy Medal of Honor. Yeah, the Medal of Freedom. The Medal of Freedom. Yeah. And when I have my Mark Twain Award. Yes, yeah. Like some twink that will like, and we just got married. Like it'll be like a relationship. Does that her son? Is that her grandson? No, it's her husband. What?
I didn't love that. Please answer that question. When anyone asks, like, do you hope to like find love again one day? Like, well, he's not popping out even born yet. Yeah, he's popping out. I'm just waiting for him to be born. God. Well, I'm thrilled you did this. Thank you for having this with me and ordering for both of us. This is good. This is good. I love you. I'm going to watch our film with you. We're going to have fun.
Truly. Oh, Margaret. Yay. Yay. Yay. Next week on Dinner's On Me, you might know her from, well, being my daughter. From modern family, it's Aubrey Anderson Emmons, who played my daughter Lillie on the show. We'll talk about our fondest memories, what it was like growing up on set, and what life has been like since. You're going to love this one. And if you don't want to wait until next week to listen, you can download that episode right now by subscribing to Dinner's On Me Plus.
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