Drop Dead Diva won't stay dead. A surprise fifth season began this summer after the show was supposedly cancelled on the Lifetime network.
The series, which Josh Berman produces, revolves around Deb, whose car crashes on her way to audition for The Price is Right. She is then put into the body of a deceased lawyer named Jane Bingum. Margaret Cho plays Teri Lee, Bingum's sassy assistant.
Cho started in the world of stand-up comedy then moved into the world of television. She has had several books, released the album Cho Dependent and appeared on Dancing with the Stars.
Windy City Times talked with Cho and Berman during the current season of Drop Dead Diva about a gay sports storyline.
Windy City Times: Hi, Josh and Margaret. What made you tackle gay sports for this recent episode on Drop Dead Diva?
Josh Berman: Well, I think the gays in sports is certainly a hot topic right now. We developed this episode before it became such a prominent issue and getting such coverage in the news.
So I'm thrilled that we are hitting this zeitgeist shed again with gay and lesbian issues. I do think that sports is one of the last frontiers where men and women feel they unfortunately need to be closeted. So it was important for me to address that issue.
WCT: You were all over the episode, Margaret.
Margaret Cho: Well, Teri is always doing anything and everything. She's kind of like a cross between Miss Moneypenny and Alfred from Batman, and she's kind of like the enabler for everything.
What I really love about this episode is that it really talks about an issue that's very timely, which is athletes being able to come out of the closet.
I must note that there is a lot of sexism when it comes to this kind of stuff because Martina Navratilova came out as a lesbian over 25 years ago. She came out when Reagan was in office.
I really want to make sure that her contribution to sports, to the LGBT presence in sports is really noted.
I'm really, really proud of this episode because it goes into the story about how we look at men in sports and we have to sort of have an idea of who they are and what they're supposed to be.
I think sports in general is quite a homo erotic art form into itself. So it's surprising that there's not more out actually. Josh had been working on it before we even heard from [now-out NBA player] Jason Collins.
So this is a major thing I thing I think he's psychic when it comes to these stories.
WCT: Josh, you have also slipped in some marriage-equality references in a few episodes.
Margaret Cho: Well to me the show is about an underdog and it's a show about a woman who feels isolated for the first time in her life. I mean when Jane was Deb everyone loved her and she didn't give two thoughts about it.
Now that she is different than the norm people look at her differently and her journey, her trajectory, in the story is one of self acceptance. So I think it's still parallels what gay, lesbian and bisexual youth go through in their life and in their coming out process.
Although we don't necessarily consciously say we are going to explore gay and lesbian themes in every episode there's a natural parallel to do that. I will say that throughout the season those are themes that are explored.
We have a couple of very poignant themes later on in the season where although it's not explicitly about a gay person there's no doubt that anyone who is gay will relate to those scenes.
WCT: When is Teri getting her own spinoff series?
Margaret Cho: Gosh, I don't know but I am ready to go anytime.
Josh Berman: And I am ready to write that.
Margaret Cho: We would have so much fun, Josh and I have been having such a great time for the last six years but I would love to do another series on my own.
Terri is a great charactershe's a private eye, she's sort of everybody's best friend and I think it would be awesome.
Josh Berman: That would be the most fun I could ever have writing if I could write the Teri show about the Diva.
Margaret Cho: Yes, let's do it.
Josh Berman: I don't think I ever shared this story I wrote the part of Teri with my fantasy actress Margaret Cho in mind. It's kind of the pie in the sky when you sit down and you're looking at a blank paper and you're like well who could I get for this role?
So I really, really wanted Margaret for this part and obviously I had never met her before. I kept hearing that she was considering it.
Coincidentally I had gone to a concert and Margaret happened to be there. I'm not usually an aggressive kind of guy this way but I literally followed her out to her car.
I said, "My names Josh Berman and I wrote this script." I'm sure she thought I was crazy but because she's Margaret she's so nice to everyone, and was super-polite.
She didn't know anything about the script but said she will ask her agents. The next day she got the script from her agents and it was probably sitting in the piles of material that she gets sent.
She responded to it so if I get to write the Margaret show one day I would be thrilled it would all come full circle.
WCT: What a great story.
Margaret Cho: I really fell in love with the storyline, I really fell in love with this idea about this character who is used to living the life of the mind and suddenly she's living the life of her body and then also sort of vice versa.
Women are always trying to decide whether to be beautiful or smart and here's somebody that can have everything and I love that idea and I love the premise of the show.We've had a wonderful time on it together, working together so we want to make more.
WCT: Being openly bisexual, would you like to play that type of character?
Margaret Cho: Absolutely! I mean I would love to play a queer character. I would love to use my life and my work there's so very few cinematic or ideas of what bisexuality is and I mean for sure I'm definitely bound to be out in any way that I can be.
Unfortunately, there hasn't been a lot of visibility for bisexual people in movies the only one that I could say would be that I know of would be like Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct.
I would be proud to play queer in anything. I would be proud to be able to represent who I really am in my work. I do that in my stand up comedy and I talk about being out. It's very important for people to acknowledge and be proud of themselves and so I'd be really grateful to do anything like that.
WCT: Did the Drop Dead Diva episode have similarities to your own coming-out story?
Margaret Cho: Well, my coming-out story was really more different. I came out really young. When I was younger I just assumed that I was a lesbian.
Later on in my twenties I realized that I had a lot of feelings for men. It's really scary because you have an identity in the queer community and then it's very hard to find out I'm actually more than I thought I was.
I think that in the gay community there is a lot of suspicion about you if you are bisexual because they think you're just going back in the closet or you're just you're confused or something.
For bisexuals there's a lot of distrust because we do operate in both arenas. I think that's hard for people to grasp and I think it's certainly easier for men than it is for women.
My own coming-out story is really kind of a reverse coming out because I came out as gay first and then I realized I'm bi so it's something that I'm still discovering. I think it's something that's probably fairly unusual.
WCT: You referred to yourself as the prime minister of the gays?
Margaret Cho: What I was referring to in as the prime minister to gays is that people ask me because, Kathy Griffin is my really good friend and we enjoy a healthy rivalry in comedy. She's also been in Drop Dead Diva and she's a wonderful person and a great inspiration for me.
But people always put us against each other because they can't imagine that we can actually be good friends and they always ask who is the queen of the gays is it Kathy Griffin or is it you?
I think Kathy Griffin is the queen of the gays so I'm the prime minister of the gays. I actually get things done, not a false monarchy, I'm like the real deal.
So I make the laws, I make the policy, I go to the UN, but Kathy is all of the pomp and circumstance in the show biz so we have different purposes in our sort of a trajectory in show business.
On LGBT representation she is really, really important to the gay community as she is to me.
Josh Berman: I just want to say something about Margaret. She's one of the greatest comedic voices of our generation. When she meets someone for the first time she is genuine. She's such a good listener that maybe as a prime minister versus a queen you have to listen the people more. I think it's a great analogy.
WCT: It was nice to see Sandra Bernhard on an episode.
Margaret Cho: Isn't she great? I love her.
Josh Berman: Big shout out to Sandra for this episode and we hope to bring her back. Margaret's the one that brought her onto the show and we just absolutely love her and it couldn't be a more appropriate episode for her.
WCT: Josh, would you ever bring a gay character to the cast of Drop Dead Diva?
Josh Berman: Way back in the development stage there was actually an early draft of the script but where Stacy was a gay and that ended up changing for creative reason. I would love to bring a gay character on at some point.
WCT: Sounds good. See you in Chicago this fall, Margaret!
Look for Cho in town on Oct. 19 at The Chicago Theatre. Keep up with her at www.margaretcho.com and watch episodes of Drop Dead Diva at www.mylifetime.com .