Comedy review: Margaret Cho, Queen's Hall, Edinburgh

Margaret Cho PIC: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

In the age of Trump overload, where every two-bit gagster is ready with their witticisms, coming up with a fresh comedy angle on the orange man in the White House is increasingly tough. Given Margaret Cho's track record of picking apart current mores on sex, sexuality and gender, it was almost inevitable that her material on The Donald would zero in on carnal matters. And as with most of Cho's routines in her new touring show, Fresh Off The Bloat, the US-Korean comedian, actor, singer, sitcom star and fashion designer absolutely nails it.

Margaret Cho, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh ****

Not that her take on Trump’s possible behaviour in the bedroom, or indeed anything else she tackles across an hour-plus set, can be laid out in any detail within a family newspaper. ‘Brutal’ and ‘honesty’ have rarely been a better fit than they are here as Cho blazes through a storm of issues such as the domino effect caused by the Harvey Weinstein revelations, the ‘whitewashing’ of Asian characters in film and TV, and assessing her own bisexual place in the wide rainbow of sexual identity.

If a theme rises out of this wonderfully barbed show, it’s survival. Her own experiences of depression, addiction and abuse as a child provide her with a fairly unique perspective on what it takes to simply get through life in one piece. While Cho may have emerged from rehab in a stronger place, she’s not so sure that America or the world will escape another three whole years of a Trump administration unscathed.