Queer funny woman Margaret Cho recently joined Chef Josh Scherer to discuss life, death, and the interconnectedness with her last meal for the YouTube show, Mythical Kitchen's Last Meals.
Cho chose smoked salmon pasta with Vanilla Coke Zero, truffle fries, a saag paneer burrito, and the Korean specialty dolsot bibimbap with a root beer float with a shortbread cookie finisher as her final meal.
The program is the brainchild of the people responsible for Good Mythical Morning with Rhett & Link.
Cho quipped that she'd never thought about her last meal but that the idea of discovering what somebody ate on their last day on the planet was intriguing.
"I am fascinated whenever anybody's autopsied, and they go through their stomach contents," Cho said. "And I'm like, hmm, okay, so you had that. Alright. And then whether it's fully digested, whether it's partially digested if there's like water in there if they drowned."
Cho said she'd like to be called a true omnivore when her autopsy reveals that she ate many different things on her last day.
"I just turned 54, so I'm closer to that than being born," she said. "Although my family tends to really live a long time."
For the first course, Scherer put out smoked salmon pasta consisting of spaghetti in a cream vodka reduction with smoked salmon, some lemon zest and fennel fronts, and fresh cracked black pepper garnishes.
With that, he served shoestring potato fries drizzled in truffle oil and topped with shaved black truffles.
From there, the chef moved through Cho's other favorite food items and showed mouthwatering food.
Cho spoke about the sadness with which comedians often live. She talked about her mentor, Robin Williams, and the sadness that funny people who act like clowns often harbor within themselves.
Addressing what it's like to be a young person in today's society, Cho said her message to them is to get through the challenges of being young because, on the other side, life is good.
"For young people, there's so many problems in sad situations where you have young queer people commit suicide, and I want to impress upon them: you got to live!" she said.
"Because you see all the people who bullied you, they will get so unhappy," she added.
"It's really fun," she said. "[Y]ou see people who bullied you, who seemed to have so much power, and then they grow old, and then they're in the VIP line at your shows for a meet and greet, and you're like, 'oh.' And then you have to be cordial and [say] 'great to see you,' and you're just boiling with the joy of how fair life really is," she said.
"So that's why I want to present to kids. I was a bullied child. [A] bullied queer child. But the best thing is to get older. The best thing is to live. And not only in the way that it gets better, you don't know how good it gets. You'll see."
If you are having thoughts of suicide or are concerned that someone you know may be, resources are available to help. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 is for people of all ages and identities.
Trans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations.
The Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at TheTrevorProject.org/Help or text START to 678678.
Watch Reminiscing About Robin Williams While Eating Truffle Fries With Margaret Cho below.
www.youtube.com