By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Margaret Cho is coming back to Atlanta this weekend- this time for charity on behalf of her beloved late comic friend Robin Williams and the homeless. (She was here briefly in October for a show at the Tabernacle.)
Cho - who lived part-time in Atlanta for six years while shooting Lifetime's "Drop Dead Diva" from 2009 to 2014 - will be at Little Five Points square Sunday collecting clothing and medicine for the homeless from noon to 5 p.m.. (Another #BeRobin style fundraiser for local homeless shelters will be held on Saturday, Feb. 27 at Laughing Skull Lounge, which was a regular haunt of hers, but she won't be able to make it. Nonetheless, you can buy tickets here.)
"I did homeless outreach after Robin Williams died," said Cho in a recent interview. "It's a charity theme where people bring whatever they can for the homeless. And we've invited the homeless to come." She plans to emcee the Sunday proceedings, which will run from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m..
She has also donated several hundred #BeRobin t-shirts.
There's also a Saturday event, featuring yoga at Tough Love Yoga in the morning followed by the Little Five Points gathering from noon to 5 p.m.. That was Cho's yoga studio when she lived here. Lululemon athletica retail stores are collecting donations as well. Cho is at the Vancouver JFL Northwest Comedy Festival for part of this weekend, which is why she can't make Saturday's event.
Garrett Cockayne, one of the organizers of the Atlanta event who has lived here for 10 years, was inspired by Cho's work in San Francisco for the homeless. "Who's to say we can't bring this concept to a city we both adopted as our second home?" he said.
At the event, he said the concept will be: "If you have give, if you need take."
Cho on Sunday will also meet with LGBT kids at a youth center, Cockayne said.
After William's death, Cho busked around San Francisco raising money in a fairly gonzo fashion, she said. "We'd have these crazy shows with nudity and stuff," she said. "We almost got arrested every time. This will be more laid back.
Williams was a big supporter of helping the downtrodden and homeless. His Comic Relief concerts were epic. She wanted to honor his legacy. "It took off," she said. "I needed it, too. I was so upset Robin killed himself." The line was "Don't grieve Robin. Be Robin."
"I was getting divorced at the time," she added. "It was really weird. I didn't have a sense of home anymore. I felt very rootless. This helped me get grounded."
Cho is everywhere on TV. Showtime recently aired a comedy special. She's a regular on E!'s "Fashion Police." Last Friday, she called George W. Bush a "war criminal" during Bill Maher's 'Real Time" show on HBO. Last year, she appeared on "Celebrity Wife Swap" on ABC.And she recently showed up on "Hollywood Medium With Tyler Henry," who channeled Williams for Cho in an episode which aired Sunday.
She's also developing a show on Amazon about the pot business. "There are a lot of Korean doctors prescribing marijuana to patients, a lot of Korean dispensaries in Koreatown in Los Angeles," she said. "It was shocking to me this is happening. I'd like to turn it into a dramedy."
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