Margaret Cho says Pamela Des Barres’ memoir helped shape her life

Comedian Margaret Cho revisits Pamela Des Barres’ memoir I’m With the Band on the podcast Books That Changed My Life, calling rock and roll a religion and crediting the book with shaping her outlook. The episode also touches on Cho’s comedy, spirituality and upcoming projects.

Why it matters: - Margaret Cho frames Pamela Des Barres’ memoir as more than a celebrity tell-all. Cho treats I’m With the Band as a cultural snapshot and a guide to living with intensity, which gives the book new relevance for modern readers. - The episode also connects music fandom, comedy and spirituality. Cho uses the conversation to link rock culture to personal identity and ritual.

What happened: - Cho appeared on a recent episode of Books That Changed My Life with host Chris "Bulldog" Collins. - Cho discussed Pamela Des Barres’ memoir I’m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie. - Cho first read the book as a teenager while working in her parents’ San Francisco bookstore. - Cho says the memoir taught her that "longing and bubbling over with life is a lifestyle." - Cho and Des Barres have been friends for years, and Des Barres once worked as Cho’s editor.

The details: - Cho says the book has been undervalued because readers focused on the famous names in it, including Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon and Marlon Brando. - Cho says she reads the memoir as a historical record of the 1960s and as the story of a young woman "so in love with life." - Cho grew up at Paperback Traffic, the gay bookstore her Korean immigrant parents opened on Polk Street in 1978. - Cho says I’m With the Band was probably the first adult book she read. - The book helped shape the fantasy that later drew Cho to music backstages, including Fishbone at 17 and later Chris Isaak, whom she briefly dated after a show. - Cho interpreted Des Barres’ diary entries, including rituals around Paul McCartney and her shifting feelings about Chris Hillman, as an early form of what people now call manifesting. - Cho begins each morning by writing a joke and then sits for an hour of silent meditation. - Cho said she admires the Muslim call to prayer because "five times a day you've got to stop and talk to God." - Cho described the rock concert as a place of transcendence. - The episode also included discussion of differences between comedy and music audiences, a backstage story from GWAR’s Bonnaroo set involving Altoids and silicone costumes, and the moment Des Barres told Elvis Presley no. - Cho joked about the rules and regulations of her hypothetical cult movement, the "CHOsen."

Between the lines: - Cho’s reaction shows how a book once marketed around fame can become a private philosophy. The memoir matters to her not for the star sightings, but for the emotional permission it gave her. - The conversation also positions Cho’s comedy as part of a broader search for ritual and meaning. Her comments suggest she sees performance, meditation and music as connected forms of devotion.

What's next: - Cho said she will tape her current stand-up tour, Choligarchy, as a special in Palm Springs on November 7. - Cho is also set to appear in Gregg Araki’s forthcoming film I Want Your Sex, opposite Cooper Hoffman and Olivia Wilde. - The full conversation is available here.

The bottom line: - For Cho, I’m With the Band is not just a memoir. It is a blueprint for treating rock and roll as a way of life.