• After network executives criticized her appearance and the roundness of her face, Cho starved herself for several weeks; her rapid weight loss, done to modify her appearance by the time the pilot episode was filmed, caused serious kidney failure.
• The show suffered criticism from within the U.S. East Asian community over its perception of stereotyping. Producers told Cho at different times during production that she was “too Asian” and, that she was “not Asian enough”. At one point during the course of the show, producers hired a coach to teach Cho how to “be more Asian”.
• Much of the humor was broad, and at times, stereotypical portrayals of her close Korean relatives and homosexual book-shop customers.

The show was quickly canceled after suffering from poor ratings, and the effect of major content changes over the course of its single season.

Following the show’s 1995 cancellation, Cho became addicted to drugs including alcohol. As detailed in her 2002 autobiography, I’m the One That I Want, in 1995, her substance abuse also degraded a performance in Monroe, Louisiana, that she was booed off the stage by 800 college students.

Cho’s career and personal life were challenged after the cancellation of the show, but Cho eventually sobered, refocused her energy and developed new material. In 1999, she wrote about her struggles with the show in her first one-woman show, I’m the One That I Want. Cho then released her book of the same name, and the show was filmed and released as a concert film in 2000. Her material dealt with her difficulties breaking into show business due to her ethnicity and weight, and her resulting struggle with and triumph over body image issues and drug and alcohol addiction.

Cho appeared in an episode of the HBO comedy Sex and the City’s fourth season. The episode titled, “The Real Me,” first aired on June 3, 2001, and also guest-starred supermodel Heidi Klum.

In 2002, the show Notorious CHO (the title derived from slain rapper The Notorious B.I.G.) dealt with her having been raised in 1970s San Francisco and her own bisexuality.
In 2003, she made another stand-up film, Revolution, released in 2004.

In late 2004, Cho began work on her first self-written and starring film role. The movie is called, Bam Bam and Celeste, and is a low-budget comedy about a “fag hag” and her gay best friend. The film co-stars Cho’s friend and co-touring act Bruce Daniels. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, in 2005. On Valentine’s Day of 2004 she spoke at the Marriage Equality Rally at the California State Capitol. Her speech can be seen in the documentary Freedom to Marry

In 2005, Cho started promoting and touring with her new show, Assassin. The show became her fourth live concert film, and premiered on the gay and lesbian premium cable network Here! TV, in September 2005. In this DVD, she notably includes herself when talking about gays, saying, “we,” and, “our community.” Posters for Assassin feature Cho in paratrooper gear holding a microphone in the style of an automatic rifle, a reference to the infamous 1974 photo of heiress Patty Hearst.

Also in 2005, Cho released her second book, I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight, a compilation of essays and prose about global politics, human rights and other topical issues. Cho launched a national book tour in support of the collection. An audio reading of the book was also released. A DVD of a live taping of the Assassin tour was released in conjunction with the book.

Cho launched “The Sensuous Woman” burlesque-style variety show tour in Los Angeles, California on August 10, 2007 with tour dates scheduled through November 3, as of October 10. Past and scheduled tour stops after Los Angeles are Chicago, Illinois and New York, New York. On August 10, 2007 the San Francisco Chronicle reviewed the show, Cho’s work, key events in her personal life and characterized the show as, “In fact, as bawdy and bad-behaving as the cast gets, the whole show feels more like a crazy family reunion than a performance.”

The premiere performance of Cho’s “Beautiful” tour was on February 28, 2008 in Sydney, Australia as part of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival. Cho was also the Chief of Parade for the festival’s annual parade along Oxford Street on March 1. During her stay in Sydney, Cho was filmed shopping for parade outfits in a drag store with Kathy Griffin and Cyndi Lauper for Griffin’s reality series Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. The episode featuring Cho aired on June 26, 2008.

After same-sex marriage became legal in California in May 2008, Cho was deputized by the City of San Francisco to perform marriages there.

Cho has her own reality show The Cho Show, which premiered on VH1 on August 21, 2008. Cho and her family and friends will also appear in an episode of NBC’s new series Celebrity Family Feud which premiered on June 24, 2008.

In September 2008, Cho released her first single “I Cho Am A Woman” on iTunes. The song, produced by Desmond Child, will be on her debut album due out in 2009.