Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Margaret Cho's Dance Card Is Full, Including More 'Diva' Time/'Celebrity Ghost Stories' Spawns Stars' Brushes with Death Show

Fans of Margaret Cho will like this. The "Drop Dead Diva" co-star tells us, "I'm in this season much more than in the last two. It's been a lot more work for me."

The ever-provocative comedian is happy about that and says the extra load hasn't been any burden.

"I'd been touring for months beforehand so it was great to stay in one place for a while."

Now, with just a handful of episodes left to shoot in Season 3 — which premieres June 19 — she says she's been flying back and forth between L.A. and Georgia, where the series shoots.

"I'm kind of getting out there and getting ready for the next leg of my tour."

Her character, legal assistant Teri Lee, has "a couple of love interests this season," Cho informs. One of them is a former boyfriend of her boss, Jane Bingum (Brooke Elliott) — the plus-sized attorney into whose body plopped the spirit of a self-centered model at the outset of the quirky hit Lifetime series.

Also coming up is a dance-centric episode in which Cho got to reunite with her "Dancing With the Stars" professional partner, Louis Van Amstel.

"I really love him," she says. "We got very close very quickly, which is what happens on 'Dancing With the Stars.' It was really fun. I'm such a fan of his."

As far as having to brush up on her ballroom dance moves?

"Oh, yes. I forgot everything. No — you don't really forget. That kind of intensity stays with you," she says.

Her dance card outside the series is definitely full as well. She has commitments all summer, and her tour takes her to the U.K. this fall. She also has her "Cho Dependent" concert film that she recently unveiled at the Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival.

"That's going to be on Showtime, then on DVD. I'm excited because it's a great show. I do a lot of set comedy; I do a lot of music in there. It was received really well in Hawaii."

And on the TV side, Cho, who recently did an outrageous turn as North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il on "30 Rock," says, "I hope to do more of that. That was so cool. It was Tina Fey's idea. It's really exciting to do a show you're a fan of."

DEATH CHEATERS: Morgan Fairchild held at gunpoint. Ice-T in an extreme car accident. Ed Begley Jr. attacked by a gang of teenagers and nearly fatally knifed. Cheryl Tiegs, in a plane in Africa when the pilot has a seizure just as he's starting a takeoff.

"Once we heard these stories, they just couldn't be ignored," declares producer Seth Jarrett. Thus, his latest TV offering, the Biography Channel's June 18-debuting "Celebrity Close Calls," was hatched. Other names talking about their brushes with death include Jewel, Peter Fonda, Pam Grier, Tiffany, Brooke Burns, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bobby Brown, Elisabeth Rohm, Gary Busey and Louis Gossett Jr.

Jarrett and his wife, Julie Insogna Jarrett, already bring us the cult favorite "Celebrity Ghost Stories," in which a small army of celebrities has already appeared to share their own personal tales of supernatural encounters.

The third season of "Celebrity Ghost Stories" premieres June 18 on Bio as well.

"Because of the subject matter in 'Celebrity Ghost Stories,' every once in a while, one of those stories naturally led to story of a near-death experience, either something said on camera or in passing," Jarrett explains.

One has to wonder how Jarrett gets all these people, considering Bio isn't likely to be forking over a massive budget.

"I think people do 'Celebrity Close Calls' for different reasons than ghost stories. It's much more emotional," he says. "The stories are much more traumatic and difficult for them to share. I think they're thinking they can help someone else out there, someone who had a traumatic car accident or went through bouts of depression and considered suicide. Obviously, they're compelling, entertaining stories."

With "Ghost Stories," he feels, "They're sharing stories they truly believe in, usually experiences that changed their lives in some way. They want people to understand how and when it happened. It's a completely new outlet for people to share these kinds of stories."

This year's who's who of boooos is a weird mix including Regis Philbin; Harry Hamlin; Jerry Stiller; Valerie Harper; Bret Michaels; Nick Hogan; Susan Sarandon's daughter, Eva Amurri; Mia Tyler; Ming-Na; Beverly D'Angelo; Sally Struthers; Natasha Henstridge; Cassandra Peterson; Keshia Knight Pulliam; Matthew Gray Gubler; Brett Butler; Penelope Ann Miller; and Chi McBride.

Jarrett, who conducts all the "Ghost Story" interviews himself, tells us, "I came into this being an open-minded skeptic, and at this point, I still have not had an experience myself. But I'm definitely far more of a believer than when I started. Doing 150 interviews, over time, you start to see the incredible consistencies in these stories, from celebrities you know do not run in the same circles."

REMEMBERING: "American Idol" Kris Allen will have family on his mind Sunday (5/29) when he performs at this year's "National Memorial Day Concert" in Washington, D.C. "Both my granddads were in the military," says the 25-year-old singer from Conway, Ark. "And actually, my wife's family is a military family. Her dad is retired from the Air Force" — in addition to her brother, who is just back from Iraq. Allen also says he's been looking forward to meeting fellow luminaries on this year's lineup. The show, being aired on PBS (check your local listings) has Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna as co-hosts, with an appearance by Gen. Colin Powell and performances by "American Idol" contestant Pia Toscano, Forest Whitaker, Dianne Wiest, B.B. King, Jason Ritter, Hayley Westenra, Daniel Rodriguez, Yolanda Adams, A.J. Cook and the National Symphony Orchestra.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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