Back in mid-November we told you about how locally born comedian Margaret Cho had returned to SF for a while and was busking (and stripping) on the streets to raise money and collect clothing donations for the homeless. Now the New York Times has grabbed the story after Cho did her ninth and final performance of this little mini-tour at the Eagle in SoMa on Christmas Eve, collecting tons of donations in the process.

The whole time Cho has painted her performance as a tribute to Robin Williams, who also devoted a good deal of time, and his own comedy, to the cause of fighting homelessness. "San Francisco used to be a city of street performers,” she says. “Robin was a street performer — this is part of bringing that back.” Also, she says, "this city has become Dickensian," and she's trying to do her part to give back. She says she likes the idea of helping people in small ways, even if they spend the money she gives them on drugs or alcohol. "Why not give people a party?” Ms. Cho said, “That’s what’s missing from the streets.”

She was also charging $5 for cellphone photos with her at the shows, and $100 for nude shots, all of which she was donating back to the homeless.

Cho, 46, has recently gone public with the news that she and her husband of eleven years, artist Al Ridenour, are getting divorced, which seems to have inspired her recent stay in San Francisco. She cracked wise during an impromptu comedy set at Harvey's in the Castro last month about her own bout with addiction, and about having to check her ex-husband into rehab.

This January she'll be hosting a new late-night show on TLC called "All About Sex," which debuts on January 11, and which she's apparently returning to LA to go shoot. The show also features writer Heather McDonald (Chelsea Lately) and actress Marissa Jaret Winokur (Hairspray).

Previously: [Semi-NSFW] Margaret Cho Also Stripped To Support The Homeless