LOLs with Paula Poundstone

By Cindy Gomez
Editor
Paula Poundstone on the cancellation of her appearance at the Fargo Theatre earlier this year: “It was a tremendous scandal in the entertainment world when the Fargo Theater OPTED to have the opening of ‘Iron Man II’ instead of me.”
“Oh no!” I gasped and chuckled.

She continued without missing a beat, “It’s the first time that’s ever happened to me,” pausing for effect, “usually when it comes down to between me and Iron Man,  I usually win. This is the first time it fell the other way.”

But it’s all water under the bridge now. Paula is finally going to make an appearance at the Fargo Theatre on November 20th and it will be a show you won’t want to miss. Few comedians have her flawless delivery, her way of interacting with the audience, or her ability to poke fun at the crowd without making people uncomfortable.

Poundstone has been doing standup since 1979, working in various mediums including radio, television, and cable. But there’s much more to her than meets the eye. She is an author, voice actress, mother of three, and has a multitude of comedic projects underway at any given moment.

Poundstone is a woman of a thousand hats, almost as many cats, and a ready response to anything. She has a serious gift for gab that manages to make dedicated fans of those who are fortunate enough to watch her perform.

For an example of her versatility, go to paulapoundstone.com where you will see a livestream shot focused on the Pounstone cat food bowls. Livestream LOLcats! Periodically, giant cat heads will enter the screen and begin lapping at water. You might be surprised to find yourself mesmerized watching one, or more of Paula’s 16 rescue cats. Behind them on the wall, is a dry erase board announcing upcoming shows like “The Big Book of Bad ideas”, and other appearances by Paula on the POUNDSTONE DINER CAM.

Between feedings, Paula’s head appears –sideways – as she reads one- line-at-a-time from Charles Dickens’, A Christmas Carol. I think she’s up to line five now. 

And that’s just a preview of her website. Paula keeps extremely busy with her three teenage children, a grueling cross country tour schedule and a gazzilion projects like her regular appearances on NPR’s “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me”, and “A Prairie Home Companion.  Paula’s willingness to try almost anything, mixed with her obsessive compulsive disorder, makes her one of the most intriguing and unique comedy minds you will ever encounter.

In her spare time, Poundstone has authored several children’s math books, is authoring her second book for Random House, and constantly writes material for her website. This is really amazing, considering that Pounstone is an admitted technophobe and barely knew how to use a computer until a couple of years ago.

“Everybody kept telling me how much happier it would make me, how I would enjoy my life more if I learned how to use the computer. So I went out and bought a laptop, specifically, a laptop because you can bring that door-to-door and beg people to help you with it. Whereas, we do have the big kind that sits in my bedroom, but [to get help] for that you have to lure people into the house. Jeffrey Dahmer ruined that for everybody.”

It may seem as if she’s always joking, but Paula also has a talent for making her audiences laugh at themselves while looking at serious issues, like California’s economy (where she lives in Santa Monica), and the lack of adequate numbers of teachers in schools. In one recent appearance on Letterman, she told viewers that schools in California are so broke that children are all asked to bring body parts. For class, the children then reassemble and reanimate the body parts and whatever “it” is then teaches the Science class.

It’s all in good fun. Pounstone is never preachy about her stance. She’s very down to earth in her approach to everything, especially comedy. For instance, I asked her about her tendency to eat junk food and how manages to impart good eating habits to her children. She explained that it isn’t always an easy task:

“Here’s my problem with produce personally. You know, it’s really hard to tow that healthy parent line of saying ‘Oh, you must eat fruits and vegetables,’ when to me produce is not trustworthy at all. If you get a cantaloupe and cut it open, if you cut it open too early… I mean a good cantaloupe is a thing of beauty, but if you cut it open too early it’s dry and it’s not sweet. And if you cut it open too late it has a hue of mold to it and it’s slimy. And the period between those two phases is about ten minutes. It [cantaloupe] turns on you, becomes your enemy. It becomes something that’s bad for you. But, I’ve gotta tell you something. I’ve NEVER had a bad Oreo. If produce would meet the standards that the junk food world has managed to adopt then I’m all over produce!”

To hear Poundstone’s sophisticated humor, you would never guess that she’s gotten major guidance from the Three Stooges. I asked Paula to explain the vast difference between her hilarious yet thoughtful comedy routines and her love of the Stooges. The answer was simple, “I love the Three Stooges. I LOVE them. One time when Moe was putting his socks on he said, he said ‘I’m gonna put on some clean socks’, and then he said ‘what an experience!’ who doesn’t love that?  What’s not to love?!”

What you’ll love about Paula is probably best explained in her own observation about her idols, The Three stooges, “There’s just no stupid silly thing that they won’t do. That’s part of the joy of them to me.”

So maybe it’s The Stooges we should thank for giving Poundstone her timeless sense of comedy. For those newcomers to Paula, it will be an opportunity to discover a great classic comedienne. And that’s exactly what you can expect if you venture out to the Fargo Theatre to watch Poundstone; an incredibly talented woman performing comedy effortlessly.

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If You Go

What: Paula Poundstone
Where: Fargo Theatre
When: Sat Nov 20, 8pm
Info: 701.239.8385