Paula Poundstone is funny, smart, quick and has a profound friendliness about her.
A steady flow of excited audience members streamed through the doors of the beautiful Crest Theater Saturday night to see Poundstone perform, filling the theater to it’s maximum capacity. All walks of life and lifestyles seemed to be well-represented, making it clear that she has a very broad appeal.
It became apparent just how much anticipation the audience had for this night when General Manager Sid Garcia-Heberger came onstage and asked that all cell phones be turned off for the performance and the crowd applauded. How could Poundstone follow that? Simple. She just jumped right in.
“So, were you all clapping because you hate cell phones in general?” she queried as her opening line. This was to be the first of many times that she reached out to the collective and individual audience members to pose a question and then another and then a follow-up until everyone realized that this is Poundstone doing what she does best, incorporating the audience into her act.
The honesty that she shared with her audience when she said things like, “I really don’t like sex,” or, “I am OCD, and I can’t stop talking. Luckily, I found a job where that works to my advantage!” made audience member feel like she wants to know more about them.
That opinion was strongest while watching her stay in the lobby for more than an hour after her performance to sign her book and CDs, pose for pictures and greet each and every person with, “Hey! How ya doing?” It felt like she really wanted to know.
During the almost three-hour show, (including a 20-minute intermission), Poundstone’s famous ability of ad-libbing with the audience amounted to about a third of her show, while the rest of her material was topical and fresh. She had no hard-and-fast roadmap for the night, but the destination definitely wasn’t as important as the wonderful meandering means of getting there.
Poundstone covered so many topics, often segueing them right from her conversations with the audience, that no one ever knew what was coming next. She started with a few digs about Sacramento politics and referenced her earlier days when she performed comedy at the historical Laughs Unlimited in Old Sac (the term “sac” was discussed at length with all of the testosterone-laden references intact), She also discussed her three children and the uniqueness of each of them, the F-word, health care, CNN and more.
During her audience participation segments, Poundstone was able to find, at random, a state worker who writes regulations and proposals, a professor who teaches writing at UC Davis to artists and the business manager of a local magazine (from whence the “Sac” references were born). Each one provided unintentional fodder for Poundstone’s quick wit and unique interrogation skills.
At times she resembled a parent dragging information from a child. “And then what happened?” she asked, followed by, “What made you do that?” and finally, “What were you thinking as you were making that decision?”
Each question usually dragged out less-than-voluntarily, elicited laughter from those in the crowd and a secret desire that she not turn her laser-focused questions on them. However, the “business manager,” the “state regulations writer” and “Dr. Andy” will forever be included in the audience’s recollections of this performance
So captivated and in-tune was the audience that when an intermission was announced, one audience member felt so comfortable that she shouted out that Poundstone “ought to join us in the lobby.” Surprisingly, she did just that. This led many to wonder whether they were watching Poundstone perform her act or if she just having an intimate conversation with them.
A special acknowledgment goes to Garcia-Hedberger and The Crest Theater for continuing to bring big-name comedy to Sacramento. In the last six months, The Crest has been the venue of choice for Lisa Lampinelli, Bob Saget and the locally produced Coexist? Comedy Tour. Continuing that trend, it was announced that San Francisco-based political humorist Will Durst will be appearing May 8.