A SacramentoComedy.Com Interview
SacramentoComedy.Com spoke with Paula by phone recently at her home in Santa Monica. Traveling almost every week of the year, the amazing part is that she was at home.
When asked if Poundstone enjoyed all of the extensive travel, she just replied that because she spends so little time at each location, that she calls herself, “a lazy traveler,” and that she mostly works or sleeps in the hotel room. In the old days when she would perform at comedy clubs and be there four of five nights, Poundstone used to go exploring. She even reminisced about the Sacramento Railroad Museum when she performed at the historic Laughs Unlimited in Old Sac.
One of the more amazing facts about Poundstone is that she wrote her first book “There’s Nothing In This Book That I Wanted To Say” long hand. With a pen. No computer. “It took me 8 years to write it that way.” Poundstone is currently working on another book but using a computer for this one. “I am now writing on a computer but I can’t tell you that it is going any faster” “.. and I am distracted by the computer!”
When asked about her use of social media to keep up with her fan base, (Poundstone is on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube), she replied “It’s a tremendous amount of work and that is where half of my time is spent now. There has to be a way to finesse this where you do just enough that works and then you stop there, but I haven’t been able to do that.” When discussing Twitter, she commented that she prides herself that she has never tweeted that “I’m in the shower..”
Poundstone, who began her comedy career at 19 in Boston often jumped on a Greyhound bus in those early years to tour cities to see what their open mics were like. In the 80’s she moved to San Francisco where she befriended and performed with Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg and the like. “One of my early road jobs was performing in Sacramento at Laughs Unlimited.”
Paula excused herself from the interview and took a moment to help her oldest daughter with some questions. Poundstone is a single mother of three.
When we resumed the interview, it was pointed out that Poundstone is very much a trailblazer for women. First woman to win a Cable ACE award for her HBO Special, first woman to be invited to perform at the White House Correspondence Dinner, first time Harvard University ever allowed their name to be used in the title of a television show (her second one hour special for HBO, “Paula Poundstone Goes to Harvard”) and it was quipped that she was the first person to ever be sent to Alcoholics Anonymous on television, a reference to her very public arrest in 2001 for child endangerment and misdemeanor child injury.
“I don’t know if I was the first, but I certainly opened the floodgates to the televised “rehab” show which has made us all better in so many ways. How could it not?” she quipped. As public as this event was, Poundstone has never shied away from including those events in her large base of material that she draws from. She has incorporated it into her stand up, radio and television appearances (NPR and David Letterman) and has comparing these events with the trials and tribulations of other greats like Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln and Sitting Bull in her book. When asked if she still includes it in her act today, she says that “every now and then” but most of her material is what she is thinking about at the time when she is on stage. “My material is mostly autobiographical, but I tend to keep it mostly current,” she explained. “At the time, I talked about it a lot but you move on just like you would if you were talking to a friend on the phone.”
That brought up the fact that many people have commented that her act is like her having a conversation with a friend while she is on stage. When asked, she said that “I like it that way. On a good day when the stars are all aligned, it’s like a really good cocktail party.”
One thing that very few people know about Ms. Poundstone is that she has c0-authored not one, but three high school math textbooks with her old high school math teacher. “What was that like?” we asked.
“She kept complaining that I wasn’t “timely” enough in her school-marmish way.” she joked. She explained that originally, she was just going to write a few stories interspersed between some math problems but it got turned around until she was expected to write a story for each problem. “We did books for three levels; fifth [grade], sixth and seventh [grades] and eight and ninth [grades].
Poundstone is known as an avid reader, (she is the national spokesperson for the Friends of Libraries USA), so we asked her what she was currently reading. “Actually, for the first time in my life I am reading more than one thing at one time. I am reading “The Hobbit” with my daughter. We were almost done around Christmas break, then I found a book about (convicted financier) Bernie Madoff that trumped it. I am reading that now and I am stuck on the last 100 pages of “Guns, Germs and Steel” for almost five years now. I am also in the middle of an article on [Secretary of Defense] Robert Gates.”
We asked Poundstone if she would mind answering some of her Sacramento fan’s questions that were submitted on Twitter and Facebook prior to our interview, she graciously agreed.
Cinde Dolphin asked if she minded playing the straight man to Garrison Keillor on the show ‘Prairie Home Companion” heard on Public Radio? “It is SO much fun! Garrison is a national treasure!” she proclaimed. “It is always a delight to be on that show.”
Kris Vera-Phillips wanted to know how you come up with the “predictions” on the NPR show “Wait, Wait.. Don’t Tell Me?” Poundstone replied, “I am not great at that, or writing the “bluff story” which I belly ache about every time. My favorite parts are where you don’t have to any preparation at all, other than I do read newspapers. Any time they ask a question and I get to just blurt my best [answer]. The more time they give me for preparation, the more it eats on the inside of my brain!”
When asked about her role as the national spokesperson for the Friends of Libraries (FOLUSA) she said that she enjoys raising awareness and raising funds about the importance of libraries and how contrary to popular belief that they are operated on public funds only.
Paula Poundstone will be appearing at The Crest Theater on Saturday March 6th. More information and tickets are available on The Crest Theater website at www.TheCrestTheater.Com
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
In the 80s I used to head to SF with a carload of friends to see her perform. She is one of the funniest comics I’ve seen, and I love to laugh. Although I haven’t’ heard her on the radio much, the real treat is to see her live. The way she interacts with the crowd makes you feel like you could be talking with your friend over coffee – yah Steve! Great interview. Rem
You got some great scoop on Paula – can’t believe she co-authored math books… go figure (hee hee)!
Thanks for including my question. Great interview!
Cinde
Good comedy. Inspired me to do it, am an actor too. USE your inner gifts, powers, talents to make it. Forget working for some fool at $10 hour. and stay OUT of war!!!