Interview with Paula Poundstone
By NuClia Waste

The phone rang the other day and it was Paula Poundstone calling me from Pittsburgh. She’s been traveling all year long across the country, doing what she loves to do best — stand-up comedy. And she does it very well, having won the American Comedy Award for Best Female Stand-Up in 1992. I had already met Paula in person a few weeks previously when I caught her show in at the Washington DC Improv comedy club. Paula, a few friends and I ended up going out for sodas and cocktails after the show.

NW: Have you ever been interviewed by a drag queen with three boobs before?

PP: This is my first!

NW: I was amazed at how much of your show is unscripted and how you interact with the audience. At what point in your comedy career did you start interacting with the audience and what do you like about it the best?

PP: I started doing that from the very beginning. Originally it was because I was going to forget what I was going to say. I don't know at what point it took this really nice turn, which is that, it ends up being the more fun part of the night anyway. It's not easy only working with two breasts. I am always going to be at disadvantage compared to you. I do have an act and I suppose I could just go out and do that and it would be ok. But the really sort of magical moments are when you are talking to people and finding stuff. That's the exciting part of this at this point.

NW: Which comedians were your early inspirations?

PP: I can remember seeing George Carlin on the Tonight Show... vaguely… but I had the albums. My parents had all the Bill Cosby albums, which I have subsequently stolen. Which I don't think is in the Cosby spirit. But they are so brilliant and so prolific.

NW: You realize you are dating yourself by saying albums, don't you?

PP: Yeah. It's true. A long time ago I showed one of my kids my turntable and she said "Granny had one of these." Thanks.

NW: Tell us about your kids.

PP: My kids are 12, nine and five. My five-year-old son just tried to steal gum from the principal's office the other day. So I don't think he's really getting the societal boundaries at these point. In fairness to him, the old principal who left at the end of last year was a good friend of our family and every time I would trot in there for one reason or the other, he would come with me, and she'd have him in and give him candy.

NW: What's the latest update on the Paula Poundstone zoo and animal sanctuary?

PP: Things are going very well. We're still at 10 cats, big stupid dog, bunny. We still have the bearded dragon lizard, Daisy, who remains constipated to this day. She's charming.

NW: It's gotta be tough being out on the road all the time, away from your three kids. How do you keep from getting lonely?

PP: I watch Perry Masons. I have the one with the jockey on even as we speak. I watch the black and white videotape collection of Perry Masons from Columbia House everyday while I am on the road over and over again. When I finish one, I either just put another one on or just rewind the one I have and put it on again. It has nothing do with really watching it exactly. Um…just company. It's me, Perry, Della, Tragg. Sometimes I get very disappointed that real life is nothing like this. In my experiences with the court system, the DA has never once stood up and said, "Your honor, the District Attorney office is interested in justice. Therefore, the defense attorney can ask whatever he'd like right now." They don't do that.

NW: Would you like to do more work on television or do you prefer the stage and live stand-up?

PP: Oh, live on stage much better. It feels more satisfying. You don't have all those suits deciding your worth and your value. And when people come to see me...the people who don't like me don't come. So there is no dead weight there. You know what I mean? You’re not selling yourself to anybody. You already know, everybody already knows, this is the thing we want to do tonight. It's nice.

NW: Did you know your autograph is selling on the Internet for $15 and the Pope's is only going for $12?

PP: I didn't know that. I am so proud. You know, I pretty much have had a lifelong rivalry with the Pope so this is one of the few areas where I have any kind of drop on him at all. Except in our hula hoop competition.

NW: You've written for Mother Jones, The LA Times, Glamour, Entertainment Weekly, Buzz Magazine, will that book of yours ever get finished?

PP: It is. It's coming along. I swear to God. I am so worried that I am going to get sued by the publisher. At this point, I think time works to my advantage. I may die. And that could increase the level of curiosity on the book. Currently I am drawing the pictures. That's gotta be what's slowing me down.

NW: How many neckties do you own and which one is your favorite?

PP: I don't know. I have never counted them. When I am home, I do literally everything at a trot. I am not necessarily running all the time but I am trotting all the time to get from task to task to task. And the one thing
that slows me up is this getting dressed thing. Would it embarrass my kids if I got a pair of coveralls and just zipped them up everyday and went? It would be so much easier.

My favorite is the snack one from Nicole Miller. I have two thick piles kind of stacked on top of each other. My daughter Allie, her 3rd grade class last year gave me a lovely tie because I read to her class every Wednesday. I don't think I missed a Wednesday. And of course, the proper reward for that is a beautiful tie.

NW: You've survived 20 years in this business and you're still going strong. You could be the Cher of stand-up if you keep at it, minus the facelifts. Where would you like to be in the next five years?

PP: Well, you know, I actually have recently colored my hair really dark so I feel that I am doing a Cher-like thing. It was colored really dark accidentally. One of the pre-school teachers at our school did it for me. What's really great is that not only did I get my hair colored, although darker than what I would have wanted. Nonetheless, I also learned a little song about the days of the week. So it was a profitable experience one way or the other.

I wouldn't mind shortening the days I was out. But other than that, there is no job that I have ever been happier at then working in clubs and theaters telling my little jokes. I'm happy doing what I'm doing.

Paula will be performing at 8 p.m. on Saturday, November 1 at the Paramount Theater. Tickets are $36 and $30 and are available from Ticketmaster 303- 830-8497 and The Paramount Theater Box Office at 1631 Glenarm Place.

NuClia Waste is a featured columnist in Outfront Colorado and performs stand-up comedy at Comedy Works. She can be reached at NuClia@OutfrontColorado.com. Visit her website at www.NuCliaWaste.com

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