| Paula Poundstone Poughkeepsie! |
| Written by Stephanie Coco-Palermo | |||
| Wednesday, 02 February 2011 01:53 | |||
 What’s so funny about a single mom with a bunch of teenage kids and a menagerie of assorted pets living in Santa Monica? A whole lot, if you’re Paula Poundstone. A self-proclaimed “joke machine”, Paula has been slinging zingers and poking fun at everyday life since the late 1970s. Since first gracing the stage as a stand-up comic, the award-winning comedienne has added columnist, author, panelist, actress, and sketch comedy performer extraordinaire to her repertoire. Paula shows no sign of slowing down as she makes her way to Poughkeepsie, NY, to perform at the Bardavon 1869 Opera House on Friday, February 4th. Paula recently spoke with me from her home in Santa Monica, California. TS: When you first came to California years ago, you were intending to pursue an acting career and not necessarily a comedy career… PP: Oh no, that’s not exactly true! That’s not why I came to California. I had started out in Boston. But, I don’t know, I’ve never done too many of those types of jobs. I also really wanted, since I was little, to be able to be like Carol Burnett, or you know, like, Gilda Radner, do characters in sketches, and I would never have had that opportunity. However now - because everyone has that opportunity now, because of the fine gift of…. TS: Internet? PP: It is one of my secret pleasures! It’s not supposed to be a secret, if it’s a public thing, but I make videos for my Web site and You Tube. I make goofy films. I have a number of characters that I very much enjoy doing. TS: Rhonda is one of them. PP: Rhonda is one of them. I don’t think I will ever be called upon to do them on a bigger stage, but it is fun to do. I recently did one…he’s a British talk show host, he has a show called “It’s Past Your Bed Time”, it’s a late night talk show, and his name is Theodore Pie - and he often has me, Paula Poundstone, as a guest on his show. You never actually see me as a guest on his show, but I’ve just finished my set usually when the viewer is able to see Theodore Pie. I did one the other day where he interviewed Abraham Lincoln - and it was Lincoln at his best. TS: You actually spoke about Abraham Lincoln in your book. PP: My book [ “There is Nothing in this Book That I Meant to Say”, 2006 ] is a series of biographies of compelling historical figures, and in telling their stories I tell my own. I think sometimes when I say that, people think it’s a serious book, and although, in fact, one gets authentic, albeit brief, biographies of each of the characters, it’s still a comedy book.
PP: Yes. I am painfully, slowly, writing a book now. I mean, it’s almost embarrassing to say I’m writing a book at this point because, you know, I’m not a writer for a living. So what I do is, I fit writing in to the cracks of my life; and, in truth, I haven’t had a lot of cracks lately, and so it is a ridiculously slow process. I also wrote three math workbooks with a high school math teacher. We started out as the series “Math with a Laugh”, and as we started out, the idea was that she would write some math problems and I would kind of spice it up with the occasional story problem, and in fact what ended up happening was that I wrote a story for every problem; and boy, did that take a long time. The first was 5/6, the second was 6/7, and the third was 8th/9th grade. TS: You have a very distinct look and style - namely, your tie with a dress shirt or suit. What is the story behind your trademark look? PP: I don’t always wear those things, although I certainly do often because it’s so convenient. It’s not like my uniform. But in truth, if you look at I Love Lucy episodes, Lucy wore a suit and tie…it’s funny. I think the idea was already there - sort of planted in my head. But I happened to be in a store one time. Really, I wouldn’t do the same thing now - ‘cause if you look in stores now, there’s really no good ties. But it must have been the nineties, I guess….I was in a store that happened to have a white tie with green polka dots, and so I went “Heyy! I could wear that”. Really, it just so happened to be the time when Nicole Miller’s fabrics were coming out - those ones that were silk with a black background, and very sort of neon-y with colorful seams. In fact, my favorite tie is my “snack tie”, and its got Oreos and Screaming Yellow Zonkers and junk foods on it. It’s really very colorful and nice, but you know, those just so happened to be there, therefore I bought them up at the time. But as I said, if I were to do the same thing now…I go into tie stores every so often, just thinking…well, maybe it looks like I’m gonna sell somebody insurance. TS: Where have you drawn some of your inspiration for your more recent material and original characters? PP: Well, I have a cheat sheet. I mean, the truth is, I’m a single working mom with three kids, sixteen cats, a bearded dragon lizard, flop-eared bunny, an ant left from my ant farm and a German Shepherd mix dog. I don’t really write jokes so much as I take notes. The stuff just sort of falls in my lap, a lot of the time. You know, it might be really good if I made an effort, but mostly it’s just sort of there. You kinda just have to let it wash over you, to some degree. If you struggle too hard, it doesn’t come out right. TS: You’ve got three kids. Do you think any of them will follow in your footsteps? Have any of them pitched a comedy act to you? PP: No, you know…it’s not that they’re not all funny, because they are. But you know, I don’t think that any of them see it quite that way. But I don’t know. Maybe they will. It wouldn’t matter to me; I mean, I don’t care if they do or they don’t. I just want them to do something productive that is enjoyable to do. The whole employment thing is so depressing. I mean, it’s really made me, as the economy faltered, embrace my job even more. Not that I didn’t to begin with, because I do, I’ve always been aware that I’m lucky; but it really just sorta brings it into focus more. TS: You’ve had a lot of longevity. PP: I really feel lucky about that. I mean - I wanna be Tony Bennett! I wanna do it for a long time, and then have another generation also enjoy my work. It really is a great job in every way. Plus, I get to be among people who come out to laugh for the night. TS: Next week, you’re going to be entertaining at the Bardavon Opera House. PP: I’m looking forward to it! I feel like Poughkeepsie is somehow the holy grail of comedy, because there’s been - not so much now, but in the old day, the Morey Amsterdam kind of era - so many Poughkeepsie jokes! It is so much fun to say the name. Poughkeepsie. So Paula Poundstone Poughkeepsie is not to be missed. For more information on Paula Poundstone, as well as info on how get tickets for an upcoming show in a city near you, visit www.paulapoundstone.com For more Times Square articles like Paula Poundstone Poughkeepsie! please visit the Comedy Events Section of TimesSquare.com
|
