So did you have funny people in your family or in your life? I do remember times early on when my mother
POUND STONE:
by joel martens
The irreverent and quick-witted PAULA POUNDSTONE is in town, onTuesday, December 31 to share her unique take on life. She took a moment to talk toThe Rage Monthly about her shows, history and outlook. Although I must admit, I spent most of the time laughing rather than talking...
Tell me about how you got your start as a comic. I started in 1979 in Boston, it was about two years
after I petered out… I didn’t graduate from high school. I just sort of petered out. I was 19 years old and I was bussing tables for a living, I was at the age where you could still sleep anywhere. Actually, I still am, come to think of it… (laughs) I had no responsibilities beyond food and clean clothes and it was just the beginning of the “new wave” of stand-up comedy becoming invigorated yet again. I happened to be in a city where comedy cir- cuits sprung up very, very quickly and I was right on the ground floor of it—so it worked out really well for me. I started out doing open-mic nights. After about a year I took a Greyhound bus to see what clubs were like in other cities and ended up in San Francisco. That’s quite a cross-country jump. Actually, it’s more of a trap door between Boston
comics and San Francisco. It’s like in that game Clue, you know, like being on one side of the board and you get one space to flip all the way to the other side… That’s sort of how Boston and San Francisco were back then. A lot of us comics over the years end up knowing each other, because you’re of the “same graduating class” as it were. You were working around the same time Billy Crystal and Robin Williams burst on the scene, weren’t you? They were slightly ahead of me, just a bit. Robin was helpful to me many, many times in my life, but I would say, even before I met him, that I and many other people like me would not be working if he hadn’t been there—if it hadn’t been for him. They were door-openers. Robin in particular I credit with really
58 RAGE monthly | DECEMBER 2013
being the guy who re-invigorated the form. He made people really interested in stand up comedy again. It’s not that there weren’t stand ups before that, there just weren’t as many and they weren’t as accessible. Robin really sort of kick started it all; partly because of his style, all that frenetic energy. He was brilliant, which helps… and he was everywhere. He was like the g*d d*mn Tasmanian devil! He would come into an amphitheater of 3,000 and
then would stop by Uncle Funny’s Yuck-Yuck House at 1:00 in the morning! So people came out thinking that and I mean literally they thought “we might see Robin Williams tonight!” And almost every single one of them was right—because they could have. People came out to see comics like me, because and ONLY because they were hoping to see Robin! Then what happened is that audiences saw people like me also (or sometimes instead of) and they went, “hey, they’re pretty good…” So he’s the guy who created the excitement and the rest of us sort of capitalized on it—at least to a large degree. You have to say that some talent is involved though. I don’t know about talent any more… honest to god
I don’t. Have you read Martin Gladwell’s bookOutliers? (FYI—the full title isOutliers: The Story of Success). It’s a book about statistics; it made it to the best-seller list— which is fairly unusual. Hmmm, that would make the book an outlier itself… (laughs). Basically, it’s one of those books and you probably don’t have to read the whole thing to get the gist of it, I know I didn’t! (laughs) Basically he de-bunks the myth of talent. He says that it’s access, opportunity, certainly enthusiasm and at- titude—and HOURS—and I think he’s right!
would have her friends over to play Canasta or for coffee. They would send us up to bed because we weren’t particularly interesting in that setting… and I can just remember hearing the sound of her and her friends’ laughter and loving it. We lived in a two-story house, we were upstairs and they were down and I still remember the sound of it. Particularly Mrs. Hollis, who had the greatest laugh. It was kind of cackley quite honestly, but it was just great to hear. Of course everybody knows that humor is helpful
in getting through social situations, something chal- lenging or depressing or scary. All of that stuff you sort of figure out when you’re little. It’s funny, I remember a summary letter written
by my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Bump from May of 1965 that said, “I have enjoyed many of Paula’s humorous comments about our activities.” (I’m the one laughing now). Wait, did you say Mrs. Bump? Isn’t that great? She never had a day of peace from
that name I bet. I had a friend, Tom Frickman whose daughter’s teacher was named Mrs. Sexy, so I am actually going to say that Mrs. Bump got off easy on that one. (Laughs) I would have to say though, that if your name is Mrs. Sexy and your passion is for teach- ing kids, you just might want to change your name… Just maybe! I love names, there are so many hysterical ones out there. I worked at a bank for a while in Mortgage Custody Services and I used to keep a list of the funniest names. That’s so funny, I had a job stuffing envelopes and
did the exact same thing. People who do this for a living their whole life thought I was nuts, but they couldn’t see the joyous aspect of it. I still remember my favorite, it was Pamela Crotchfeldt. (Laughs) Wow! God, that’s a good one. You know, I
don’t know why you wouldn’t change that. Although I’ve never liked the name Poundstone, I hate it. Well for that matter I don’t like the name Paula all that much either… (laughs) but I never got around to changing it. After a while, I figured I had gotten sort of too far along with it, although I might have because Paula Poundstone is so damn ugly… but I guess I felt like I waited too long and that the 50 or so good fans I had… I didn’t want to lose that fame. (laughs) That’s probably a good thing, Paula. We couldn’t ever forget your name and I have a sneaking suspicion that you now have a few more than 50 fans out there! I know I won’t soon forget you, especially after this interview! Thank you so much for taking the time to do it! Thanks, it was very nice talking to you. And I am
going to keep an eye out for any members of the Crotchfeldt family… if I run across one, I’ll make sure to have them get in touch with you! (Laughing) That would kill me.
For more information on Paula go to
paulapoundstone.com. For tickets to her show at the Balboa Theatre Downtown go to
sandiegotheatres.org.
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