Knowing comedian Paula Poundstone is very spontaneous on stage, it is easy to assume she would make a few witty comments off audience responses to the usual questions “Where are you from?” and “What do you do for a living?”
After seeing Poundstone perform at the Birchmere, it was clear to see that was not the case.
During her show last Saturday, Poundstone chatted with a man who apparently worked for the Department of Health and had his own bar of soap with him. That bit soon somehow escalated into Poundstone ranting about llamas and how you can’t just buy one anymore.
“They will pine to death,” Poundstone said. “They will get lonely and die! They’re like little western country singers.”
The whole show felt like a one-of-a-kind experience due to the fact that Poundstone was particularly apt at forming a relationship with the audience that packed the house. It even turned out that there was a member of the audience who had gone to junior high with Poundstone, so by the end of the night it felt as if she was talking to the audience as if everyone were old friends.
Many stand-up comedians are known for saying that it takes hours just to put together 20 minutes of material for a show. Poundstone went on for two hours and had the room cracking up the entire time.
“Someone once reviewed my show and called it a ‘hostage situation,’” Poundstone said as her act came to an end.
Something about Poundstone’s voice and the frank way she spoke about things — like her 13 cats, two dogs and a bearded dragon lizard that tries to mate with its own reflection — were just so outrageous that the audience couldn’t help but laugh. It’s not very uncommon for people to see one of the newer comedians like Dane Cook curse up a storm whenever they take the stage; it’s something we’re almost expecting. But when Poundstone went into a half-crazed rant about how she loves the F-word, thinks it’s hilarious and can’t stand it when people get so upset about it or try to pretend like we don’t use it, it was almost comical to see the older mother of three talk in-depth about why she thinks the curse is so funny.
Poundstone is one of those comedians that is very good at poking fun at the absurdities in our lives, and she seemed to love to make fun of those certain kinds of people we make fun of in our own lives. Throughout the show, Poundstone kept coughing due to a minor cold, but would make a joke about the H1N1 virus after every cough.
“Oh f-ck, I just coughed in my hand — nobody touch me,” Poundstone said. After one coughing fit, Poundstone brought back another epidemic.
“Sorry, it’s the SARS,” she said. “I know, I’m old-fashioned.”
Poundstone gave a fantastic comedic performance and, despite the longevity of her act, could probably have gone on for another hour without any problem.
If you’d like to hear some of Paula Poundstone’s material, check out her album, “I Heart Jokes: Paula Tells Them in Maine,” or tune into NPR’s “Wait Wait ... Don’t Tell Me!” where she is a panelist.
You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
