Paula Poundstone is listed among Comedy Central’s Top 100 Stand-Up Comedians of All Time, but after publicly suffering through some personal woes in the early part of the decade, she more or less fell out of the spotlight. Now, however, Poundstone is back, not only with her autobiography, “There’s Nothing In This Book That I Meant To Say,” but also her first new stand-up special in a decade. “Look What the Cat Dragged In” airs tomorrow on Bravo at 10 PM, and Poundstone did a teleconference to promote the special, were we had a chance to ask her a few questions. If only we’d known ahead of time that she doesn’t consider this to be a comeback…
Bullz-Eye: Hi, Paula, and congrats on the big comeback special.
Paula Poundstone: Oh, thanks. I’m not sure I view it as a comeback, but okay.
BE: Oh, well. Because I was going to ask, as comebacks go, is this “Elvis ‘68” big, or more like, “Hey, Dick Van Dyke’s back…but now he’s a mystery-solving doctor”?
PP: Oh, gee…either one! Either one would be good. Well, you know, there’s sort of a missed…I guess “back to television” for sure, I suppose that’s true, but I always think it’s funny when people say, “Oh, you’re back!” And I’m, like, “When exactly did I leave?” Other than the period of time when I was in rehab, and in fairness to me, nobody in rehab works. It really puts the old kibosh on the work schedule.
BE: As far as writing a book, did you jump or were you pushed?
PP: A little of both, a little of both. I marvel at Crown’s patience, I must tell you. Somebody told me this after I got started, which is that if it weren’t for the advance, no one would write a book, which I really think to be true. In the beginning, I was enthusiastic to do it, and then partway through, there’s just this point where you’re, like, you know what? I’m writing a book because I’ve already spent the advance, that’s why I’m writing a book. Just because it’s this big thing hanging over your head, and, after all, it hung over my head for nine years; I can’t tell you how happy I was to (finish it). By the time I finished writing this thing, I was on fire…and for two reasons. For one, and I’ve heard authors say this before, but when it’s clicking, it’s this great, fiery feeling…but when you realize how much more work you have…I mean, normally, I do my two hours of jokes and get off, but nine years is a little challenging!
BE: A few months ago, I interviewed Fran Solomita about his film, “When Stand Up Stood Out.”
PP: Oh, yeah!
BE: How did it feel to be a part of that Boston comedy scene? Were you intimidated by being surrounded by so many talented peers, or did you feel like you had a unique voice?
PP: It wasn’t…you know, honestly, I started there in ’79, and the way that stand-up comedy kind of started there had a lot to do with the comedian Lenny Clarke. Lenny was a homegrown boy, he was from Cambridge, and most people think of Cambridge as M.I.T. and Harvard, but, in fact, blue-collar workers grow up there as well, and that was Lenny’s background. And his friends were the audience, because they came there to see Lenny, so if you did anything outside of what those guys appreciated, then you weren’t considered very good. And, therefore, the truth is, it was a very hard place to start out! I mean, eventually, I sort of…well, I went away and worked in other places and came back, but it was not an easy place to start out as a comic. And it’s almost kind of miraculous that so many really great voices did come out of there, because I’ll tell ya, Steve Wright was not…to that initial crowd, he was not considered a great comic. And so I think both of us were a little bit forged by fire there, and w kind of learned to do what we did not, uh, necessarily through a lot of back-patting. (Laughs)
