One of the world’s most recognized and authentic comedians, Paula Poundstone, returns to Key West on Jan 9 at the Key West Theater. Hailed for her improv and “never doing the same act twice,” Poundstone has trailblazed a path in her industry for over four decades. This includes her her acclaimed HBO series, standups, acting and mainstream commentary.
And yet, it is Poundstone’s nonconforming style that is indigenous to her approach to comedy. Honest and raw –and yet relatable and lovable. The Florida Keys Weekly Podcast caught up with Poundstone before she arrives in Key West, For ticket information visit thekeywesttheater.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back to another another edition of the Florida Keys
Weekly podcast. I am your host, Brett Myers. I wanna
thank you again for listening in, particularly our radio listeners
out there on WKWF and FM 103.3, you early risers
for the rest of you normal folks who who do
not get up early.
And listen to podcast, Amazon, Apple, Spotify, you know where
(00:22):
to find us. I wanna thank you and our sponsor
Overseas Media Group, the social media local company that brings
you a world of expertise and the local service you
deserve for all your digital marketing needs. Overseas Media Group.com.
Thank you for your for allowing us to have these podcasts.
And as all of you know, who listen in, we've
had some great podcasts over the over the years and
(00:42):
recently Jelly Roll, the the Black Pumas, uh, a lot
of fun for me to get to do these, but
this one's very special for me because this person was
always there, uh, as I as I grew up, um,
she's one of the most well-known.
And celebrated comedians of our time. I'm an eighties person
and 90s, and I just, uh, she was just never
not around and she was a big part of, of
(01:02):
me growing up and and inspiring me and um just,
just love watching her and she's still going today and
she's joining us now. It's Miss Paula Poundstone. She'll be
at the Key West Theater January 9th. I can't promise
tickets remain if they do, you wanna jump on it,
it's the Key West Theatre.com. The doors will open on
January 9th. Uh, Paula has a resume.
(01:24):
That goes on for miles and miles and years and years.
It's amazing she is regarded by many to be one
of the greatest stand-up comedians of our time. Of course
there's many shows, many, many podcasts, many news, uh, Tonight Show,
you name it, she's done it, uh, but other than
that I want to welcome Ms. Paula Poundstone to our podcast. Paula,
(01:45):
thank you for doing this.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Oh, thanks so much for having me. What a glowing introduction.
Thank you. Oh,
Speaker 1 (01:50):
absolutely, and I cut it short. You've got so many things. Uh,
Comedy Central's called you one of the greatest comedians of
all time. You've done improv, you've, uh, one of the
stories I love Paula, I I don't wanna go back
to your history just to just to, uh, hit every
bullet point that's been talked about.
But it it just based on some internet research, I
know you got started in the late 70s and you were,
(02:12):
you were traveling and doing stand up and open mic
nights and, and Robin Williams caught you and encouraged you
to go to LA um I am a huge Robin
Williams fan just as I am a huge fan of
yours and that makes sense that you two connected. Can
I ask you about that real quick? How do you,
how do you meet up with Robin Williams and, and
how did that come about and what, how did that
lead to your career?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
You know, I started out in Boston in '79, I
think I was 19, and I um
I decided to take a Greyhound bus around the country
to see what clubs were like in different cities. Uh,
and I, I lived on Greyhound buses for, I don't know, months,
(02:52):
and I ended up in uh San Francisco.
Uh, and I stayed there because I went on stage
in a, in a, in a club. It was called
the other cafe, and I just fell in love with
the audience, and so I just decided, well, you know,
I'll just stay here. And Robin uh used to live
up in the Bay Area. He's from there, uh, and
(03:15):
so when he would come, you know, you know, home
from
working in LA, he would come to, uh, come to
San Francisco. So he really was a big supporter of, uh,
of the whole San Francisco comedy team. I mean comedy scene,
excuse me, uh, uh, you know, I always say that
anybody in comedy my age or younger, uh, owes a
(03:39):
debt of gratitude to Robin Williams because, uh, he really, uh,
you know, stand-up comedy's been around since before we came
out of the caves.
But Robin really did sort of reignite audience interest in it, um,
in the, in the 80s, uh, late, late 70s, 80s.
And um so we all got a big boost from
(04:02):
Robin Williams. You know, people used to come to clubs
in San Francisco uh a lot of times hoping he
would stop by and he often did. And while they
waited for him to stop by, they found they enjoyed
some of the rest of us, um.
So, uh, yeah, and he, he introduced me to his
management and by the way, Dana Carvey was managed by
(04:25):
the same people, and Dana also recommended me to his
management and I came down to LA and, uh, and
I guess I don't know, showcased for them or whatever.
I I danced with a ball in my nose for them.
It was
Speaker 1 (04:37):
good. It's not surprising though, Paula, this podcast is about you,
not Robin Williams or Dana, but you know, I love
comedy and you know every comedian
Has their thing they do well, but the greats, I mean,
including yourself, there's just something about the way you interact
with the crowd spontaneously you your material changes and that's
one thing you're known for. Is that something Robin and
(04:58):
Dana saw with you that really connected? I have to
imagine it was, but you the way you get on
the stage, you change it up, you interrupt and you're
not threatening, you don't make it.
You know, uh, you know, I'm not coming back here
with her, but you make it fun, but you still
connect in a way that's spontaneous and kind of off
the cuff. Uh, was that was that something you were
doing back then that caught their eye or did that
change over time, or how did that come about?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
You know, I started, um, um, you know, having a, a, a, a,
a part of my show anyways unscripted, uh, well, I mean,
the whole thing's unscripted, really, but, um, I, I, I
started because, uh, even from the time I started out
in Boston, you know, as an open micer, you would, uh, have,
(05:41):
you know, your 5 minutes of jokes. That's the premise
of an open mic is that anybody who wants to
can go up for 5 minutes. Um, and, uh,
Boston had a very red hot, uh, um, open mic scene, uh,
as well. Um, San Francisco's was even better. Uh, but, um, so,
you know, I would memorize my five minutes and honestly, uh,
(06:03):
before I even made it to the stage, oftentimes I
would have forgotten it already and uh just out of
nerves and so many times I was just sort of,
you know, forced by circumstances to go, uh, um, you, sir,
what do you do for a living?
And, and for a while I thought this was a
very bad thing. I thought it meant, you know, that
(06:24):
I just wasn't going to be good at this at all.
And then 11 night it dawned on me that, uh,
I one night when I was able to remember some
of what I meant to say, um, it occurred to
me that the stuff that I was saying that I
hadn't planned to say at all, um was responded to
much better.
(06:45):
Then, you know, than jokes that I had prepared. And
so eventually I just sort of uh uh uh I
mean I have material. I, I have 45 years of
material rattling around in my head somewhere. I kind of
feel like when I go on stage, it's a little
bit like one of those uh um arcade games where
you step into the glass booth and they blow money
(07:07):
around or whatever you can catch you can keep.
That, that's, that's me on stage. Like I, I, I, I,
you know, a lot of times when I say stuff,
I am saying something that I've said before. Uh, I
just didn't know I was gonna say it then. Um,
but I would say on a good night and I
like to tell myself that, that, that some of my
nights are good, I would say, uh, you know,
(07:28):
I don't know. Somewhere between a, you know, somewhere between
a 3rd and a 5th, um, it's unique just to
that night and will not, you know, has not been
said before and will not be said again, cause it
has to do with who's sitting in front of me.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
That's great. Do you, do you ever get, I know
this is sort of uh cliche question, but do you
ever get, you've been doing this and you do it
so well, you ever get nervous anymore at all? I
mean you go you go to so many places and
you do this so well, but do you ever get
nervous on a stage?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I do, yeah, I do. I mean, you know, there are,
I think I get the most nervous when there are
people in the audience that I actually know, like if
a friend came to, you know, see the show or something,
and you know, the irony is that a lot of
times it's not as good as a result, um, uh, because.
(08:19):
You know, uh, to me, what, what, you know, feels
the best is when I'm, you know, just in the
thick of it, not thinking about anything else. And when,
if there's somebody there that I know, I, I, I
have a tendency to
You know, I might have some awareness of where they're sitting,
(08:39):
and there's some, I mean, hopefully not right, not within
my sightlines, but, um, you know, there's just part of
me that keeps thinking about their judgment about what I'm doing,
you know,
um,
Speaker 1 (08:53):
your cousin or anybody, or does it matter? It would
just be anyone you know.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
I, uh, yeah, I mean, I guess it depends where they,
you know, where they fall, uh, in, in, in my
relationship with them. The other thing is my manager Bonnie Burns,
who is a terrific manager and she's been my manager
for I don't know, over 30 years now, um, she's
always whining that we don't have like she'll be like,
you know, I really need more like uh.
(09:18):
You know, for promotional reasons and to, you know, I
really need more video of you. I really need, you know,
more video. It's just she'll do this thing where she'll
go like, OK, all right, we've got a team to
uh come film you at the blah blah blah, you know,
I'll be, you know, at the West Theater in Duluth, Minnesota,
and she's, OK, I got a team to uh.
(09:39):
Filming and there's something about just knowing that there's like
this sort of, you know, additional audience of a, you know,
of a camera and more and more judging going on
because of course once you film it, you have to
go through it and go, oh, that wasn't very good. Wow,
that boy, look at your hair there, that's terrible. So again,
I'm just taken out of, uh, you know, what I'm
(10:02):
doing the, the truth is, I think a good show
for me.
Is almost all relationship with the audience, which is why,
you know, I was so jealous.
Of musicians, particularly during the stay at home order. I mean,
I'm often jealous of musicians, but I would say particularly
(10:23):
during the stay at home order when we as performers
were all trying to figure out how to keep, you know,
plates in the air, how to keep a relationship with
the audience, how to keep, uh, you, you know, was
there a way to make money still performing, um, but,
you know, via
(10:45):
Uh, Zoom and, um, you know, a musician can perform
in their living room. I remember uh Mary Chapin Carpenter, um,
did these, uh uh I'm a big uh PBS Newshour
watcher and, and the Newshour, um, did a piece on
Mary Chapin Carpenter doing these, you know, intimate.
(11:06):
Concerts from her living room and uh you know, because
you can do that as a musician
Speaker 1 (11:12):
you don't
Speaker 2 (11:12):
you
Speaker 1 (11:12):
know all their buddies were collaborating with each other and
Speaker 2 (11:16):
yes and her dog would run through and everyone would
celebrate that. Jesus, if I was recording somewhere, my dog barked,
everybody was like, can you shut that dog up like this.
I just feel like because as a musician, you don't,
you know, would you like to have a great response
from an audience in front of you? Absolutely, I'm sure,
but you don't require it in order to do what
(11:39):
you're doing.
There could be no, that's why they can record in
the studio with no one there. You, you don't have
to have a response. And as a comic without a response,
you're just lost. It's like you could have been off
the trail for hours and not know it, um, which
(11:59):
is why podcasting, by the way, is challenging in a
similar way, um, because you don't know.
Uh, when people come up to me after a show,
I have a podcast called Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone,
and when people come up to me after a live,
just me doing stand-up show.
And they say, oh my gosh, I'm like, you know,
(12:20):
I love, I love when you do, I do some
characters on my podcast which I would never be courageous
enough to do uh like out outside of, you know,
my bedroom. Um, but I, oh gosh, way too shy.
But it, it, it, but when people come up and
they go, oh I love it when you do, Mrs. Culpeper, or,
you know, oh there needs to be more mic boom
(12:40):
boom bone.
I, I am, uh, my heart soars cause I'm like, really?
I had no idea anybody liked it. I was, I
was just doing it like singing in the shower where,
you know, I do it because I like it. Well,
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Paula, you're doing better than me. The advice I get
from people is you just shouldn't do a podcast, Brett,
and I said, OK, but I still do it because
I have great guests, I'm like, whatever, I have great guests,
so it makes it makes up for the lack so
but your podcast is.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Your podcast I've been on a lot of podcasts and you're,
you're very good at this. So whoever's saying that just
doesn't know what they're talking about, you know, that's the
other thing I think as a human being in general, um.
You know, when, when people come up to me and
they say, and, and, and occasionally they do, comics will
come up and say, you know, uh, you know, can
(13:26):
you give me any advice, uh, you know, blah blah, blah.
I'm a stand-up comic. What do you think? blah, bah bah, right?
I always say to them, you know, uh, first of all, the,
the only real advice I can give you is to
do what's in your heart. But the truth is, if
I knew.
If I knew what someone should do to be like
a big huge stand up comedy star, I would be
(13:48):
a big huge stand up comedy star, and I wouldn't
have time to have this little chat with you. Uh,
if you do what everyone else does, I think you're, you're,
I think that's a mistake and therefore, most people's advice
isn't gonna be appropriate to you.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Well, I, I'm half joking, but certainly not in the
world of yours, and it's it's so fun for me
to have these conversations with with people like you because
not just because you're famous and you've been there and
done that, because the insight as a comedian, you have
so much, you know, you're not just the greats like
you are not just funny, you've gotta be incredibly intelligent,
you've gotta have your finger on the pulse of society,
which is why you've done so much tonight shows and
(14:26):
political correspondents and NPR um and and I just think
that
Speaker 2 (14:30):
I think a lot of the political.
Correspondence stuff that I did, which was, uh, I covered
the conventions uh for Jay Leno when he was the
Tonight Show guy, and then that went over so well.
I did a, I did a week at the Republican
convention and a week at the Democratic convention. And when
that went over very well, then they, uh, they invited
(14:52):
me to go cover the inauguration for them, and this
is a long time ago, it was Bill Clinton. Um, and, uh,
but I think
The reason that it, it worked as well as I
think it did is that.
I really am not an expert on politics. I mean,
(15:13):
I know now more than I did then, um, but I,
you know, I'm, I'm watching and I'm trying to pay
attention and I think it's really important, um, and, and, uh, uh, uh,
and I wish more people, um, knew more about it.
(15:33):
Uh, because I think we would make better decisions collectively,
and that's our job is to make decisions collectively, um, and, and,
and people who just sit out, uh, uh, that's not OK. Uh,
you have to do, it's your responsibility and, and, and you,
and you have to do it and.
Then you have to educate yourself a little bit in
order to, uh, in order to make better decisions. But,
(15:56):
but I do think that the reason that it went
over the way that it did was that I really
was just there as someone who knew almost nothing about it.
And so I think the questions that I asked of people.
And the things that I focused on were stuff that
a lot of other Americans were like, yeah, I didn't
know that either because you know what happens is eventually
(16:17):
if you have what feels like a really stupid question, um,
and too much time goes by, you, you, it just
gets stupid or you just feel like, well, now I
can't ask.
Because you know it's assumed that I would know this
by now. So it's like, it's like for example, when you,
when you don't, when you can't remember somebody's name and
(16:38):
it's someone that you actually know really well, this happened
with me and my dad. I just, you know, I
would see him in the hallway and I was like,
I know the guy. I know I know him, uh, and, and,
and it turned out, you know, it was my dad. Uh,
but you, you know how when you get to know
somebody too well to say to them, hey, I, I'm sorry,
I didn't get your name.
Years ago, uh, uh, so it's the same thing with
(17:00):
politics is, you know, you just feel stupid saying, well,
I don't know about the blah blah blah. I don't
know about, you know, the Constitution. I don't know about
this and that, um, and, uh, and so when I
was asking the questions that everybody else felt stupid for
not knowing, I, I think it was appealing to people.
I
Speaker 1 (17:16):
think it humanizes, it gets away from a lot of
the political coined answers and responses to and it turns
people into humans, which I think is very important even today.
Uh, do you find that, and I didn't bring you
on to dig into politics, I promise you, but just
in terms of stand-up comedy and politics, is it still
something that you should tackle? Are you more fearful as
comedians to touch on it? Is it, is it, is
(17:36):
it getting so you've seen a lot, 90s, 2000s, are
you at a place where you gotta be careful doing
it or is it just more of a need for
it than ever? Well,
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Trump wants us to feel that we're at a place.
Where we have to be careful doing it that's that's
he's making that he's saying now that he's gonna go after,
you know, uh, content providers right? that you know anybody
who says stuff about him that's not true, which is ironic.
you know, coming from someone who just makes mincemeat out
(18:06):
of truth. Uh, uh, so, uh, but I do think
he wants people to feel, uh, you know, afraid, um, uh,
you know, that's what, you know, comedy.
Um, again, since before we came out of the caves,
I'm sure, I mean, I wasn't there then, but I'm sure,
you know, one of the functions of comedy, it doesn't
(18:29):
mean that every stand-up comic has to, you know, tackle politics, whatever.
I talk about it on the level that I am
interested in it.
Because my act is largely autobiographical. So I talk about
what I'm doing, what I'm thinking, what happened to me, um,
and I am pretty uh interested and involved in, uh,
(18:51):
you know, what's, what's going on. And we are, I
don't know if you remember this book.
But we are the Bartholomew of Bartholomew and the Oobleck, uh, comics,
you know, it's our job to go with our trumpet,
you know, to the highest tower and blow it to
(19:11):
say there's, you know what, it's an emergency that we're,
you know, we're having problems, and then, and then when the,
when the oblick falls in our horn and we can't
blow it anymore, we have to find another way.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I and I and Paula, I could, I'm having a
great time. I could I could chat with you forever,
but you don't have forever. You're the important person here.
A couple more minutes here. I do want to bring
this up. You're coming down here January 9th and know
you're touring, but you, you've made Key West sort of
a place you come to routinely. You've been here quite
a few times now, yeah. So we kind of feel
like you're part of the crew, the family here. Do
(19:44):
you have anything in Key West you have to do
when you come down here or something that you look
forward to besides obviously standing up.
And making people laugh and feel great, but anything else
that you get Key West bucket list stuff you you
tend to do? You
Speaker 2 (19:56):
know, you know, it's really embarrassing. This is terrible, uh,
and this is the same for almost every place I go,
which is, um, uh, well, especially to get to Key West.
I have to get up very early in the morning, like,
you know, 3 o'clock or something to get to the airport,
to get to a flight, to get to, you know, eventually, uh,
(20:18):
to Key West.
And so by the time I get there I'm exhausted
and so I end up sleeping which just feels horrible. I'm,
I'll like look out the window and go, oh it
looks really beautiful out there.
I think the last time I was there I did, uh,
I think the last time or maybe the time before
I did go for a walk, you know, one day. I,
(20:40):
I don't think I was in the really pretty part
where I was walking, but I, you know, I saw
some I saw some water at least, uh, you know
what I find unusual about Key
Speaker 1 (20:50):
West?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
There you go,
Speaker 1 (20:52):
you throw a dart, you can hit it. What is it?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Well, uh, many things, you're right. Uh, but, um, so
when you're traveling there,
They'll say to you, oh well, you can't have, you, you,
you know, you, you can only have one bag.
Have you had this experience before?
I mean, I guess it depends on the
Speaker 1 (21:14):
airline, yeah, I don't know, go ahead, I wanna hear this.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I think it happened with United one time. They're like, yeah,
you're only allowed to, uh, you know, check one bag,
and I'm like, well, but I have more than one bag,
and it's not like I have any way of getting
the bag anyplace else. It's not like they'll store it
for me. It's not like they'll send
it on.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
What do you do in this situation?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Well, eventually the people who were telling me this at
the United desk were like, well, oh, OK.
We'll let you take another bag. But I, I, I mean,
it's just ridiculous. And if they had said that on
the way home, and I, when I, and the thing
is I've been to Key West before and I had
never had this experience. So they go, no, no, that's
our policy. I go, well, it couldn't be because I've
(21:56):
been there before and I, I, you know, and I
had two bags. And um and they said, well, I,
I'm like, what, what is it with the two bags?
They said, well, it's a very small airport.
That was their explanation. Like, OK, yes, I've been smaller airport.
What do you mean? Like the runway is too short
for all the bags. What do you mean? I, I
don't get it. It was the strangest thing. Paula,
Speaker 1 (22:17):
they may know something about your bags that we don't know.
I I don't know about the bag thing. Some of
these airlines, these smaller ones get you, but, uh, and
I know you have a lot of cats, maybe some
of those cats are in the bag, I don't know,
but uh. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (22:27):
no, honest to God. And how many like how many
exotic animal smugglers have they let go in and out?
I mean, if I had lemurs down my pants.
They'd be happy to let
me in.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
That should be the name of the album, Lemurs down
my pants. I love this.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, if I had like a little FedEx box with
small alligators in it, they'd be delighted. But I, I
just thought it was the weirdest thing unless I was
just being like bullied by some rogue employee that had,
you know, that had nothing to do with, you know,
their regular policy.
Are they
Speaker 1 (22:56):
are they letting you get away with it though because
you're Paula Poundstone? Like I'm not getting a second, but
they're just like, hey, you can.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
No, that's, that's what I think was really weird. Like
there's absolutely no way that I am the only person.
Here's why I have two bags. I know what you're
thinking costume changes, but
Speaker 1 (23:12):
no. OK, all right,
Speaker 2 (23:13):
OK. I have two bags because there's the one bag
that has my, you know, my clothes in it, um, uh,
and I wear really large underwear, uh, so there's that bag,
and then the second bag, um, is the merch bag.
It has.
Uh, the things that I sell, uh, so it has
my remarkably soft tripoly blend, uh, t-shirts with the self-portrait
(23:36):
on the left breast and a memorable quote on the
back and both baseball and standard sizes, um, that sort
of thing. Paul,
Speaker 1 (23:42):
you've
got people for that though, right? You're so famous and
you've done like
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Oh my gosh,
do I have people for that? No, I have people
for anything. I keep trying to get people. Uh,
Speaker 1 (23:53):
well, I've I've almost at my time with you.
And probably over, but I wanna do, uh, I've got
Paula Poundstone and every once in a while I'll do
a quick rapid fire on the podcast to sort of
wrap it up. So are you OK if I do
a rapid fire question with you? It doesn't matter how
Speaker 2 (24:06):
rapidly. I
hope so.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I have a few questions for you. Paula Poundstone Rapid Fire,
Florida Keys Weekly podcast. Uh, first question for you, Paula, is, uh,
what's your best theory on those mysterious drones hovering over
New Jersey and other areas across the country? What's your
theory on these drones?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Um, it's, uh.
I think it's something that um
Lin-Manuel Miranda, uh, has created in order to write a
musical about it. It's a theory.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
It's a better theory than what I've heard, better than
what I've heard. So, uh, uh, last package Paula Poundstone,
Paula Poundstone opened from Amazon, what was in it?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Oh, that I opened from Amazon. 000, I think it
was a holiday.
Holiday dish towels um that I ordered to send to
my
Kids. Of course it also could have been a large
box of toilet paper. Either way, could have been either one.
(25:11):
Both are important at the holidays.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
11 of my questions was last unique experience on an
airplane or airport, I think you answered that one. what
about this one? Aside from this question, what's the worst
thing you can do or ask uh on a podcast
because yours is such a good podcast and we all
know it and uh certainly want you to plug it again,
but what's the worst thing you can do or ask
on a on a podcast?
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Huh, um.
Well, it wouldn't, um.
I don't know. I don't know if I've done it. Uh,
I probably have, which is why nobody listens to Paula Poundstone.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Um does. That's the I love the ironic name because
everyone does, and, uh, I did hear you on with
Noel Brennan, he's one of my favorites, and you guys
covered some deep topics, and I'm not going into that,
but you guys, um, is there a time to be
funny on a podcast
Speaker 2 (25:58):
surprise to me, by the way.
I mean, you know, I, I'm a, I'm a little
bit of a wind-up toy, you know, you wind me
up and I just keep talking, you know, you pull
my string and I just talk, um, and, and I, uh, uh,
but I, I really didn't.
I had not ahead of time gathered, you know, the
the nature of some of some of what he, I
(26:18):
don't know if he planned to talk about those things
or he just went in that direction at some point. I,
I don't know, but, um, uh, uh, but it, it,
it took me a little bit by, by surprise. It
was fine, but it did take me
Speaker 1 (26:31):
because you're both so damn funny, obviously I love both
of you and
I kind of thought, oh, they're gonna dig into some
funny stuff and it turned into some serious stuff, which
was still great, you know, to get to know both
of you on that level, but I didn't know if
that was something that you expected going into it or
it just sort of
Speaker 2 (26:44):
changed. No, I really didn't. You know, uh, uh, he
has this studio that was impossible for me to find.
I swear there's something about my GPS that's just cruel. It's,
it's forever saying, you know, destination is on your right,
and like I'm nowhere near where I'm supposed to be.
Going. So in that case, the car said I was
where I was supposed to be. So, you know, I, I, I, I,
(27:08):
I pull over and get out and, you know, I
called the, the studio and they're like, where are you? Uh,
I'm like, let me put you out with my car.
Let me, you turn to my car, you explain it
to my car. Um, but, uh, what, what was right
next to where my car told me was the place
was a girls girls girls sign. OK.
(27:29):
Yeah, and uh yeah, Neil and them.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
It's not a studio, was it? You're not saying that's
Neil's studio, right? The girls
Speaker 2 (27:35):
girls. No, I
mean they pretended they didn't know what I was talking about,
but I'm pretty sure there's like a, you know, a tunnel,
a trapdoor between the two girls, girls, girls.
Um, when was the last time? Oh, that's, that's something
out of like a cartoon now, girls, girls, girls. When
was the last time you saw a sign that actually
meant that, but this, this did.
(27:57):
Well,
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I've got your last two rapid. I know I probably
killed the idea of rapid.
I'm taking forever, I know,
Speaker 2 (28:02):
but I'm not good at rapid fire. I forgot to
tell you that part. I
talk a lot. Uh,
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I love it. I just don't wanna keep you too
long because we got like a minute or two last
two questions for you rapid fire. What's the what's the
last craziest thing that one of your cats threw up
or vomited, threw up out of his mouth?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
00, I, you know, I try not to get that involved. Uh,
I'm gonna clean it up, but I don't study on it,
so I'm not sure. I mean, they do eat, uh, bloody.
Everything, um,
they do,
Speaker 1 (28:31):
how many cats do you have?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
I, I think I have 10 now. I, I am, I,
I haven't counted, uh, I believe it's 10. I have
a cat. The last one that I got, um, I
usually get kittens. I've never brought an adult cat home until, uh, well, uh,
78 days ago.
78 days ago, I brought home my cat. I named
(28:53):
him Larry. He was, he's black and white. He's, he
was 23.9 pounds the day after I got him. Uh,
he's the largest cat I've ever seen in my life.
He's not a Maine Coon. He's just plain fat. And, uh,
so I've been helping Larry lose weight. Uh, I weighed
him last night.
Larry weighed in last night at 18.4.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Larry's Larry's mad at you. Larry, he's mad at you,
but I feel like he's
Speaker 2 (29:20):
in good shape. He's doing great. He'll run now. He,
he can, you can pick him up and he's comfortable now.
I mean, he's still got a ways to go, you know, 18.4.
You know what's frustrating is the way I do it
is I weigh myself and then I pick up Larry.
And I weigh us together and then I do the subtraction. Well,
the cumulative weight has remained the same, um, but Larry's losing.
(29:45):
So somehow Larry's weight is going directly to me.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
So last question for you, Paula, I'm gonna leave you alone,
but uh.
Uh, have you ever, I assume you have, I, I
know I would. I'm I'm I I would do it
all the time. Have you ever googled Googled yourself? And
if so, uh, what's the craziest thing you found out
that somebody said or reported or talked about Paula Poundstone
when you Googled yourself?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
No, I have never Googled myself and no, and I
never would. I know, I, I would, it would be,
it is a horrifying idea to me. Um, I, you know,
even when I write stuff, I mean, occasionally I'll look
at comments, um, but mostly like if somebody, you know,
says something nice, for example, I might respond to them and,
(30:28):
you know, thank them or something like that, um, but
mostly I put stuff out like it's a message in
a bottle.
I'm like, you know, there was, you know, it's over
with now, and, um, you know, hope somebody finds it,
but I'm not responsible for what happens on the other end, uh, and, uh, yeah,
I mean, I, it never until you just ask me
(30:49):
that question and every.
It occurred to me that I could do that
Speaker 1 (30:52):
and uh Google you're gonna do, I'm telling
Speaker 2 (30:55):
you, I never, I never would. I can't, I can't,
you know, I, I, I really just wanna do what
I do and I don't wanna be um.
I don't wanna, you know, sort of worry about how
everyone else is judging or calculating it or whatever. Um,
I mean, I'm so lucky. I've been doing this job
(31:16):
for 45 years. I have the nicest audience in the world,
you know, when I worked clubs, um, other acts.
wanted to work with me and it's not because I'm
such a stroll in the park. It's because they wanted
to be in front of my audience. I have the
best audience in the business. I wish that it was more,
you know, diverse, uh, um, but outside of that.
(31:41):
You know, outside of that, it is the best audience in, in,
in the, in the business. Uh, then the couple came
up to me in, um, wherever the hell I just was, Portland, Oregon,
and they said we've seen you 4 times this year,
and I said, Well, yes, but I've only been in
Portland one night. They said, Oh, we don't live here.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
That's awesome. You're like the Grateful Dead. You got you
got
Speaker 2 (32:03):
people traveling.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
It's it's really wonderful. I mean, what they, what they
didn't say, but it's probably true, is that they had
other reasons to be in the other cities that I
was in, but nonetheless, uh, very
flattering.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
You need a name for them, you have the deadheads
who travel for them, you need like you know.
Postoners or something, I don't know, I'm not the comedian,
but that's uh you are gonna be here January 9th, Paula,
Paula Poundstone, January 9th, Key West Theater, there could be
some tickets remaining, uh, the Key Westheatre.com, those doors open
at 7, I think you come up around 8, Paula. Um,
Speaker 2 (32:36):
anything,
Speaker 1 (32:37):
yep, that sounds about right. Anything you wanna, uh, shout
out before we go, I know the podcast is going strong, uh,
nobody listens to Paula Poundstone, that's the name of.
But everyone listens to Paula Poundstone. We know that, uh,
where can they find that? Anything else that, uh, for
for your fans and those who following you,
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I'm on the goofy socials, you know, I'm on, uh,
I'm still on, uh, uh, Twitter, uh, because I'm not
giving up our thing to the rich jerk, um, uh,
but I'm, um, uh, but I'm also on Blue sky and, uh,
and threads and, uh.
Um, uh, so if people like that sort of thing,
(33:15):
there I am. There you
go.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Uh, when does the podcast come out? How, how often
do you do it?
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Uh, once a week,
um, and we make sure there's an episode every week, um,
because the podcast that I listen to and I, and
I listen to a bunch, you know, you feel so
connected to, uh, to it, and it's a, you know,
like I.
I can't imagine walking the dog without listening to something.
(33:41):
I mean, not that my dog's not stimulating, she is. Um, but, uh,
you know, or doing chores, which, you know, when you
have 10 cats and two big dogs, you, you, you,
you have a lot of chores. Uh, so I'm really, uh, the,
the uh
Listening to podcasts is, is my companionship. And so when
my coworkers have said, well, you know, somebody said the
(34:02):
other day, well, contractually we're not obliged to have to do,
you know, 52 weeks, and I said, no, no, no,
but we have to because I don't want our listeners, um, who,
especially at the holidays or whatever, maybe, you know, feeling
lonely or whatever. I, I don't want to be one
more reason.
You know, why somebody feels lonely. I wanna make sure
(34:25):
that we're there for the, for the people who enjoy us.
And so we do every week. There you
Speaker 1 (34:31):
go, not surprising about you and I'll tell you, Paula, honestly,
I've had I've had the pleasure and I've been very
lucky uh to have a lot of celebrities come on, uh,
have some fun shows, but having you on, again, I
grew up with you, watching you, you're always there on
HBO doing things and having you on as gracious and
as fun as you are is not surprising, but I'm
very
Thankful for it and I appreciate you coming on the show.
(34:51):
Can't wait to see you here on January 9th at
the Key West Theater and uh wish you happy holidays
or whatever it might be. Oh
Speaker 2 (34:58):
cut too.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
And uh thanks for doing this.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Alright,
you take
care.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Alright, Paula, you have a great time and we'll see
you here in January. All the best to you.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Thank you. All
Speaker 1 (35:10):
right, bye bye.
Welcome back to another another edition of the Florida Keys
Weekly podcast. I am your host, Brett Myers. I wanna
thank you again for listening in, particularly our radio listeners
out there on WKWF and FM 103.3, you early risers
for the rest of you normal folks who who do
not get up early.
And listen to podcast, Amazon, Apple, Spotify, you know where
(00:22):
to find us. I wanna thank you and our sponsor
Overseas Media Group, the social media local company that brings
you a world of expertise and the local service you
deserve for all your digital marketing needs. Overseas Media Group.com.
Thank you for your for allowing us to have these podcasts.
And as all of you know, who listen in, we've
had some great podcasts over the over the years and
(00:42):
recently Jelly Roll, the the Black Pumas, uh, a lot
of fun for me to get to do these, but
this one's very special for me because this person was
always there, uh, as I as I grew up, um,
she's one of the most well-known.
And celebrated comedians of our time. I'm an eighties person
and 90s, and I just, uh, she was just never
not around and she was a big part of, of
(01:02):
me growing up and and inspiring me and um just,
just love watching her and she's still going today and
she's joining us now. It's Miss Paula Poundstone. She'll be
at the Key West Theater January 9th. I can't promise
tickets remain if they do, you wanna jump on it,
it's the Key West Theatre.com. The doors will open on
January 9th. Uh, Paula has a resume.
(01:24):
That goes on for miles and miles and years and years.
It's amazing she is regarded by many to be one
of the greatest stand-up comedians of our time. Of course
there's many shows, many, many podcasts, many news, uh, Tonight Show,
you name it, she's done it, uh, but other than
that I want to welcome Ms. Paula Poundstone to our podcast. Paula,
(01:45):
thank you for doing this.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Oh, thanks so much for having me. What a glowing introduction.
Thank you. Oh,
Speaker 1 (01:50):
absolutely, and I cut it short. You've got so many things. Uh,
Comedy Central's called you one of the greatest comedians of
all time. You've done improv, you've, uh, one of the
stories I love Paula, I I don't wanna go back
to your history just to just to, uh, hit every
bullet point that's been talked about.
But it it just based on some internet research, I
know you got started in the late 70s and you were,
(02:12):
you were traveling and doing stand up and open mic
nights and, and Robin Williams caught you and encouraged you
to go to LA um I am a huge Robin
Williams fan just as I am a huge fan of
yours and that makes sense that you two connected. Can
I ask you about that real quick? How do you,
how do you meet up with Robin Williams and, and
how did that come about and what, how did that
lead to your career?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
You know, I started out in Boston in '79, I
think I was 19, and I um
I decided to take a Greyhound bus around the country
to see what clubs were like in different cities. Uh,
and I, I lived on Greyhound buses for, I don't know, months,
(02:52):
and I ended up in uh San Francisco.
Uh, and I stayed there because I went on stage
in a, in a, in a club. It was called
the other cafe, and I just fell in love with
the audience, and so I just decided, well, you know,
I'll just stay here. And Robin uh used to live
up in the Bay Area. He's from there, uh, and
(03:15):
so when he would come, you know, you know, home
from
working in LA, he would come to, uh, come to
San Francisco. So he really was a big supporter of, uh,
of the whole San Francisco comedy team. I mean comedy scene,
excuse me, uh, uh, you know, I always say that
anybody in comedy my age or younger, uh, owes a
(03:39):
debt of gratitude to Robin Williams because, uh, he really, uh,
you know, stand-up comedy's been around since before we came
out of the caves.
But Robin really did sort of reignite audience interest in it, um,
in the, in the 80s, uh, late, late 70s, 80s.
And um so we all got a big boost from
(04:02):
Robin Williams. You know, people used to come to clubs
in San Francisco uh a lot of times hoping he
would stop by and he often did. And while they
waited for him to stop by, they found they enjoyed
some of the rest of us, um.
So, uh, yeah, and he, he introduced me to his
management and by the way, Dana Carvey was managed by
(04:25):
the same people, and Dana also recommended me to his
management and I came down to LA and, uh, and
I guess I don't know, showcased for them or whatever.
I I danced with a ball in my nose for them.
It was
Speaker 1 (04:37):
good. It's not surprising though, Paula, this podcast is about you,
not Robin Williams or Dana, but you know, I love
comedy and you know every comedian
Has their thing they do well, but the greats, I mean,
including yourself, there's just something about the way you interact
with the crowd spontaneously you your material changes and that's
one thing you're known for. Is that something Robin and
(04:58):
Dana saw with you that really connected? I have to
imagine it was, but you the way you get on
the stage, you change it up, you interrupt and you're
not threatening, you don't make it.
You know, uh, you know, I'm not coming back here
with her, but you make it fun, but you still
connect in a way that's spontaneous and kind of off
the cuff. Uh, was that was that something you were
doing back then that caught their eye or did that
change over time, or how did that come about?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
You know, I started, um, um, you know, having a, a, a, a,
a part of my show anyways unscripted, uh, well, I mean,
the whole thing's unscripted, really, but, um, I, I, I
started because, uh, even from the time I started out
in Boston, you know, as an open micer, you would, uh, have,
(05:41):
you know, your 5 minutes of jokes. That's the premise
of an open mic is that anybody who wants to
can go up for 5 minutes. Um, and, uh,
Boston had a very red hot, uh, um, open mic scene, uh,
as well. Um, San Francisco's was even better. Uh, but, um, so,
you know, I would memorize my five minutes and honestly, uh,
(06:03):
before I even made it to the stage, oftentimes I
would have forgotten it already and uh just out of
nerves and so many times I was just sort of,
you know, forced by circumstances to go, uh, um, you, sir,
what do you do for a living?
And, and for a while I thought this was a
very bad thing. I thought it meant, you know, that
(06:24):
I just wasn't going to be good at this at all.
And then 11 night it dawned on me that, uh,
I one night when I was able to remember some
of what I meant to say, um, it occurred to
me that the stuff that I was saying that I
hadn't planned to say at all, um was responded to
much better.
(06:45):
Then, you know, than jokes that I had prepared. And
so eventually I just sort of uh uh uh I
mean I have material. I, I have 45 years of
material rattling around in my head somewhere. I kind of
feel like when I go on stage, it's a little
bit like one of those uh um arcade games where
you step into the glass booth and they blow money
(07:07):
around or whatever you can catch you can keep.
That, that's, that's me on stage. Like I, I, I, I,
you know, a lot of times when I say stuff,
I am saying something that I've said before. Uh, I
just didn't know I was gonna say it then. Um,
but I would say on a good night and I
like to tell myself that, that, that some of my
nights are good, I would say, uh, you know,
(07:28):
I don't know. Somewhere between a, you know, somewhere between
a 3rd and a 5th, um, it's unique just to
that night and will not, you know, has not been
said before and will not be said again, cause it
has to do with who's sitting in front of me.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
That's great. Do you, do you ever get, I know
this is sort of uh cliche question, but do you
ever get, you've been doing this and you do it
so well, you ever get nervous anymore at all? I
mean you go you go to so many places and
you do this so well, but do you ever get
nervous on a stage?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I do, yeah, I do. I mean, you know, there are,
I think I get the most nervous when there are
people in the audience that I actually know, like if
a friend came to, you know, see the show or something,
and you know, the irony is that a lot of
times it's not as good as a result, um, uh, because.
(08:19):
You know, uh, to me, what, what, you know, feels
the best is when I'm, you know, just in the
thick of it, not thinking about anything else. And when,
if there's somebody there that I know, I, I, I
have a tendency to
You know, I might have some awareness of where they're sitting,
(08:39):
and there's some, I mean, hopefully not right, not within
my sightlines, but, um, you know, there's just part of
me that keeps thinking about their judgment about what I'm doing,
you know,
um,
Speaker 1 (08:53):
your cousin or anybody, or does it matter? It would
just be anyone you know.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
I, uh, yeah, I mean, I guess it depends where they,
you know, where they fall, uh, in, in, in my
relationship with them. The other thing is my manager Bonnie Burns,
who is a terrific manager and she's been my manager
for I don't know, over 30 years now, um, she's
always whining that we don't have like she'll be like,
you know, I really need more like uh.
(09:18):
You know, for promotional reasons and to, you know, I
really need more video of you. I really need, you know,
more video. It's just she'll do this thing where she'll
go like, OK, all right, we've got a team to
uh come film you at the blah blah blah, you know,
I'll be, you know, at the West Theater in Duluth, Minnesota,
and she's, OK, I got a team to uh.
(09:39):
Filming and there's something about just knowing that there's like
this sort of, you know, additional audience of a, you know,
of a camera and more and more judging going on
because of course once you film it, you have to
go through it and go, oh, that wasn't very good. Wow,
that boy, look at your hair there, that's terrible. So again,
I'm just taken out of, uh, you know, what I'm
(10:02):
doing the, the truth is, I think a good show
for me.
Is almost all relationship with the audience, which is why,
you know, I was so jealous.
Of musicians, particularly during the stay at home order. I mean,
I'm often jealous of musicians, but I would say particularly
(10:23):
during the stay at home order when we as performers
were all trying to figure out how to keep, you know,
plates in the air, how to keep a relationship with
the audience, how to keep, uh, you, you know, was
there a way to make money still performing, um, but,
you know, via
(10:45):
Uh, Zoom and, um, you know, a musician can perform
in their living room. I remember uh Mary Chapin Carpenter, um,
did these, uh uh I'm a big uh PBS Newshour
watcher and, and the Newshour, um, did a piece on
Mary Chapin Carpenter doing these, you know, intimate.
(11:06):
Concerts from her living room and uh you know, because
you can do that as a musician
Speaker 1 (11:12):
you don't
Speaker 2 (11:12):
you
Speaker 1 (11:12):
know all their buddies were collaborating with each other and
Speaker 2 (11:16):
yes and her dog would run through and everyone would
celebrate that. Jesus, if I was recording somewhere, my dog barked,
everybody was like, can you shut that dog up like this.
I just feel like because as a musician, you don't,
you know, would you like to have a great response
from an audience in front of you? Absolutely, I'm sure,
but you don't require it in order to do what
(11:39):
you're doing.
There could be no, that's why they can record in
the studio with no one there. You, you don't have
to have a response. And as a comic without a response,
you're just lost. It's like you could have been off
the trail for hours and not know it, um, which
(11:59):
is why podcasting, by the way, is challenging in a
similar way, um, because you don't know.
Uh, when people come up to me after a show,
I have a podcast called Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone,
and when people come up to me after a live,
just me doing stand-up show.
And they say, oh my gosh, I'm like, you know,
(12:20):
I love, I love when you do, I do some
characters on my podcast which I would never be courageous
enough to do uh like out outside of, you know,
my bedroom. Um, but I, oh gosh, way too shy.
But it, it, it, but when people come up and
they go, oh I love it when you do, Mrs. Culpeper, or,
you know, oh there needs to be more mic boom
(12:40):
boom bone.
I, I am, uh, my heart soars cause I'm like, really?
I had no idea anybody liked it. I was, I
was just doing it like singing in the shower where,
you know, I do it because I like it. Well,
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Paula, you're doing better than me. The advice I get
from people is you just shouldn't do a podcast, Brett,
and I said, OK, but I still do it because
I have great guests, I'm like, whatever, I have great guests,
so it makes it makes up for the lack so
but your podcast is.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Your podcast I've been on a lot of podcasts and you're,
you're very good at this. So whoever's saying that just
doesn't know what they're talking about, you know, that's the
other thing I think as a human being in general, um.
You know, when, when people come up to me and
they say, and, and, and occasionally they do, comics will
come up and say, you know, uh, you know, can
(13:26):
you give me any advice, uh, you know, blah blah, blah.
I'm a stand-up comic. What do you think? blah, bah bah, right?
I always say to them, you know, uh, first of all, the,
the only real advice I can give you is to
do what's in your heart. But the truth is, if
I knew.
If I knew what someone should do to be like
a big huge stand up comedy star, I would be
(13:48):
a big huge stand up comedy star, and I wouldn't
have time to have this little chat with you. Uh,
if you do what everyone else does, I think you're, you're,
I think that's a mistake and therefore, most people's advice
isn't gonna be appropriate to you.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Well, I, I'm half joking, but certainly not in the
world of yours, and it's it's so fun for me
to have these conversations with with people like you because
not just because you're famous and you've been there and
done that, because the insight as a comedian, you have
so much, you know, you're not just the greats like
you are not just funny, you've gotta be incredibly intelligent,
you've gotta have your finger on the pulse of society,
which is why you've done so much tonight shows and
(14:26):
political correspondents and NPR um and and I just think
that
Speaker 2 (14:30):
I think a lot of the political.
Correspondence stuff that I did, which was, uh, I covered
the conventions uh for Jay Leno when he was the
Tonight Show guy, and then that went over so well.
I did a, I did a week at the Republican
convention and a week at the Democratic convention. And when
that went over very well, then they, uh, they invited
(14:52):
me to go cover the inauguration for them, and this
is a long time ago, it was Bill Clinton. Um, and, uh,
but I think
The reason that it, it worked as well as I
think it did is that.
I really am not an expert on politics. I mean,
(15:13):
I know now more than I did then, um, but I,
you know, I'm, I'm watching and I'm trying to pay
attention and I think it's really important, um, and, and, uh, uh, uh,
and I wish more people, um, knew more about it.
(15:33):
Uh, because I think we would make better decisions collectively,
and that's our job is to make decisions collectively, um, and, and,
and people who just sit out, uh, uh, that's not OK. Uh,
you have to do, it's your responsibility and, and, and you,
and you have to do it and.
Then you have to educate yourself a little bit in
order to, uh, in order to make better decisions. But,
(15:56):
but I do think that the reason that it went
over the way that it did was that I really
was just there as someone who knew almost nothing about it.
And so I think the questions that I asked of people.
And the things that I focused on were stuff that
a lot of other Americans were like, yeah, I didn't
know that either because you know what happens is eventually
(16:17):
if you have what feels like a really stupid question, um,
and too much time goes by, you, you, it just
gets stupid or you just feel like, well, now I
can't ask.
Because you know it's assumed that I would know this
by now. So it's like, it's like for example, when you,
when you don't, when you can't remember somebody's name and
(16:38):
it's someone that you actually know really well, this happened
with me and my dad. I just, you know, I
would see him in the hallway and I was like,
I know the guy. I know I know him, uh, and, and,
and it turned out, you know, it was my dad. Uh,
but you, you know how when you get to know
somebody too well to say to them, hey, I, I'm sorry,
I didn't get your name.
Years ago, uh, uh, so it's the same thing with
(17:00):
politics is, you know, you just feel stupid saying, well,
I don't know about the blah blah blah. I don't
know about, you know, the Constitution. I don't know about
this and that, um, and, uh, and so when I
was asking the questions that everybody else felt stupid for
not knowing, I, I think it was appealing to people.
I
Speaker 1 (17:16):
think it humanizes, it gets away from a lot of
the political coined answers and responses to and it turns
people into humans, which I think is very important even today.
Uh, do you find that, and I didn't bring you
on to dig into politics, I promise you, but just
in terms of stand-up comedy and politics, is it still
something that you should tackle? Are you more fearful as
comedians to touch on it? Is it, is it, is
(17:36):
it getting so you've seen a lot, 90s, 2000s, are
you at a place where you gotta be careful doing
it or is it just more of a need for
it than ever? Well,
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Trump wants us to feel that we're at a place.
Where we have to be careful doing it that's that's
he's making that he's saying now that he's gonna go after,
you know, uh, content providers right? that you know anybody
who says stuff about him that's not true, which is ironic.
you know, coming from someone who just makes mincemeat out
(18:06):
of truth. Uh, uh, so, uh, but I do think
he wants people to feel, uh, you know, afraid, um, uh,
you know, that's what, you know, comedy.
Um, again, since before we came out of the caves,
I'm sure, I mean, I wasn't there then, but I'm sure,
you know, one of the functions of comedy, it doesn't
(18:29):
mean that every stand-up comic has to, you know, tackle politics, whatever.
I talk about it on the level that I am
interested in it.
Because my act is largely autobiographical. So I talk about
what I'm doing, what I'm thinking, what happened to me, um,
and I am pretty uh interested and involved in, uh,
(18:51):
you know, what's, what's going on. And we are, I
don't know if you remember this book.
But we are the Bartholomew of Bartholomew and the Oobleck, uh, comics,
you know, it's our job to go with our trumpet,
you know, to the highest tower and blow it to
(19:11):
say there's, you know what, it's an emergency that we're,
you know, we're having problems, and then, and then when the,
when the oblick falls in our horn and we can't
blow it anymore, we have to find another way.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I and I and Paula, I could, I'm having a
great time. I could I could chat with you forever,
but you don't have forever. You're the important person here.
A couple more minutes here. I do want to bring
this up. You're coming down here January 9th and know
you're touring, but you, you've made Key West sort of
a place you come to routinely. You've been here quite
a few times now, yeah. So we kind of feel
like you're part of the crew, the family here. Do
(19:44):
you have anything in Key West you have to do
when you come down here or something that you look
forward to besides obviously standing up.
And making people laugh and feel great, but anything else
that you get Key West bucket list stuff you you
tend to do? You
Speaker 2 (19:56):
know, you know, it's really embarrassing. This is terrible, uh,
and this is the same for almost every place I go,
which is, um, uh, well, especially to get to Key West.
I have to get up very early in the morning, like,
you know, 3 o'clock or something to get to the airport,
to get to a flight, to get to, you know, eventually, uh,
(20:18):
to Key West.
And so by the time I get there I'm exhausted
and so I end up sleeping which just feels horrible. I'm,
I'll like look out the window and go, oh it
looks really beautiful out there.
I think the last time I was there I did, uh,
I think the last time or maybe the time before
I did go for a walk, you know, one day. I,
(20:40):
I don't think I was in the really pretty part
where I was walking, but I, you know, I saw
some I saw some water at least, uh, you know
what I find unusual about Key
Speaker 1 (20:50):
West?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
There you go,
Speaker 1 (20:52):
you throw a dart, you can hit it. What is it?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Well, uh, many things, you're right. Uh, but, um, so
when you're traveling there,
They'll say to you, oh well, you can't have, you, you,
you know, you, you can only have one bag.
Have you had this experience before?
I mean, I guess it depends on the
Speaker 1 (21:14):
airline, yeah, I don't know, go ahead, I wanna hear this.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I think it happened with United one time. They're like, yeah,
you're only allowed to, uh, you know, check one bag,
and I'm like, well, but I have more than one bag,
and it's not like I have any way of getting
the bag anyplace else. It's not like they'll store it
for me. It's not like they'll send
it on.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
What do you do in this situation?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Well, eventually the people who were telling me this at
the United desk were like, well, oh, OK.
We'll let you take another bag. But I, I, I mean,
it's just ridiculous. And if they had said that on
the way home, and I, when I, and the thing
is I've been to Key West before and I had
never had this experience. So they go, no, no, that's
our policy. I go, well, it couldn't be because I've
(21:56):
been there before and I, I, you know, and I
had two bags. And um and they said, well, I,
I'm like, what, what is it with the two bags?
They said, well, it's a very small airport.
That was their explanation. Like, OK, yes, I've been smaller airport.
What do you mean? Like the runway is too short
for all the bags. What do you mean? I, I
don't get it. It was the strangest thing. Paula,
Speaker 1 (22:17):
they may know something about your bags that we don't know.
I I don't know about the bag thing. Some of
these airlines, these smaller ones get you, but, uh, and
I know you have a lot of cats, maybe some
of those cats are in the bag, I don't know,
but uh. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (22:27):
no, honest to God. And how many like how many
exotic animal smugglers have they let go in and out?
I mean, if I had lemurs down my pants.
They'd be happy to let
me in.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
That should be the name of the album, Lemurs down
my pants. I love this.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, if I had like a little FedEx box with
small alligators in it, they'd be delighted. But I, I
just thought it was the weirdest thing unless I was
just being like bullied by some rogue employee that had,
you know, that had nothing to do with, you know,
their regular policy.
Are they
Speaker 1 (22:56):
are they letting you get away with it though because
you're Paula Poundstone? Like I'm not getting a second, but
they're just like, hey, you can.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
No, that's, that's what I think was really weird. Like
there's absolutely no way that I am the only person.
Here's why I have two bags. I know what you're
thinking costume changes, but
Speaker 1 (23:12):
no. OK, all right,
Speaker 2 (23:13):
OK. I have two bags because there's the one bag
that has my, you know, my clothes in it, um, uh,
and I wear really large underwear, uh, so there's that bag,
and then the second bag, um, is the merch bag.
It has.
Uh, the things that I sell, uh, so it has
my remarkably soft tripoly blend, uh, t-shirts with the self-portrait
(23:36):
on the left breast and a memorable quote on the
back and both baseball and standard sizes, um, that sort
of thing. Paul,
Speaker 1 (23:42):
you've
got people for that though, right? You're so famous and
you've done like
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Oh my gosh,
do I have people for that? No, I have people
for anything. I keep trying to get people. Uh,
Speaker 1 (23:53):
well, I've I've almost at my time with you.
And probably over, but I wanna do, uh, I've got
Paula Poundstone and every once in a while I'll do
a quick rapid fire on the podcast to sort of
wrap it up. So are you OK if I do
a rapid fire question with you? It doesn't matter how
Speaker 2 (24:06):
rapidly. I
hope so.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I have a few questions for you. Paula Poundstone Rapid Fire,
Florida Keys Weekly podcast. Uh, first question for you, Paula, is, uh,
what's your best theory on those mysterious drones hovering over
New Jersey and other areas across the country? What's your
theory on these drones?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Um, it's, uh.
I think it's something that um
Lin-Manuel Miranda, uh, has created in order to write a
musical about it. It's a theory.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
It's a better theory than what I've heard, better than
what I've heard. So, uh, uh, last package Paula Poundstone,
Paula Poundstone opened from Amazon, what was in it?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Oh, that I opened from Amazon. 000, I think it
was a holiday.
Holiday dish towels um that I ordered to send to
my
Kids. Of course it also could have been a large
box of toilet paper. Either way, could have been either one.
(25:11):
Both are important at the holidays.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
11 of my questions was last unique experience on an
airplane or airport, I think you answered that one. what
about this one? Aside from this question, what's the worst
thing you can do or ask uh on a podcast
because yours is such a good podcast and we all
know it and uh certainly want you to plug it again,
but what's the worst thing you can do or ask
on a on a podcast?
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Huh, um.
Well, it wouldn't, um.
I don't know. I don't know if I've done it. Uh,
I probably have, which is why nobody listens to Paula Poundstone.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Um does. That's the I love the ironic name because
everyone does, and, uh, I did hear you on with
Noel Brennan, he's one of my favorites, and you guys
covered some deep topics, and I'm not going into that,
but you guys, um, is there a time to be
funny on a podcast
Speaker 2 (25:58):
surprise to me, by the way.
I mean, you know, I, I'm a, I'm a little
bit of a wind-up toy, you know, you wind me
up and I just keep talking, you know, you pull
my string and I just talk, um, and, and I, uh, uh,
but I, I really didn't.
I had not ahead of time gathered, you know, the
the nature of some of some of what he, I
(26:18):
don't know if he planned to talk about those things
or he just went in that direction at some point. I,
I don't know, but, um, uh, uh, but it, it,
it took me a little bit by, by surprise. It
was fine, but it did take me
Speaker 1 (26:31):
because you're both so damn funny, obviously I love both
of you and
I kind of thought, oh, they're gonna dig into some
funny stuff and it turned into some serious stuff, which
was still great, you know, to get to know both
of you on that level, but I didn't know if
that was something that you expected going into it or
it just sort of
Speaker 2 (26:44):
changed. No, I really didn't. You know, uh, uh, he
has this studio that was impossible for me to find.
I swear there's something about my GPS that's just cruel. It's,
it's forever saying, you know, destination is on your right,
and like I'm nowhere near where I'm supposed to be.
Going. So in that case, the car said I was
where I was supposed to be. So, you know, I, I, I, I,
(27:08):
I pull over and get out and, you know, I
called the, the studio and they're like, where are you? Uh,
I'm like, let me put you out with my car.
Let me, you turn to my car, you explain it
to my car. Um, but, uh, what, what was right
next to where my car told me was the place
was a girls girls girls sign. OK.
(27:29):
Yeah, and uh yeah, Neil and them.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
It's not a studio, was it? You're not saying that's
Neil's studio, right? The girls
Speaker 2 (27:35):
girls. No, I
mean they pretended they didn't know what I was talking about,
but I'm pretty sure there's like a, you know, a tunnel,
a trapdoor between the two girls, girls, girls.
Um, when was the last time? Oh, that's, that's something
out of like a cartoon now, girls, girls, girls. When
was the last time you saw a sign that actually
meant that, but this, this did.
(27:57):
Well,
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I've got your last two rapid. I know I probably
killed the idea of rapid.
I'm taking forever, I know,
Speaker 2 (28:02):
but I'm not good at rapid fire. I forgot to
tell you that part. I
talk a lot. Uh,
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I love it. I just don't wanna keep you too
long because we got like a minute or two last
two questions for you rapid fire. What's the what's the
last craziest thing that one of your cats threw up
or vomited, threw up out of his mouth?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
00, I, you know, I try not to get that involved. Uh,
I'm gonna clean it up, but I don't study on it,
so I'm not sure. I mean, they do eat, uh, bloody.
Everything, um,
they do,
Speaker 1 (28:31):
how many cats do you have?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
I, I think I have 10 now. I, I am, I,
I haven't counted, uh, I believe it's 10. I have
a cat. The last one that I got, um, I
usually get kittens. I've never brought an adult cat home until, uh, well, uh,
78 days ago.
78 days ago, I brought home my cat. I named
(28:53):
him Larry. He was, he's black and white. He's, he
was 23.9 pounds the day after I got him. Uh,
he's the largest cat I've ever seen in my life.
He's not a Maine Coon. He's just plain fat. And, uh,
so I've been helping Larry lose weight. Uh, I weighed
him last night.
Larry weighed in last night at 18.4.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Larry's Larry's mad at you. Larry, he's mad at you,
but I feel like he's
Speaker 2 (29:20):
in good shape. He's doing great. He'll run now. He,
he can, you can pick him up and he's comfortable now.
I mean, he's still got a ways to go, you know, 18.4.
You know what's frustrating is the way I do it
is I weigh myself and then I pick up Larry.
And I weigh us together and then I do the subtraction. Well,
the cumulative weight has remained the same, um, but Larry's losing.
(29:45):
So somehow Larry's weight is going directly to me.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
So last question for you, Paula, I'm gonna leave you alone,
but uh.
Uh, have you ever, I assume you have, I, I
know I would. I'm I'm I I would do it
all the time. Have you ever googled Googled yourself? And
if so, uh, what's the craziest thing you found out
that somebody said or reported or talked about Paula Poundstone
when you Googled yourself?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
No, I have never Googled myself and no, and I
never would. I know, I, I would, it would be,
it is a horrifying idea to me. Um, I, you know,
even when I write stuff, I mean, occasionally I'll look
at comments, um, but mostly like if somebody, you know,
says something nice, for example, I might respond to them and,
(30:28):
you know, thank them or something like that, um, but
mostly I put stuff out like it's a message in
a bottle.
I'm like, you know, there was, you know, it's over
with now, and, um, you know, hope somebody finds it,
but I'm not responsible for what happens on the other end, uh, and, uh, yeah,
I mean, I, it never until you just ask me
(30:49):
that question and every.
It occurred to me that I could do that
Speaker 1 (30:52):
and uh Google you're gonna do, I'm telling
Speaker 2 (30:55):
you, I never, I never would. I can't, I can't,
you know, I, I, I really just wanna do what
I do and I don't wanna be um.
I don't wanna, you know, sort of worry about how
everyone else is judging or calculating it or whatever. Um,
I mean, I'm so lucky. I've been doing this job
(31:16):
for 45 years. I have the nicest audience in the world,
you know, when I worked clubs, um, other acts.
wanted to work with me and it's not because I'm
such a stroll in the park. It's because they wanted
to be in front of my audience. I have the
best audience in the business. I wish that it was more,
you know, diverse, uh, um, but outside of that.
(31:41):
You know, outside of that, it is the best audience in, in,
in the, in the business. Uh, then the couple came
up to me in, um, wherever the hell I just was, Portland, Oregon,
and they said we've seen you 4 times this year,
and I said, Well, yes, but I've only been in
Portland one night. They said, Oh, we don't live here.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
That's awesome. You're like the Grateful Dead. You got you
got
Speaker 2 (32:03):
people traveling.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
It's it's really wonderful. I mean, what they, what they
didn't say, but it's probably true, is that they had
other reasons to be in the other cities that I
was in, but nonetheless, uh, very
flattering.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
You need a name for them, you have the deadheads
who travel for them, you need like you know.
Postoners or something, I don't know, I'm not the comedian,
but that's uh you are gonna be here January 9th, Paula,
Paula Poundstone, January 9th, Key West Theater, there could be
some tickets remaining, uh, the Key Westheatre.com, those doors open
at 7, I think you come up around 8, Paula. Um,
Speaker 2 (32:36):
anything,
Speaker 1 (32:37):
yep, that sounds about right. Anything you wanna, uh, shout
out before we go, I know the podcast is going strong, uh,
nobody listens to Paula Poundstone, that's the name of.
But everyone listens to Paula Poundstone. We know that, uh,
where can they find that? Anything else that, uh, for
for your fans and those who following you,
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I'm on the goofy socials, you know, I'm on, uh,
I'm still on, uh, uh, Twitter, uh, because I'm not
giving up our thing to the rich jerk, um, uh,
but I'm, um, uh, but I'm also on Blue sky and, uh,
and threads and, uh.
Um, uh, so if people like that sort of thing,
(33:15):
there I am. There you
go.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Uh, when does the podcast come out? How, how often
do you do it?
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Uh, once a week,
um, and we make sure there's an episode every week, um,
because the podcast that I listen to and I, and
I listen to a bunch, you know, you feel so
connected to, uh, to it, and it's a, you know,
like I.
I can't imagine walking the dog without listening to something.
(33:41):
I mean, not that my dog's not stimulating, she is. Um, but, uh,
you know, or doing chores, which, you know, when you
have 10 cats and two big dogs, you, you, you,
you have a lot of chores. Uh, so I'm really, uh, the,
the uh
Listening to podcasts is, is my companionship. And so when
my coworkers have said, well, you know, somebody said the
(34:02):
other day, well, contractually we're not obliged to have to do,
you know, 52 weeks, and I said, no, no, no,
but we have to because I don't want our listeners, um, who,
especially at the holidays or whatever, maybe, you know, feeling
lonely or whatever. I, I don't want to be one
more reason.
You know, why somebody feels lonely. I wanna make sure
(34:25):
that we're there for the, for the people who enjoy us.
And so we do every week. There you
Speaker 1 (34:31):
go, not surprising about you and I'll tell you, Paula, honestly,
I've had I've had the pleasure and I've been very
lucky uh to have a lot of celebrities come on, uh,
have some fun shows, but having you on, again, I
grew up with you, watching you, you're always there on
HBO doing things and having you on as gracious and
as fun as you are is not surprising, but I'm
very
Thankful for it and I appreciate you coming on the show.
(34:51):
Can't wait to see you here on January 9th at
the Key West Theater and uh wish you happy holidays
or whatever it might be. Oh
Speaker 2 (34:58):
cut too.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
And uh thanks for doing this.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Alright,
you take
care.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Alright, Paula, you have a great time and we'll see
you here in January. All the best to you.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Thank you. All
Speaker 1 (35:10):
right, bye bye.
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