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Speaker 1: Comedy Saved Me. Welcome to Comedy Saved Me, the podcast

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Speaker 1: where comedians share the moments when laughter became their lifeline.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Lynn Hoffman, and today we are joined

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Speaker 1: by the incomparable Paula Poundstone, a comedy legend who's been

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Speaker 1: making audiences laugh for over four decades with her razor sharp,

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Speaker 1: observational humor and stream of consciousness storytelling. Paula is, let

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Speaker 1: me just tell you, a master of finding the absurd

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Speaker 1: in every day, whether she's dissecting the mysteries of laundry,

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Speaker 1: the politics of family road trips, or the existential crisis

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Speaker 1: of shopping at warehouse stores. Believe me. She is a

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Speaker 1: regular panelist on NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me, has

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Speaker 1: released multiple comedy albums, and continues to tour relentlessly, bringing

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Speaker 1: her unique brand of intelligent, improvised comedy to stages across

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Speaker 1: the country. But before she was cracking jokes about the

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Speaker 1: absurdities of modern life, Paula was navigating her own challenges,

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Speaker 1: and today she's here to share how comedy didn't just

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Speaker 1: become her career, it's quite literally saved her life. So

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Speaker 1: settle in as we explore the healing power of laughter

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Speaker 1: with the brilliant and always funny Paula Poundstone. Paula, welcome

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Speaker 1: to comedy save me. It is such a pleasure to

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Speaker 1: have you here.

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Speaker 2: Well, thank you very much, thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: I want to start at the beginning and ask you

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Speaker 1: what was your relationship with humor like as a kid?

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Speaker 1: I mean, were you the class clown or did you

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Speaker 1: find comedy later in life?

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Speaker 2: The first sentence of the summary letter written by my

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Speaker 2: kindergarten teacher, missus Bump and I believe it might have

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Speaker 2: been May of nineteen sixty four, perhaps it was sixty five.

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Speaker 2: I don't call said. I have enjoyed many of Paula's

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Speaker 2: humorous comments about our activities, So I don't remember doing

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Speaker 2: like a tight five one Plato, but I'm sure I did.

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Speaker 2: And I remember even before I started in kindergarten, I

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Speaker 2: was the youngest in my family and uh, my mother

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Speaker 2: not the happiest person in the world. She used to

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Speaker 2: get all the other kids off to school, uh, the

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Speaker 2: older kids off to school, and then she would go

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Speaker 2: back to bed, and I was just sort of left

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Speaker 2: to wander. And the truth is, much of the time,

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Speaker 2: most of the time, I suppose I eventually, you know,

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Speaker 2: gravitated towards the television, which in those days was not

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Speaker 2: like in the living room, was down in the you know,

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Speaker 2: in the in the basement, and I would watch. I

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Speaker 2: didn't much care for a lot of the children's programming

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Speaker 2: because this was even this was you know, pre Sessame Street.

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Speaker 2: Uh So I watched I Love Lucy reruns that were

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Speaker 2: on in the morning, and the Three Stooges. And I

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Speaker 2: still say to people that, you know, I was raised

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Speaker 2: by them.

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Speaker 1: I find that fascinating. I had Tom Berger on on

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Speaker 1: the show a couple of weeks ago, and when I

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Speaker 1: told him that I was a huge fan of the

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Speaker 1: Three Stooges, he said that he's never met a woman

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Speaker 1: that admitted that that they were a fan of the

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Speaker 1: never no one's ever told him that.

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Speaker 2: Okay, but how often hasn't come up?

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Speaker 1: Right?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's just uh. I wish I could

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Speaker 2: remember Rachel Mattaw was interviewing somebody one night and they

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Speaker 2: were like, oh, damn it. I wish I could remember

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Speaker 2: the role that they had. But it was like the

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Speaker 2: second in command at the Department of Interior or something

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Speaker 2: like that. Something a little archaic like that. And she's said,

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Speaker 2: I don't know anybody who doesn't you know, who doesn't

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Speaker 2: admire the second command at the at the uh at

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Speaker 2: the you know, I think the warm the interior, and

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Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, But how often does it come up?

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Speaker 2: I mean, do people introduce themselves that way? Do they go, Hi,

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Speaker 2: Rachel's so nice to me, Oh my gosh, I love

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Speaker 2: the second and commander of the Department of Material And

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Speaker 2: in the same way I would say to uh uh

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Speaker 2: uh mister Burger on that. Uh, probably the subject just

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Speaker 2: doesn't come up. There's tons of women that like the

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Speaker 2: Three Stooges, probably, you know, not as many as you

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Speaker 2: know as man, and we probably see something different money

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Speaker 2: in it. I mean, I even as a kid, I

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Speaker 2: didn't particularly like it. I you know, I didn't want

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Speaker 2: I didn't want them to get hurt. Yeah. By the way,

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Speaker 2: one of the.

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Speaker 1: Scenes, don't tell me the one on the train where

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Speaker 1: Curly was came back from a stroke.

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Speaker 2: No one of them. One of the scenes they were

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Speaker 2: climbing up and they had put like a table on

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Speaker 2: top of a table, and then they were climbing up

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Speaker 2: on top of that, right, trying to reach something up

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Speaker 2: high and it was all three of them and uh,

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Speaker 2: it was mud and of course they fall right. Yes,

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Speaker 2: it was long and they all and they all come

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Speaker 2: crashing down and Mo broke like three ribs or something

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Speaker 2: in real life doing this. And they just kept going, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Have you ever done that? Have you ever broken a

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Speaker 1: bone and then had to perform on stage while you

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Speaker 1: were still in pain?

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Speaker 2: Well? I have, Actually you have. I didn't. Yeah, I

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Speaker 2: mean I break the bone on stage. I I broke

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Speaker 2: a rib coughing years ago, and I functioned with it

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Speaker 2: for for a while. I mean, the truth is, and

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Speaker 2: I find this kind of interesting. They I went to

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Speaker 2: you know, I went to an urgent care eventually when

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Speaker 2: the pain didn't go away, and I thought, you know what,

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Speaker 2: I think I have a broken rib. To go to

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Speaker 2: urgent care. And the doctor this urgent care says to me,

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Speaker 2: so what are you here for? Like, because they had

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Speaker 2: that kind of bedside manner and I saw, I think

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Speaker 2: I broke a rib. She goes, how do you think

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Speaker 2: you're broken rib? And I said one non profession for

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Speaker 2: you have going into ma'am, I said, uh, coughing, and

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Speaker 2: she goes, you can't break a rib coughing, which isn't

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Speaker 2: true at all when even I knew that. But so

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Speaker 2: they do an x ray and she comes back and

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Speaker 2: she goes, you know, we looked in the x ray

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Speaker 2: you don't have a broken rib. And I was like, oh, okay,

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Speaker 2: all right, thanks, and I apologize because I always he

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Speaker 2: wasting people's time. And I go away. I even worked

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Speaker 2: out that days I recall and the following morning, the

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Speaker 2: same doctor calls and says, yeah, we showed you xtra

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Speaker 2: ray to a rabio. Just you do you have a

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Speaker 2: broken rib? She said, And she said it's broken off

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Speaker 2: the rib cage and she said the gooddows is it's

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Speaker 2: not headed towards the lung.

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Speaker 1: Thankfully.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm like, well that is good news, thank

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Speaker 2: you for calling. And uh. But they they recommended they

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Speaker 2: go to orth and Pede. I went to the orthan

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Speaker 2: Pede and he's like, he was like, you know what,

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Speaker 2: it'll heal, don't worry about it's fine, and he said,

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Speaker 2: we really don't do anything for that anymore, which I

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Speaker 2: find really interesting. In the old Sea, they used to

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Speaker 2: tape people.

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Speaker 3: Do you remember that They used to takee people like

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Speaker 3: around the ribcakes when they broke a rib cake when

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Speaker 3: they broke a rib. But they don't anymore. And I'm

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Speaker 3: sharing this because I think it's important information for people

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Speaker 3: to have. Okay, they don't anymore.

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Speaker 2: Because when people's ribcage is taped, they can't take deep breaths,

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Speaker 2: and deep breaths are an important part of healing. I

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Speaker 2: always thought stuff like that was kind of whooo. You

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Speaker 2: know when people, you know, he said, people go, well,

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Speaker 2: breathe deeply. They sounded sounds like you come from the

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Speaker 2: nutty wellness community, breathe deep. But there's something to the

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Speaker 2: It turns out it is important to it. Wasn't want

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Speaker 2: to breathe to begin with, because without it.

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Speaker 1: This would be an interesting conversation.

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Speaker 2: I'm this close to being the head of HHS. Honestly,

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Speaker 2: my body of medical knowledge already beyond that of Robert

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Speaker 2: Kennedy Junior running for the hialth.

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Speaker 1: All right, well, you've talked about growing up as a

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Speaker 1: kid in school kind of being silly and funny. But

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Speaker 1: you had a huge family, had like seven kids.

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Speaker 2: No, I didn't have seven kids. No, I lived with

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Speaker 2: a family with seven kids, but no, my family was

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Speaker 2: a family of four, okay, and they were it wasn't.

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Speaker 2: It didn't feel like a It didn't feel like a

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Speaker 2: full rich uh not. I don't mean rich monetarily, but

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Speaker 2: it didn't feel you know, it didn't have a There

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Speaker 2: weren't a lot of storylines, you know, like in The Waltons,

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Speaker 2: which is one of my favorite shows growing up, there

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Speaker 2: were a lot of storylines because they had a bunch

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Speaker 2: of kids and every week it could now it could

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Speaker 2: be Elizabeth's problem or or you know, I don't know

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Speaker 2: Mary Kate's who. But our house had very limited storylines.

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Speaker 1: There was no good night, John Boy or survive any Oh.

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Speaker 2: Actually we did do that sometimes put only kidd No,

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Speaker 2: there was none of that. No, there was a lot

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Speaker 2: of don't make me have to come in there, don't

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Speaker 2: make me get your father.

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Speaker 1: Oh that's funny. So did you try to like joke

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Speaker 1: your way out of things with your parents ever?

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Speaker 2: Not in that way. I mean, you know, you know,

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Speaker 2: me and my sisters did kind of make fun of

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Speaker 2: my mother. Not not. We weren't so much joking our

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Speaker 2: way out of anything. But because at a certain point,

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Speaker 2: you know, you just like, okay, last or cry, yeah exactly,

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Speaker 2: let's just call out the absurdity. But yeah, No, it

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Speaker 2: wasn't one of those things where no, I'll tell you

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Speaker 2: there were certainly times. I remember when I was in

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Speaker 2: high school. I was in this typing class and you know,

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Speaker 2: you know by high school you were in you could

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Speaker 2: be a freshman in a class with a senior, you know,

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Speaker 2: it just depended what class it was. And so it's

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Speaker 2: in this typing class and there were these two girls

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Speaker 2: that were, you know, older than me, and they were scary,

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Speaker 2: and they they they were purposely scary, and they knew

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Speaker 2: I was scared of them, and so they would do

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Speaker 2: stuff like drop their paper on the floor and tell

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Speaker 2: me to pick it up, and I would pick it up.

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Speaker 2: And then one day I think I made a joke

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Speaker 2: about it or something like that, and I wasn't a

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Speaker 2: joke about the It was a joke about something in

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Speaker 2: this dynamic, and they thought it was funny, and all

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Speaker 2: of a sudden, all the bullying just went away. It

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Speaker 2: was great. It was like a you know, could have

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Speaker 2: been like in a in a television show.

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Speaker 1: That's so cool. I can't I have to tell you,

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Speaker 1: I'm HARKing an experience same similar They were like the

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Speaker 1: tough kids. They wore the leather jackets smoke the cigarettes

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Speaker 1: and you like it was afraid of and that, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: how do I win these people over? And one day

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Speaker 1: I was in some play I can't remember. I think

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Speaker 1: it was like Reno Sweeney and anything goes and I

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Speaker 1: had to like make this grand entrance to the stage.

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Speaker 1: And I was so scared because all these kids were

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Speaker 1: sitting and they were going to judge me, and he

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Speaker 1: all came up to me. They were the loudest people

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Speaker 1: clapping for me in the audience, and I was like,

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Speaker 1: I won them over.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, isn't that cool?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? Very cool.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: My son when he was in the fifth grade, I

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Speaker 2: think it was you know, you know, he didn't fit

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Speaker 2: in very well socially growing up and I and it

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Speaker 2: was a you know, it was hard for him. But

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Speaker 2: he they had a talent show one time in the

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Speaker 2: fifth grade and he he came out and did a

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Speaker 2: routine on the mushroom, which is the training device for

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Speaker 2: the pommel horse, and he had we had a mushroom,

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Speaker 2: like a training one, not a not a fish, you know,

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Speaker 2: a training one. And all these girls lined the front

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Speaker 2: of the stage and were cheering and bought a lunch here,

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Speaker 2: like okay, it was a lot easier to make jokes,

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Speaker 2: is my point. Oh yeah, because burning that mushroom, learning

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Speaker 2: the pump horse is like a god awful experience.

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Speaker 1: You don't want to do that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but it works for him for at least for

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Speaker 2: that afternoon.

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Speaker 1: Well, that explains why guys like to be rock stars,

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Speaker 1: because you know, the girls love the rock stars.

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Speaker 2: So you know, Moe said in his book Mo Howard

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Speaker 2: in The Three Stooges, he said that Curly became an alcoholic,

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Speaker 2: and most said that the reason was that he couldn't

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Speaker 2: get women. And I got to tell you from being

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Speaker 2: on the road when I was younger, I was on

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Speaker 2: the road with the skevest guys. Right, you had to

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Speaker 2: stay in the apartment with them for the clubs. Would

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Speaker 2: they were gonna have a middle act MC and a

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Speaker 2: headliner in for the week. What they did was they

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Speaker 2: rented an apartment and it was only going to be empty,

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Speaker 2: like one night a week. And that way there they

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Speaker 2: didn't have to pay for hotels. And so you're stuck

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Speaker 2: not just working with some of these guys, but you know,

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Speaker 2: stay in the same apartment with them. And I mean

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Speaker 2: they were gross. Many of them weren't particularly good comics

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Speaker 2: to begin with, but also just just gross and they

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Speaker 2: always they always had women after the show always. So

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Speaker 2: you know what, Mo, that's not why Curly became an alcoholic.

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Speaker 2: And by the way, I don't think you become an

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Speaker 2: alcoholic because of a problem to begin with. But also, no, no, Curly,

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Speaker 2: for whatever reason, maybe didn't hook up with women. But

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Speaker 2: it's not Ma was saying, it's because, you know, he

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Speaker 2: shaved his head to be Curly, and that he you

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Speaker 2: know that it was because of this role he played.

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Speaker 2: Oh no, no, he could. First of all, Curly was great.

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Speaker 2: And second of all, Curly could have not even been

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Speaker 2: good at being Curly, and he still would have had

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Speaker 2: women that would have thrown themselves at him.

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Speaker 1: Grown at. I got to tell you, even as a

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Speaker 1: little kid, my parents were a little concerned with me

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Speaker 1: because I had a crush. These are the guys that

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Speaker 1: I had a crush on growing up on television, like

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Speaker 1: when you were watching TV, Harvey Corman, Tim Conway, Gene

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Speaker 1: Wilder and Curly, the three stooges, Like I'm little little yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, apparents this close to going to the Jordan

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Speaker 1: Marsh charm School. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: My mother, My mother said to me, I forget how old,

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Speaker 2: he said. I think I was like a teenager. And

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Speaker 2: she said, the biggest mistake of her life. And this

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Speaker 2: is somebody who was, you know, married a few times,

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Speaker 2: and you know, we all have lives full of errors,

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Speaker 2: and you know, some of hers were bigger than others.

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Speaker 2: But she had a fair speed of ones that you

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Speaker 2: could point to if you chose. But she said the

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Speaker 2: biggest mistake of her entire life was not sending me

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Speaker 2: to charm school. I'd just say, I think she had

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Speaker 2: overinflated an unrealistic idea of what could be done through

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Speaker 2: a charm school.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: They don't have stuff like that anymore, do they.

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Speaker 1: I don't think so. I don't even think. No, there's

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Speaker 1: no Civis, there's no charm school. It's all gone.

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Speaker 2: I believe the store Jordan Marsh. I'm fairly certain that

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Speaker 2: the store Jordan Marsh had a charm school associated with it.

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Speaker 2: And it was a you know, it was a clothing

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Speaker 2: store and Jordan Marsh was that exclusive.

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Speaker 1: For Boston because I remember that growing up.

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Speaker 2: It was in the the Jordan Marsh was in the

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Speaker 2: Framingham Shoppers World, the one with.

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Speaker 1: The little train you drive around the Shoppers World.

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Speaker 2: Native Shoppers World in the in the center it was

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Speaker 2: a it was an outdoor mall. It wasn't enclosed. I

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Speaker 2: mean there were roofs on the stores, but it had

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Speaker 2: a in the center of it. It was like a courtyard, right, yes.

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Speaker 2: And there was at one time a like amusement park

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Speaker 2: park Grides that was so.

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Speaker 1: Smart when you think about it. And then obviously it

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Speaker 1: grew up to the Mall of America, which is like,

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Speaker 1: you know, a roller coaster inside the mall while you're

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Speaker 1: your shopping.

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Speaker 2: You can actually on the Mall of America, you can

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Speaker 2: ride on a roller coaster and grab a product off

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Speaker 2: a shelf as you go, and then pay for it

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Speaker 2: when you get off the road coast.

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Speaker 1: Nowadays you don't even have to. You just got your

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Speaker 1: phone on you. It charges, you know, just as soon

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Speaker 1: as you tie it's yours.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, a good point.

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Speaker 1: It's all over.

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Speaker 2: Probably where all my money's going is. I probably just

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Speaker 2: keep touching the wrong things on my phone and it

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Speaker 2: just keeps taking money off.

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Speaker 1: Well, when we come back, we're going to find out

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Speaker 1: exactly how comedy saved Paula Poundstone stay with us. Comedy

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Speaker 1: saved me all right, Paula. The premise of our show

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Speaker 1: is that comedy has saved our guests in some way.

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Speaker 1: Can you pinpoint an exact or specific moment or a

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Speaker 1: period in time during your life when you realize comedy

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Speaker 1: wasn't just something that you did, but it was something

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Speaker 1: you needed to do.

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Speaker 2: You know what? I fell for your even I have

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Speaker 2: a podcast and we say we're going to take a break,

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Speaker 2: and then we don't take a break because because the

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Speaker 2: break is put in afterwards. But when you said we're

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Speaker 2: going to take a break, you said it so professionally, yes,

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Speaker 2: that I really didn't think you were taking a break.

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Speaker 1: Thank you.

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Speaker 4: At one point when I was in excuse me, I

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Speaker 4: looked on the screen even there because I have a

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Speaker 4: you know, phone on the wall, like like how it's

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Speaker 4: supposed to be, and it has an answering machine attached

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Speaker 4: to it, and I thought that, you know, I could

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Speaker 4: put up with the phone ringing.

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Speaker 2: But then I thought there was going to be a

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Speaker 2: message left, so I thought we'll all go stop it,

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Speaker 2: but it stopped by itself, and therefore I sat back

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Speaker 2: down again.

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Speaker 1: Well, thank you for that, and also thank you for

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Speaker 1: having a wall phone, because that just warms my mind.

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Speaker 2: Yes, that's yeahs.

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Speaker 1: I have the cord on the wrapping chord.

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Speaker 2: I have one in the kitchen, one in my bedroom.

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Speaker 1: I love that.

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Speaker 2: You know, there's obviously great conveniences to having cell phones,

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Speaker 2: and I have cell phones, but in a way, I

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Speaker 2: miss the phone on the wall. I missed people not

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Speaker 2: being able to you know, now, if somebody calls you,

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Speaker 2: or you know, text you or whatever. I mean, I

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Speaker 2: don't text, but if now, if somebody calls you and

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Speaker 2: you don't answer the phone, they're just perplexed. You know.

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Speaker 2: It's not a law. You don't have to. I miss

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Speaker 2: answering the phone when it's convenient to me to talk

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Speaker 2: because I'm in my room and the phone rang and

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Speaker 2: I got the phone. I kind of hate I hate

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Speaker 2: being tethered to the cell phone the way that one is.

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Speaker 2: If somebody doesn't get you, they'll call me back five times.

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Speaker 2: What the fuck is that?

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Speaker 1: It's so true?

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Speaker 2: You know, listen, I don't want to run up against

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Speaker 2: the theme of your whole show. I you know, I

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Speaker 2: wish I could tell you that there was a you know,

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Speaker 2: a moment, and that there was a little like a

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Speaker 2: little sound effect that went with it, and maybe I

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Speaker 2: saw a bright light. I'm not sure. I'll tell you. Wait,

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Speaker 2: I'll tell you one thing, all right, okay, prior to

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Speaker 2: the stay at home order, prior which was you know,

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Speaker 2: obviously you know, trying to uh stop the spread of COVID.

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Speaker 2: Prior to the state stay at home order, I may

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Speaker 2: have and I'm saying I may have sometimes and certainly

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Speaker 2: not frequently, if at all, I may have complained about

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Speaker 2: traveling for my job.

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Speaker 5: Uh.

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Speaker 2: And then along came the State at home order, and

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Speaker 2: there was I don't know how everybody else for me.

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Speaker 2: I had no way of knowing that we would ever

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Speaker 2: be able to gather in the kinds of groups that

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Speaker 2: you do in the theater, like so Audie and says

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Speaker 2: that a performer can and and the thing is, at

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Speaker 2: that time, this is when you know zoom attacked us.

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Speaker 2: You know, is a gallery review or portrait view by

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Speaker 2: There were all these organizations that that I have many

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Speaker 2: times done fundraise for em seed their fundraisers, and they

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Speaker 2: tend to happen in the spring. I don't exactly know why,

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Speaker 2: but they tend to happen in the spring. These events

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Speaker 2: and for multitude of organizations, all of which are terrific

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Speaker 2: and all of which, you know, I do what I

385
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Speaker 2: can for But as the year goes by, and they

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Speaker 2: would call me and say or email me and say,

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Speaker 2: you know, can you em see our fundraiser on the

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Speaker 2: blah blah blah night, and I would look at my

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Speaker 2: calendar and go, oh, I'm sorry, I'm not going to

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Speaker 2: be able to do this year because I'm on the

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Speaker 2: road that night. Well, when this stay at home order hit,

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Speaker 2: they all knew I was home every bloody day. You

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Speaker 2: can emails and phone calls saying will you do our fundraiser?

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Speaker 2: We're doing it online, We're doing it via zoom. It's

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Speaker 2: going to be a virtual gala, they all said. And

396
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Speaker 2: they were very excited about this idea, and and you know,

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Speaker 2: good for them, for you know, it can lemonade out

398
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:06,720
Speaker 2: of lemons. But uh, what was in everyone's head was

399
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Speaker 2: that I was going to do stand up from my

400
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Speaker 2: living room via zoom. And at first I guess I

401
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:19,320
Speaker 2: thought maybe I could. But let me tell you, once

402
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Speaker 2: you try that one time, it's you know, never again.

403
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Speaker 2: And the problem is what people understand. If I was

404
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Speaker 2: a musician or a poet, I could I can practice

405
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Speaker 2: what I'm doing at home by myself until I am

406
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Speaker 2: red hot at it, and then I can and then

407
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Speaker 2: I can present it anywhere I want. And I don't

408
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Speaker 2: need what I prefer to have an audience feedback, Sure,

409
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Speaker 2: but I don't need it. Stand up is different. It's

410
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Speaker 2: different than any other form of art. You simply must

411
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Speaker 2: have an audience, at least at least certainly the way

412
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Speaker 2: I work. I can't do it without it, and that

413
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Speaker 2: during the state of Home Order, when it dawned on

414
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Speaker 2: me like, okay, I have no way of taking stand

415
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Speaker 2: up and making it into something that I can do,

416
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Speaker 2: you know, in this sort of new world of zoom

417
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Speaker 2: and not knowing if we would ever be able to

418
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Speaker 2: gather in theaters again was terrifying, partly for economic reasons obviously,

419
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Speaker 2: but also because I could do like characters and make

420
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Speaker 2: videos that way, which I did, but I couldn't interact

421
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Speaker 2: with an audience and the loneliness of that. You know,

422
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Speaker 2: I guess it's kind of screwed up to say this,

423
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Speaker 2: but the audience is kind of my best friend all

424
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Speaker 2: these years, and I just found myself for all those

425
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Speaker 2: months just wanting to Snoopy cry. Remember how we cried?

426
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Speaker 2: Oh yes, yes, the tears will come.

427
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Speaker 1: Out flying everywhere.

428
00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:10,479
Speaker 2: That was.

429
00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:13,360
Speaker 1: That was a cross between Pee Wee Herman and Snoopy cry.

430
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Speaker 2: It's just one of the saddest things you can see.

431
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:20,439
Speaker 2: There's there's Snoopy crying and there's Kim Weschler crying on

432
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Speaker 2: the bus in Better Call Saul. That was. That was unbelievable, right, God, yeah,

433
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Speaker 2: well Snoopy does an ugly cry.

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Speaker 1: It's just yeah, and it's very sad.

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00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 2: Years ago, met and Tom posting I forget why. We

436
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:42,359
Speaker 2: were at some sort of fundraising everything in Orlando and

437
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:46,399
Speaker 2: we were at disney World and they're like, oh, you know,

438
00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:48,520
Speaker 2: take a picture with Mickey Mouse. And of course Tom

439
00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:50,520
Speaker 2: and I were like, fantastic, Great, we'll do that, you know,

440
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:52,879
Speaker 2: and so we both go stand and Mickey Mouse in

441
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:57,720
Speaker 2: the center, and you know, have this picture taken. There's

442
00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:03,200
Speaker 2: the worst photograph because you know, Tom was a little patchy,

443
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,440
Speaker 2: and I, you know, I you know, I'm not patchy,

444
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:13,320
Speaker 2: but I'm Here's the thing, Mickey Mouse, the character that

445
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:18,640
Speaker 2: walks around the park is the way they've painted him

446
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:25,960
Speaker 2: is perfect for photographing, right anybody standing beside him.

447
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:28,080
Speaker 1: Is that he doesn't need to be touched up, and

448
00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:28,680
Speaker 1: I don't.

449
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:32,639
Speaker 2: Care how gorgeous you are. You could even probably have

450
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:36,240
Speaker 2: on tons of makeup and you're still not going to

451
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:39,399
Speaker 2: be perfect for the camera the way Mickey Mouse is

452
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,000
Speaker 2: because he's designed that way. So Tom and I just

453
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:45,240
Speaker 2: looked horrible and Mickey Mouse looks fantastic. I think Mickey

454
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,960
Speaker 2: Mouse used that picture for his headshot. Yeah, to get work.

455
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:53,920
Speaker 1: I would have to agree with that. Well, nowadays you've

456
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,680
Speaker 1: got that, you know what, you can be perfect.

457
00:25:56,720 --> 00:25:59,320
Speaker 2: The idea of a I just nauseates me. And we're

458
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:03,000
Speaker 2: marching down this path, you know, like, oh, it's a

459
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,359
Speaker 2: good thing, and everything so far indicates that it's not

460
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:09,120
Speaker 2: a good thing. That it's caused all sorts of problems already,

461
00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:11,880
Speaker 2: and the last thing we need is one more way

462
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,760
Speaker 2: to fool the public. It's just stupid.

463
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:17,359
Speaker 5: What and the reason we're doing it is because China

464
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:20,280
Speaker 5: is so if we you know, we don't want to

465
00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:23,640
Speaker 5: let another country get ahead of us in Ai, why

466
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,119
Speaker 5: don't we wait till China destroys ourselves?

467
00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,080
Speaker 1: I like that idea. I like that idea.

468
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:31,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Why don't we have to be why do

469
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:33,280
Speaker 2: we have to be at the head of the path

470
00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:36,760
Speaker 2: it's like we're gonna make you know, just it's a

471
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:43,720
Speaker 2: horrible idea. So anyways, in answer answer to your question, okay,

472
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,119
Speaker 2: well that that surely is a point at which is

473
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,440
Speaker 2: although when I got back out on the road again

474
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:56,600
Speaker 2: after the Stay at Home Order, the rules in the

475
00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:01,919
Speaker 2: theater again trying to prevent this spread of COVID, the

476
00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 2: rules in the theater were so so ridiculously stacked against

477
00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:09,720
Speaker 2: a performer, like, Okay, normally, if I'm doing a show

478
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:14,080
Speaker 2: and say we don't sell a lot of tickets, say

479
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:16,480
Speaker 2: there's a you know, a lot of spaces in between

480
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:20,800
Speaker 2: audience members, you know, it might be that somebody who

481
00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,600
Speaker 2: who runs a theater or something would go out on

482
00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:25,840
Speaker 2: stairs say, you know what, we got plenty of rooms

483
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:27,639
Speaker 2: down front with some of the people in the backroom

484
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:31,000
Speaker 2: down front, right, because you want to collect that energy

485
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:35,240
Speaker 2: into one place. It makes for a better show. Yes,

486
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,520
Speaker 2: But this ended up being the opposite. When we got

487
00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:43,760
Speaker 2: back into the theaters after the and the clubs, after

488
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:47,160
Speaker 2: they were pulling back to the stay at Home Order,

489
00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:53,320
Speaker 2: they would still insist that people sat like feet away

490
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:55,720
Speaker 2: from each other, so be like and they would let

491
00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:59,840
Speaker 2: they would let you know, ticket buyers that came together stated,

492
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,000
Speaker 2: but so there would be two people over here and

493
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:06,119
Speaker 2: then this huge on a space before you got to

494
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:08,800
Speaker 2: three people over here, and you know, it was just

495
00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:12,320
Speaker 2: and they weren't allowed to have the place to capacity.

496
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 2: So it wasn't even like, oh I couldn't sell tickets.

497
00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,720
Speaker 2: It was you weren't allowed to sell to capacity. And

498
00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,760
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, was it hard to do not to

499
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:23,440
Speaker 2: mention that I hadn't performed in you know, what, was

500
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:25,920
Speaker 2: it a year and a half by then, And it

501
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 2: does make a difference.

502
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:32,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, So obviously what you're describing to me, at least

503
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:34,439
Speaker 1: it sounds like and I'm not a doctor, but it

504
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:38,840
Speaker 1: sounds like comedy is also a therapeutic for you.

505
00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:41,560
Speaker 2: Is therapeutic for everybody in a big way. I also felt,

506
00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:46,680
Speaker 2: you know, my friend Nils Lofgren one night posted just

507
00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 2: a pitch just to assume me, a video of a

508
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:52,800
Speaker 2: uh he plays with Bruce Briinstein a lot, and he

509
00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,160
Speaker 2: just posted a video from a long time ago, not

510
00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 2: not a current because it was during the Stay at Homeowner,

511
00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 2: but a video of you know, Bruce Springsteen performance and

512
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:10,760
Speaker 2: Mills's performance, and at the camera kept showing the audience

513
00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:15,959
Speaker 2: and you know what a great time they were having.

514
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:23,280
Speaker 2: There is something about experiencing a performance, be it a

515
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 2: movie or a you know, it could be a play

516
00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,080
Speaker 2: or a ballet, or an opera or a comedy show

517
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,760
Speaker 2: or whatever, some sort of performance, when you're in an

518
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:38,680
Speaker 2: audience collectively and you're having this shared emotional reaction, whether

519
00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:43,240
Speaker 2: it's it's something that's scary or suspenseful or said or funny,

520
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:49,239
Speaker 2: you're having this shared emotional reaction and it reinforces that

521
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:53,479
Speaker 2: you're a human being. When you're having the same, you know,

522
00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:59,160
Speaker 2: the same emotion as everybody else is, there's something about

523
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,400
Speaker 2: that that can not be replicated. You know, almost anytime

524
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:06,440
Speaker 2: somebody types lo l into their phone, they're lying. You

525
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:10,000
Speaker 2: don't generally laugh out loud when you're alone. When I

526
00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:13,200
Speaker 2: watched The Three Stooges by myself, I never laugh out loud.

527
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:15,959
Speaker 2: I acknowledge in my head that I think it's funny.

528
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:18,720
Speaker 2: But when I used to watch I used to show

529
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:21,320
Speaker 2: them to my kids, and a couple of times we

530
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:25,720
Speaker 2: went to Three Stooges film festivals. Oh my god, is

531
00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 2: that fun? Because you're in a whole audience of people

532
00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:33,080
Speaker 2: who love the Three Stooges, and so it's already this

533
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,720
Speaker 2: powerful reaction from the audience, and.

534
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:37,280
Speaker 1: Is everyone walking around like this.

535
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:43,880
Speaker 2: Moe used to talk about maybe it was Del Lord

536
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:47,479
Speaker 2: who said, no, it was a bunch of guys that

537
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:50,080
Speaker 2: were that were of that, you know, helped make the

538
00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:53,920
Speaker 2: Three Stooges, that's what it was. And one of them said, I,

539
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:55,440
Speaker 2: you know, I made him what they were. He says,

540
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,200
Speaker 2: I gave him this, and he did the two finger thing,

541
00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:01,000
Speaker 2: and the other guy goes, yes, but I gave them this.

542
00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:04,320
Speaker 1: I love that. I didn't even know you were going there.

543
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:06,320
Speaker 1: I just all I could think of was there a

544
00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:08,959
Speaker 1: big group of fans of Three Stooges, and there's probably

545
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 1: a lot of black and blue people leaving that party,

546
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:12,800
Speaker 1: but unintentionally. Of course.

547
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:16,120
Speaker 2: The thing is, when we watched with the audience that

548
00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:20,920
Speaker 2: was there for this, there were waves of laughter. There

549
00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:23,720
Speaker 2: were you were children, you were you were like gasping

550
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:28,320
Speaker 2: for air, laughing over stuff. And that's not how I

551
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 2: had ever experienced it before, because before I watched by myself,

552
00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:39,560
Speaker 2: you were home, and there's a big difference. So I

553
00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:46,800
Speaker 2: so I would argue that comedy is therapeutic for everyone,

554
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:51,640
Speaker 2: not just the performer, although certainly that's true, but for

555
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:52,760
Speaker 2: the audience too.

556
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:57,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, especially for the breathing part of that. And of

557
00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:00,480
Speaker 1: course when you don't have a broken rib. Let's talk

558
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:04,280
Speaker 1: about bombing though, because you I can't imagine this has

559
00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:07,440
Speaker 1: happened to you often at all, because you're just so

560
00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:11,040
Speaker 1: funny naturally anyway, But every comedian has those moments where

561
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:14,880
Speaker 1: they just couldn't get the audience to see what they

562
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:17,440
Speaker 1: were doing was funny. How do you bounce back? And

563
00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:19,360
Speaker 1: has that ever happened? I should ask you first? Has

564
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:21,440
Speaker 1: that ever happened where everything just went side?

565
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,120
Speaker 2: Podcasts? Those moments where they couldn't get the audience to

566
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:27,480
Speaker 2: see that what they were doing is funny. Well, it's

567
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:32,760
Speaker 2: an objective thing, isn't it the And so that's the word,

568
00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:35,560
Speaker 2: subjective thing. Whether something is funny or not, who knows,

569
00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:39,800
Speaker 2: you know. Sometimes I have had arguments with uh, you know,

570
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:44,000
Speaker 2: either people that are producing the show or say, uh

571
00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,680
Speaker 2: is somebody. There are situations where I might have written

572
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,240
Speaker 2: something for a show and somebody will look it over

573
00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:56,240
Speaker 2: and want to rewrite it, you know, or add in

574
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 2: something or do tell me what to do, and it's

575
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:04,360
Speaker 2: not it's not I don't feel like, oh, I know everything,

576
00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:06,800
Speaker 2: and so you can't tell me. That's not how I

577
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:12,440
Speaker 2: feel at all. What I feel is, since it's me

578
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:18,000
Speaker 2: on stage, I'm gonna be held responsible for what gets set.

579
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:20,120
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna be able to, you know, say something

580
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:23,360
Speaker 2: to that. Go, well, that wasn't mine. So so and

581
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 2: so made me say that. All right, I thought it

582
00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:27,800
Speaker 2: was better this way. You know, in the end, the

583
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:34,480
Speaker 2: buck stops here, and so I do as And I

584
00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:37,680
Speaker 2: always say to people, I go, I couldn't. I'm not

585
00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:40,720
Speaker 2: gonna argue that I know what's funny. I'm just gonna

586
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:44,800
Speaker 2: argue that since I'm the person that's gonna take the

587
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,600
Speaker 2: heat for it one way or the other, then I

588
00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:50,520
Speaker 2: get to choose, simple as that.

589
00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:52,080
Speaker 1: That's fair. I like that.

590
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,360
Speaker 2: As to what's funny, I couldn't possibly tell you. I

591
00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:59,760
Speaker 2: really don't know. Silly. I like silly, but I like

592
00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:07,440
Speaker 2: some both. Uh. I'm a breath mint and a cannyman. Uh.

593
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:10,319
Speaker 2: And how I bombed? Yeah, I bombed many times? Oh

594
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:11,160
Speaker 2: my god.

595
00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 5: Uh.

596
00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:17,760
Speaker 2: Okay, So I I was invited years ago to perform

597
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:21,600
Speaker 2: at farm Aid. They were doing uh you know, supposedly

598
00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:24,560
Speaker 2: they were doing a partnership with comic relief, which is

599
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:26,840
Speaker 2: how they got to me because I used to comic relief.

600
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:32,640
Speaker 2: Supposedly that's what they were doing, but in fact it

601
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:37,080
Speaker 2: was it was farm Aide and there were I think

602
00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:42,120
Speaker 2: two comedians. It was me and another guy, and uh

603
00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:48,000
Speaker 2: it was at the super Dome in oh in New

604
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:52,080
Speaker 2: Orleans and they were using like half of it, and uh,

605
00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:59,160
Speaker 2: I you know, I agreed to do it because I, well,

606
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,680
Speaker 2: a was Willie Nelllson's event, and I love.

607
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:04,080
Speaker 1: Will How can you say no to Willie?

608
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:07,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we'd never met. He didn't ask me personally,

609
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 2: but I thought it was a Willie Nelson thing. I thought,

610
00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:11,920
Speaker 2: you know, like, crowd's got to be really cool if

611
00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:16,080
Speaker 2: you know it's a Willie Nelson thing, right, And and

612
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:18,680
Speaker 2: also the Neville Brothers were playing, and I'm you know,

613
00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:23,839
Speaker 2: I honestly I would walk across Hot Stones to hear

614
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:27,280
Speaker 2: the Neville Brothers or to see them. So my manager

615
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:29,439
Speaker 2: comes with me, because you know, she wants to see,

616
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:33,000
Speaker 2: and we fly down. We get to get the show

617
00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:35,160
Speaker 2: is already because it's a few hours shows. It's only

618
00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:37,440
Speaker 2: a six hour show or something, so it's already up

619
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:40,600
Speaker 2: and running when we get there. And and she had

620
00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:43,319
Speaker 2: argued that I had to go on like towards the

621
00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:46,920
Speaker 2: end or something like because it was somehow prestigious. Uh

622
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,560
Speaker 2: or maybe it wasn't even that, maybe they already knew

623
00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:53,080
Speaker 2: where they wanted. Because here's the thing. I went on

624
00:35:53,160 --> 00:36:00,000
Speaker 2: in between Chris Christofferson and Neil Young and so I

625
00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:02,600
Speaker 2: they introduce. And the other thing is, so we're walking

626
00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,080
Speaker 2: around this crowd before, you know, before I go on,

627
00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:08,319
Speaker 2: walking around, you know, listening to music, but walking around

628
00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:11,560
Speaker 2: the crowd, well, I what I hadn't thought about before

629
00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:15,680
Speaker 2: was there's beer kegs everywhere, and uh, you know a

630
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:19,239
Speaker 2: lot of people have on like John Deere Windbreakers, and

631
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:23,719
Speaker 2: uh it is by the time if it go on

632
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:29,440
Speaker 2: later in the show, well they're more drunk. And that

633
00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:35,879
Speaker 2: that does not serve me. Uh So it's fine. And

634
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:39,719
Speaker 2: as we're walking around and I'm beginning to see what

635
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:43,200
Speaker 2: I'm up against, I was already like, okay, this is

636
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:49,759
Speaker 2: not gonna be good. So I, you know, Chris Christofferson

637
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:53,640
Speaker 2: finishes and uh you know, and by the way, same

638
00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:57,520
Speaker 2: dynamic here, which is as a musician, you can play

639
00:36:57,560 --> 00:37:00,919
Speaker 2: while people you can play while people are talking. Right,

640
00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:04,560
Speaker 2: I'm sure do they want to. Probably not, they'd probably

641
00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:07,640
Speaker 2: rather everybody stopped talking and just listen to them, probably,

642
00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 2: But you can do it as a comic, you really can't.

643
00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:18,080
Speaker 2: So Chris christoffers and finishes, but you know, big, big applause,

644
00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:23,080
Speaker 2: And now I come on, somebody introduces me. Now most

645
00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:25,680
Speaker 2: of the crowd has no interest in seeing me, no

646
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:29,759
Speaker 2: idea who I am, and and so you know, the

647
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:33,279
Speaker 2: noise level rises right away with people just engaged in conversations,

648
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:35,640
Speaker 2: just just checking out, just not paying any attention to me.

649
00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:40,520
Speaker 2: And I start to do right thing, and I've you know,

650
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:45,200
Speaker 2: tried really hard, and behind me, I can hear very

651
00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:50,360
Speaker 2: loudly Neil Young's bands tuning up, so they were her.

652
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,799
Speaker 2: So I'm barely able to talk loud enough to you know,

653
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:57,239
Speaker 2: overcome the noise level in the room to begin with,

654
00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:02,840
Speaker 2: and now behind me there's I just couln't believe it.

655
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,239
Speaker 2: And then I realized, Okay, that's what I'm here for.

656
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:10,880
Speaker 2: I'm here to kill time while Neil Young warms up

657
00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:13,800
Speaker 2: and had nothing to do with them wanting me to entertain.

658
00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:20,440
Speaker 2: So now it's just it's really really bad. And my

659
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,560
Speaker 2: manager is over on the side. She doesn't usually come

660
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:27,880
Speaker 2: with me to it shows, there's no.

661
00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:30,160
Speaker 1: But it's a Superdoman's farmte it was a big deal.

662
00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:31,880
Speaker 2: It was a big deal. But you know, for the

663
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:34,080
Speaker 2: most part, there's no reason for herticum with me to

664
00:38:34,120 --> 00:38:36,759
Speaker 2: a show. But in this case, she's standing watching from

665
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:41,880
Speaker 2: from the side of the stage, and I'm you know,

666
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:45,359
Speaker 2: as far as I'm concerned, I'm done right. If people

667
00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:47,160
Speaker 2: don't want to listen to me, why am I there?

668
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:50,360
Speaker 2: That's okay. I don't need to force myself on that.

669
00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:53,680
Speaker 2: It's fine. But I don't know. I look over to

670
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:56,600
Speaker 2: the side and there she is, and she's making the

671
00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:58,160
Speaker 2: stretch sign.

672
00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:01,520
Speaker 1: Oh go longer, I'm.

673
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:02,680
Speaker 2: Going believe it?

674
00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:04,560
Speaker 1: Did you?

675
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:09,200
Speaker 2: And I said, what the fuck are you talking about?

676
00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:12,399
Speaker 2: And she and she kind of came out a little

677
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:15,640
Speaker 2: bit and she goes, they want you to stretch? And

678
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:19,480
Speaker 2: I said, you come out here and tell me that.

679
00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:20,600
Speaker 5: Did she?

680
00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:25,040
Speaker 2: Did you watch stretch? And I don't know how many

681
00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:27,520
Speaker 2: people in the audience got how fucking funny that was.

682
00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:31,040
Speaker 2: I don't know if I convinced them that that was funny.

683
00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:34,920
Speaker 2: But as I'm standing there, people some people in the

684
00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:36,319
Speaker 2: crowd start to go.

685
00:39:36,719 --> 00:39:42,040
Speaker 1: Neil, Neil, no, No, I know.

686
00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:46,000
Speaker 2: That a lot of those people, you know, really were

687
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:49,120
Speaker 2: done with me already and just wanted Neil Young to

688
00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:53,160
Speaker 2: come out. But this crowd was so drunk that I

689
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:57,279
Speaker 2: also believe many of the people yelling Neil thought I

690
00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:03,040
Speaker 2: was Neil Young. No, they were messed up. So there,

691
00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:07,239
Speaker 2: that's a great bombing story. Huh wow.

692
00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:09,600
Speaker 1: Well, I guess the positive is that you got to

693
00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:12,720
Speaker 1: open for Neil Young regardless, which is kind of really

694
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:14,080
Speaker 1: historic in and of itself.

695
00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:16,759
Speaker 2: By the way, YE found a new song, and it's

696
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,840
Speaker 2: a good new songs. I haven't heard a big crime.

697
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:25,239
Speaker 2: Maybe it is a it's a song about what's going

698
00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:28,360
Speaker 2: on in Washington, and it's got that you know, old

699
00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:29,799
Speaker 2: sort of rock and roll.

700
00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:32,080
Speaker 1: Classic Neil Young.

701
00:40:32,239 --> 00:40:36,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's got the you know, the the protest Neil Young.

702
00:40:37,239 --> 00:40:39,480
Speaker 2: It's a good song. I put on my flat thing.

703
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:43,640
Speaker 6: We'll be right back with more of the Comedy Save

704
00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:52,759
Speaker 6: Me Podcast. Welcome back to the Comedy Saved Me Podcast.

705
00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:57,840
Speaker 1: Awesome. Well, you've been very open about your struggles with alcohol.

706
00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:01,120
Speaker 1: Since we're talking about people who are thinking that you

707
00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:03,600
Speaker 1: were Neil Young when you were at the super Dome

708
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:07,360
Speaker 1: because they had their beer goggles on. But can you

709
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:09,719
Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about how addiction affected maybe

710
00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:13,600
Speaker 1: your comedy and conversely, how comedy maybe played a role

711
00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:14,440
Speaker 1: in your recovery.

712
00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:20,000
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think it's anything particularly unique to my experience.

713
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:27,520
Speaker 2: But here's something about alcohol in general. It gets there's

714
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:34,759
Speaker 2: such myths surrounding it. There's such myths about what a

715
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:38,160
Speaker 2: good time people have, you know, when they're oh, they

716
00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:42,600
Speaker 2: have a good time. If I had my life to

717
00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:44,399
Speaker 2: do over again, I would never have picked up at all,

718
00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:48,200
Speaker 2: because I cannot, as I look back, remember so much

719
00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:51,960
Speaker 2: as one experience, not one where it made things better

720
00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:54,640
Speaker 2: in any way. And I think that's part of the

721
00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:58,759
Speaker 2: reason I kept going as a drinker, is because I

722
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:02,520
Speaker 2: was like, I just haven't done it right yet, you.

723
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:05,240
Speaker 1: Know, Oh, you were practicing achieved.

724
00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:09,000
Speaker 2: I haven't achieved. Like, it's not that oh you know what,

725
00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:12,360
Speaker 2: As it turns out, it really that's all advertising, and

726
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:16,400
Speaker 2: it's it's advertising, and it's people who don't want to

727
00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:19,360
Speaker 2: It's people who don't want to admit it's the emperor's

728
00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:22,399
Speaker 2: who close. It's people don't want to admit that that

729
00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:25,239
Speaker 2: that the emperor is naked, that alcohol really didn't make

730
00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:27,520
Speaker 2: anything better for them, even though they wasted tons of

731
00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:31,799
Speaker 2: time and money on it, and so, uh so there's that.

732
00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:37,680
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, it's I don't have a lot to say

733
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:41,800
Speaker 2: about I mean it obviously because it's never made anything

734
00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:46,960
Speaker 2: better even once. Ever, uh it it didn't, And.

735
00:42:47,239 --> 00:42:51,520
Speaker 1: You can't think of one did you. Were you ever afraid, Paula,

736
00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:54,640
Speaker 1: that when you quit all of that, that you weren't

737
00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:55,040
Speaker 1: going to be.

738
00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,959
Speaker 2: No, I was funny in kindergarten and I didn't drink.

739
00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:05,719
Speaker 2: Uh in my craft's box, in my in my velveda

740
00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:07,800
Speaker 2: box that had my crayons, I didn't.

741
00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:11,760
Speaker 1: I didn't have a There was no like little.

742
00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:16,400
Speaker 2: No. I didn't think that at all, ever, not once.

743
00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:19,239
Speaker 2: I wasn't a little concerned that I wouldn't play ping

744
00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:22,640
Speaker 2: kong as well? And that might Are you a good

745
00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:23,200
Speaker 2: ping pong?

746
00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:23,440
Speaker 3: Well?

747
00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:26,799
Speaker 2: I thought I was. I was a good backyard ping

748
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:28,920
Speaker 2: pong player. I was a good basement ping pong player.

749
00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:34,640
Speaker 2: Was not ever an Olympic quality but uh but no,

750
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:39,000
Speaker 2: I didn't. I didn't think it had any even when

751
00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:41,400
Speaker 2: I was, you know, stupid enough to be a drinker.

752
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:46,360
Speaker 2: I didn't think that it enhanced my performance. I knew

753
00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:46,879
Speaker 2: that it did.

754
00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:50,319
Speaker 1: Not. Well, I'm glad that you knew that you were

755
00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:53,000
Speaker 1: funny without it, because I would imagine that if you

756
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:55,359
Speaker 1: were afraid it may have stopped you from getting back

757
00:43:55,360 --> 00:43:58,800
Speaker 1: into it would all be no, not not as happy.

758
00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:03,560
Speaker 2: I mean, I wasn't you know, I wasn't sure what

759
00:44:03,719 --> 00:44:10,160
Speaker 2: was going to happen. But uh no, you know, my my,

760
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:16,960
Speaker 2: my life, you know, my life improved. I would say

761
00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:23,440
Speaker 2: one thousand percent, but that would be Trump mask. So

762
00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:28,000
Speaker 2: I'll just I'll just stick with one hundred percent as

763
00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:30,439
Speaker 2: a result of giving up the devil drink.

764
00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:33,600
Speaker 1: Well, all right, So now that we have got all

765
00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:35,920
Speaker 1: of this under our belts and accomplished, I want to

766
00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:38,600
Speaker 1: tell you that a couple of weeks ago I spoke

767
00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:44,080
Speaker 1: with a comedian and her name is Wendy Leep and

768
00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:47,000
Speaker 1: she loves you, apparently because she was talking about you

769
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:49,759
Speaker 1: in our interview and I said I was going to

770
00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:52,560
Speaker 1: have you on and would you like to ask Paula

771
00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:56,000
Speaker 1: a question? And she actually had. She had one thing

772
00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:58,319
Speaker 1: she wanted me to tell you, and a question. Can

773
00:44:58,360 --> 00:45:15,960
Speaker 1: I play that? Su All right? Here we go? All right,

774
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:19,520
Speaker 1: So inquiring minds want to know, including Wendy Leidman, why

775
00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:20,399
Speaker 1: do you talk to a chair?

776
00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:22,640
Speaker 2: Okay? I don't talk to a chair. I have no

777
00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:25,160
Speaker 2: idea where Wendy got the idea that I talked to them.

778
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:27,959
Speaker 2: Come on, for real, I don't talk to the chair.

779
00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:32,200
Speaker 2: I take a picture of a chair. Uh. And I

780
00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:35,800
Speaker 2: think it started because you know a lot of times

781
00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:41,520
Speaker 2: people are like, uh, you know, I'll get like a message,

782
00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:44,640
Speaker 2: you know that somebody wants to come backstage. You know,

783
00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:47,240
Speaker 2: somebody wants to know if they can meet me backstage.

784
00:45:47,840 --> 00:45:50,520
Speaker 2: And I don't mean like another performer, I mean like

785
00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:52,359
Speaker 2: a you know, an audience member wants to know if

786
00:45:52,360 --> 00:45:55,160
Speaker 2: they can. You know, it's somebody's birthday working to come backstage.

787
00:45:55,560 --> 00:45:58,040
Speaker 2: You know what, why does everybody want to come backstage?

788
00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:02,359
Speaker 2: It is so unglamorous, It is so it is. It's

789
00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:06,680
Speaker 2: this cement room and and a lot of the older theaters,

790
00:46:07,040 --> 00:46:16,880
Speaker 2: you know, there's just very little comforts in that room

791
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:19,920
Speaker 2: or else the hotel, excuse me, or else the theater

792
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:23,120
Speaker 2: will want me to come from the hotel like an

793
00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:26,640
Speaker 2: hour early because it makes them more comfortable to know

794
00:46:26,719 --> 00:46:27,319
Speaker 2: that I'm there.

795
00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:29,960
Speaker 1: And they put you in this.

796
00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:35,400
Speaker 2: Exactly. And I mean I'm not I'm not complaining. I'm

797
00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:37,959
Speaker 2: not suggesting for a moment that I need something more

798
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:40,560
Speaker 2: than that little cement room. I do not. I am

799
00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:44,040
Speaker 2: perfectly comfortable in that little cement room. I don't need

800
00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:46,640
Speaker 2: to be there for an extra hour. I'd prefer to

801
00:46:46,680 --> 00:46:52,240
Speaker 2: be in the hotel room. But so originally I started

802
00:46:52,239 --> 00:46:55,959
Speaker 2: taking pictures of the chairs sort of to say like, Okay, look,

803
00:46:56,560 --> 00:47:01,000
Speaker 2: this is what it is. It's not fancy, meanly in

804
00:47:01,120 --> 00:47:03,040
Speaker 2: the lobby. If you want to talk to me, come

805
00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:06,960
Speaker 2: to the lobby. Don't come backstage. It's gross. So that

806
00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:10,040
Speaker 2: I believe that that was what motivated me in the

807
00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:12,480
Speaker 2: beginning to take a picture of a chair before I

808
00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:15,239
Speaker 2: went on. And I don't know at what point I sorry,

809
00:47:15,239 --> 00:47:16,640
Speaker 2: I would take a picture of a chair, and then

810
00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:19,840
Speaker 2: I say and I post. I say, I'm about to

811
00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:21,920
Speaker 2: tell them in and I tell the name of the

812
00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:26,080
Speaker 2: city that I'm in. And I don't know when I

813
00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:28,440
Speaker 2: started doing it, but it was a long long time ago.

814
00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:32,000
Speaker 2: And now if I don't post a picture of the chair,

815
00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:33,160
Speaker 2: people complain.

816
00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:37,200
Speaker 1: Really, it's become a thing, a thing.

817
00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:43,880
Speaker 2: It's an odd thing. I think people. Clearly Wendy created

818
00:47:43,920 --> 00:47:46,799
Speaker 2: this whole story around it in her own mind, so

819
00:47:46,880 --> 00:47:49,759
Speaker 2: I think everybody has a different idea of why I

820
00:47:49,840 --> 00:47:52,000
Speaker 2: post the picture of the chair, but to the best

821
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:54,480
Speaker 2: of my memory, that's how I started posting the picture

822
00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:58,280
Speaker 2: of the dear. What's really funny is there are venues

823
00:47:58,560 --> 00:48:02,200
Speaker 2: that have gone out and found a fancy chair just

824
00:48:02,239 --> 00:48:06,480
Speaker 2: for you. Snug their chair. When I posted they can

825
00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:10,840
Speaker 2: be it? Can it conveyed them in glory? Wow, that

826
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:11,600
Speaker 2: is so cool.

827
00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:13,719
Speaker 1: I like the story behind that, and yes, I agree

828
00:48:13,760 --> 00:48:15,759
Speaker 1: with you one hundred percent. I never once I went

829
00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:19,359
Speaker 1: backstage working in this industry and saw what was going on.

830
00:48:19,440 --> 00:48:21,359
Speaker 1: I was like, why do people want to come back here?

831
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:24,560
Speaker 1: There is nothing going on back here. It's not pretty

832
00:48:24,960 --> 00:48:27,920
Speaker 1: and usually it's dark. I mean Joan Rivers room, and

833
00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:31,040
Speaker 1: I remember it was in the basement of a comedy club,

834
00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:34,400
Speaker 1: in a little cement room like two by four and

835
00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:37,359
Speaker 1: there was nothing in there. I'm like, Joan, what, how

836
00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:39,239
Speaker 1: is this possible? She's like, yeah, we don't care.

837
00:48:40,200 --> 00:48:42,440
Speaker 2: Like even the Tonight Show the first time I ever

838
00:48:42,480 --> 00:48:44,719
Speaker 2: did The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, right, you know,

839
00:48:45,800 --> 00:48:50,319
Speaker 2: growing up watching that show, it all looked so glamorous

840
00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:53,799
Speaker 2: and you get there and it's just like this is

841
00:48:53,880 --> 00:48:59,200
Speaker 2: what it looks like. So small, it's it's small, it's

842
00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:05,239
Speaker 2: it's it's just it's just not glamorous. It really is

843
00:49:05,280 --> 00:49:07,359
Speaker 2: the magic of television, you know. There's a way that

844
00:49:07,400 --> 00:49:09,680
Speaker 2: they light things and what they do with the camera

845
00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:14,279
Speaker 2: that makes puts out a particular image. And uh, and

846
00:49:14,320 --> 00:49:17,040
Speaker 2: good for them, I mean that's brilliant. But the dressing

847
00:49:17,120 --> 00:49:22,279
Speaker 2: room was like, it's a teeny little maybe it's not

848
00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:25,080
Speaker 2: cement at the tonight, I can't remember anymore, but I

849
00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:31,239
Speaker 2: remember it was very small. Uh, it's it's got it's

850
00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:36,160
Speaker 2: not it's not decorated. It's just there. It's just a

851
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:41,560
Speaker 2: room you dress, you know, and big on big. You know.

852
00:49:41,640 --> 00:49:43,600
Speaker 2: I think they used to have a big liquor thing

853
00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:46,200
Speaker 2: in there. But that that never interested me one way

854
00:49:46,239 --> 00:49:50,080
Speaker 2: or the other, even when I started. We're gonna say,

855
00:49:50,120 --> 00:49:52,840
Speaker 2: oh oh. So one time I was in Lake Tahoe

856
00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:58,239
Speaker 2: and I think I was working somewhere, but also, uh,

857
00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:00,919
Speaker 2: I was with some friends. We stayed a couple extra

858
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:05,640
Speaker 2: nights or something, and I think Mahamo's Hairs or something,

859
00:50:05,760 --> 00:50:10,320
Speaker 2: and Liza Minelli was working there. So before the show,

860
00:50:11,200 --> 00:50:14,000
Speaker 2: I take a napkin and I write a note to

861
00:50:14,239 --> 00:50:17,279
Speaker 2: Liza Minnelli, who doesn't know me from Adam, but I

862
00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:18,680
Speaker 2: write this note and I go, you know, I'm here

863
00:50:18,719 --> 00:50:21,240
Speaker 2: with my friends and I'm a you know, my performer.

864
00:50:21,239 --> 00:50:23,839
Speaker 2: My name is Paul Poundstone. I said, we wanted to

865
00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:28,160
Speaker 2: know if we can come backstage, and I don't know

866
00:50:28,680 --> 00:50:32,319
Speaker 2: at that point, I'd never been backstage there. I really

867
00:50:32,440 --> 00:50:34,520
Speaker 2: was expecting, you know, it's e Liza, It's going to

868
00:50:34,560 --> 00:50:39,520
Speaker 2: be glamorous, right, And I couldn't believe when whoever I

869
00:50:39,560 --> 00:50:41,680
Speaker 2: gave the note to, like a security guy or something,

870
00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:43,960
Speaker 2: and he comes back and he says, yes, you know,

871
00:50:44,040 --> 00:50:45,919
Speaker 2: come this way, you and your friends come this way.

872
00:50:46,200 --> 00:50:48,920
Speaker 2: You know Liza will you know, Lisa will meet with

873
00:50:48,960 --> 00:50:52,440
Speaker 2: you backstage. I couldn't believe it. So we go into

874
00:50:52,560 --> 00:50:54,719
Speaker 2: I can't remember. Maybe it wasn't it wasn't even the

875
00:50:54,800 --> 00:50:57,279
Speaker 2: dressing room might have been the bigger room, the green room,

876
00:50:57,320 --> 00:51:02,200
Speaker 2: but the green room also very like just on just

877
00:51:02,320 --> 00:51:06,720
Speaker 2: not interesting in any way. And so we come back

878
00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:09,400
Speaker 2: and she couldn't have been more gracious. She meets my friends,

879
00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:12,919
Speaker 2: she meets me, We sit around and chit. Yet and

880
00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:15,120
Speaker 2: later I thought about it, I was like, Okay, why

881
00:51:15,160 --> 00:51:18,480
Speaker 2: would she have done that? And I think it's because

882
00:51:19,320 --> 00:51:22,600
Speaker 2: it was depressing for her back there too. So she's

883
00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:26,200
Speaker 2: just like green room was so total strangers want to

884
00:51:26,200 --> 00:51:28,239
Speaker 2: come back, and I'm sure they made her be at

885
00:51:28,280 --> 00:51:31,200
Speaker 2: that place, you know, like you know, an hour and

886
00:51:31,239 --> 00:51:33,640
Speaker 2: a half early, and she was bored out of her mind.

887
00:51:33,719 --> 00:51:35,319
Speaker 2: So she was like, yeah, sure, come on back.

888
00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:38,359
Speaker 1: I do want to tell her that's so funny. Yeah,

889
00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:40,479
Speaker 1: green room is just that, it's a room that's green

890
00:51:40,520 --> 00:51:45,520
Speaker 1: and sometimes it has have I have one more thing

891
00:51:45,960 --> 00:51:48,120
Speaker 1: when you want to share, thank you for your time,

892
00:51:49,040 --> 00:52:06,520
Speaker 1: and here's this all right, so you ready for this one?

893
00:52:06,600 --> 00:52:11,200
Speaker 1: This is this first of all? Is that true? Yes, okay,

894
00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:15,480
Speaker 1: she wanted me to let you know that her husband,

895
00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:17,799
Speaker 1: when he was seven years old, his parents used to

896
00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:22,080
Speaker 1: write music for movies, soundtracks and stuff, and he went

897
00:52:22,120 --> 00:52:23,839
Speaker 1: to school. When he came home from school, he told

898
00:52:23,840 --> 00:52:26,560
Speaker 1: his father that they gave him medicine in school. And

899
00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:29,719
Speaker 1: his father said, they gave you a shot, and he said,

900
00:52:29,719 --> 00:52:32,000
Speaker 1: oh no, no. They put the medicine on a spoon

901
00:52:32,600 --> 00:52:34,680
Speaker 1: and put a little sugar cube on it, and they

902
00:52:34,719 --> 00:52:36,680
Speaker 1: gave it to me that way. And the next day

903
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:40,000
Speaker 1: her father in law and mother in law I think

904
00:52:40,280 --> 00:52:43,680
Speaker 1: or both wrote Spoonful of Sugar for Chitty Chitty Bank Bank.

905
00:52:44,320 --> 00:52:48,920
Speaker 2: Well, noan it was a spoonful of sugar from Mary Poppins.

906
00:52:49,480 --> 00:52:52,640
Speaker 1: I mean Mary Poppins. Sorry, I'm sorry, yes, wow, Sorry Wendy,

907
00:52:52,680 --> 00:52:53,480
Speaker 1: I screwed that up.

908
00:52:54,960 --> 00:52:58,160
Speaker 2: So her husband because it was the Sherman brothers who

909
00:52:58,239 --> 00:52:59,840
Speaker 2: wrote that song, so.

910
00:53:00,680 --> 00:53:03,600
Speaker 1: Maybe her her husband's father was one of the short.

911
00:53:04,960 --> 00:53:05,680
Speaker 2: Wow I could have.

912
00:53:05,840 --> 00:53:08,240
Speaker 1: Well, we'll have to get down to that wow.

913
00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:09,000
Speaker 2: Yeah.

914
00:53:09,239 --> 00:53:12,319
Speaker 1: Either way, Wendy was a huge fan and I just

915
00:53:12,560 --> 00:53:14,520
Speaker 1: didn't want to waste a moment if I could at

916
00:53:14,600 --> 00:53:17,719
Speaker 1: least connect the two of you, and yes, two amazingly

917
00:53:17,800 --> 00:53:22,400
Speaker 1: talented women in this industry that is so difficult. Before

918
00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:24,399
Speaker 1: I let you go, you've maintained a career for over

919
00:53:24,440 --> 00:53:29,160
Speaker 1: forty years and notoriously difficult industry. What keeps you going

920
00:53:29,280 --> 00:53:32,240
Speaker 1: and what still excites PAULA Poundstone today?

921
00:53:32,880 --> 00:53:36,040
Speaker 2: Well, again, as a result of that period of time

922
00:53:36,160 --> 00:53:39,480
Speaker 2: during the stay at home warder, I really know that

923
00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:44,680
Speaker 2: you know how awful it feels to not get to

924
00:53:44,719 --> 00:53:49,839
Speaker 2: do this, So I am genuine You know, travel does

925
00:53:49,880 --> 00:53:53,120
Speaker 2: get you after a little while. The cement rooms gets

926
00:53:53,160 --> 00:53:54,960
Speaker 2: you after a little while. But boy, the part of

927
00:53:55,000 --> 00:54:00,480
Speaker 2: being in front of an audience and just talking over everything,

928
00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:04,520
Speaker 2: you know, what's going on in the world, just talking

929
00:54:04,719 --> 00:54:08,279
Speaker 2: to individuals in the crowd and finding about finding out

930
00:54:08,280 --> 00:54:10,799
Speaker 2: about the you know, the area that you're in or

931
00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:16,200
Speaker 2: a job that somebody does, and having that. I always

932
00:54:16,239 --> 00:54:18,840
Speaker 2: say that I'm a proud member of the endorphin production

933
00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:22,520
Speaker 2: industry because that's what we do for a couple of

934
00:54:22,560 --> 00:54:27,160
Speaker 2: hours a night, is produce endorphins for me and for

935
00:54:27,239 --> 00:54:30,399
Speaker 2: the people in front of me, and it is. It's

936
00:54:30,440 --> 00:54:30,920
Speaker 2: a joy.

937
00:54:31,719 --> 00:54:35,319
Speaker 1: Paula. Thank you so much for your honesty and your

938
00:54:35,400 --> 00:54:38,279
Speaker 1: humor and for everything that you do. And I'm so

939
00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:41,480
Speaker 1: glad that you are still is so much excited as

940
00:54:41,520 --> 00:54:44,000
Speaker 1: you were even back in the data still continue to

941
00:54:44,040 --> 00:54:46,680
Speaker 1: go out there and entertain people and make them happy.

942
00:54:46,680 --> 00:54:49,520
Speaker 1: And Lord knows we need a lot of it right now.

943
00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:51,440
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of laughter is.

944
00:54:51,360 --> 00:54:54,600
Speaker 2: We donate a lot of it. And as we've seen,

945
00:54:55,440 --> 00:55:01,840
Speaker 2: comedians are telling truths right now. And I mean, I

946
00:55:01,880 --> 00:55:05,040
Speaker 2: can't swear that every single comedian is telling truth But

947
00:55:06,200 --> 00:55:09,960
Speaker 2: I recently got a kitten and I named him Colbert,

948
00:55:10,920 --> 00:55:13,680
Speaker 2: and I wrote to I tweeted out a picture of

949
00:55:13,719 --> 00:55:17,600
Speaker 2: him and I tagged Colbert Show, and I said, this

950
00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:20,560
Speaker 2: is not because you've had me on I said, because

951
00:55:20,560 --> 00:55:22,400
Speaker 2: in fact, I don't think you've had me on enough.

952
00:55:23,239 --> 00:55:26,640
Speaker 2: I name my kitten Colbert because Stephen Colbert is a

953
00:55:26,680 --> 00:55:31,879
Speaker 2: goddamned American hero and because he's said, you know, he's

954
00:55:31,920 --> 00:55:33,040
Speaker 2: telling truths.

955
00:55:33,320 --> 00:55:37,520
Speaker 1: I love it. And one other thing, wait, wait, don't

956
00:55:37,520 --> 00:55:40,520
Speaker 1: tell me. We can hear you there often on npr S.

957
00:55:40,760 --> 00:55:44,200
Speaker 2: That is correct, all right? And also where I have

958
00:55:44,200 --> 00:55:46,759
Speaker 2: a podcast called Nobody listens to Paula Poundstone.

959
00:55:47,800 --> 00:55:49,360
Speaker 1: I was just going to say, where else can we

960
00:55:49,400 --> 00:55:50,480
Speaker 1: find more of Paula.

961
00:55:51,320 --> 00:55:56,319
Speaker 2: I'm also doing a series of videos that you can

962
00:55:56,360 --> 00:56:00,840
Speaker 2: find on YouTuber, Instagram or any of those kinds of places,

963
00:56:00,880 --> 00:56:05,000
Speaker 2: but certainly YouTube is an easy to find. We're mostly

964
00:56:05,040 --> 00:56:08,880
Speaker 2: called hey Donald Trump, and they're just a couple of

965
00:56:08,960 --> 00:56:13,120
Speaker 2: minutes each or if that, and it's me talking to

966
00:56:13,200 --> 00:56:16,880
Speaker 2: Donald Trump, not oh boy, he's not in fact in

967
00:56:16,920 --> 00:56:19,440
Speaker 2: front of me. But that's the premise. The premise is

968
00:56:19,480 --> 00:56:23,600
Speaker 2: that I'm talking directly to Donald Trump. And they've been,

969
00:56:24,520 --> 00:56:27,160
Speaker 2: you know, fun to do, and I try to make

970
00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:28,840
Speaker 2: sure I'm working with facts.

971
00:56:29,960 --> 00:56:33,960
Speaker 1: Listen, there's nothing better when you can just turn things

972
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:37,960
Speaker 1: into comedy, regardless of facts, just just making people laugh.

973
00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:40,800
Speaker 1: If it's funny, it's funny Paula, right, I mean, it's

974
00:56:40,840 --> 00:56:43,040
Speaker 1: not meant to hurt anybody, it's just meant to make

975
00:56:43,080 --> 00:56:43,479
Speaker 1: you laugh.

976
00:56:43,600 --> 00:56:47,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, good to have some facts in there.

977
00:56:47,920 --> 00:56:52,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, occasionally Fall of Fownstone. Thank you so much. I'm

978
00:56:52,760 --> 00:56:54,839
Speaker 1: sorry I had you talk so much. You're choking at

979
00:56:54,880 --> 00:56:56,680
Speaker 1: the end of that. Did not intend to do that.

980
00:56:57,320 --> 00:57:00,000
Speaker 1: But best wishes to you and all of the future

981
00:57:00,040 --> 00:57:02,640
Speaker 1: your endeavors, and I hope that maybe our pass will

982
00:57:02,640 --> 00:57:05,440
Speaker 1: cross again. And thanks for spending so much time chatting

983
00:57:05,480 --> 00:57:08,640
Speaker 1: with me about comedy and your life and just being

984
00:57:08,680 --> 00:57:11,120
Speaker 1: so available and wonderful.

985
00:57:11,280 --> 00:57:12,200
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.

986
00:57:12,239 --> 00:57:14,200
Speaker 1: I I don't want to let you go.

987
00:57:14,760 --> 00:57:16,600
Speaker 2: I said, I had a great time. I appreciate it.