Culture

Paula Poundstone explains channeling OCD into her enduring comedy career, why she thinks Ohio’s Wright Brothers had OCD too

By: Ian Saint
Posted on: Wednesday, March 15, 2023

ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – Four decades after Paula Poundstone’s comedy career took flight her body of work has weathered society’s major paradigm shifts remarkably well. This weekend her touring brings Poundstone back to Ohio.

Turns out, the Buckeye State has borne Poundstone a goldmine of key memories. In Dayton, alone, she swooned to WOUB’s Ian Saint about how the “best cat I ever had” of her gargantuan feline brood hailed from a long-ago residency at Wiley’s Comedy Club; and she also vividly recalls her shock at observing the Otis Elevator Company’s one-story building on Main Street. While glancing at a picture from inside Dayton’s Wright Brothers’ abode, she marveled at how all the cans in their pantry faced forward — a sign of meticulousness that, Poundstone believes, was crucial to their ability to invent passenger flight.

Poundstone’s remarkable ability to observe and fixate on the more mundane facets of life and dissect them in an amusing way might be her trademark. It’s a constant feature of her work, whether that’s her comedy specials, starring as a panelist in longtime quiz shows like “To Tell the Truth” or NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me,” writing her bestselling books, or her recent foray into podcasting (“Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone”).

Many comedians capitalize on their perceived idiosyncrasies for their material; but, tragically, several of Poundstone’s contemporaries also wound up succumbing to personal problems that they’d mined for laughs. As managers of her early career implored Paula to kowtow to various ways of fitting in — whether it be her way of dress, or opening up about her asexuality — she conveyed to WOUB that she was “kind of a late bloomer in terms of advocating for myself.”

Stream our exclusive interview with Paula Poundstone on-demand, by clicking the Play button in the YouTube widget beneath the headline. A transcript of the conversation is provided below. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Ian Saint:

Thank you, Paula Poundstone, for joining us! My name is Ian Saint, and I’d like to thank you for speaking with us at WOUB Public Media. We are a NPR and PBS affiliate in Ohio, where you’re going to be performing a couple of shows: first, the Taft Theater in Cincinnati, on March 17, and the Southern Theater in Columbus, on March 18. I know you performed in Dayton last November. You’ve done a fair number of shows in Ohio over the years; and I was just wondering if there’s any memories of Ohio that stand out to you, or just general observations as you’ve toured the Buckeye State.

Paula Poundstone:

Well, I do work in Ohio a lot — because there’s a lot of cities in Ohio! Probably the most important Ohio interaction I’ve ever had is that my cat, Baloo, came from Ohio! I used to work a club, many, many, many years ago, called Wiley’s in Dayton, Ohio. So I’d be there for five days, as opposed to now, when I work theaters and I’m only in for a night. This was a long, long time ago… I was hanging out at the club during the day — no, I guess it was late at night. Two of the bartenders told me that, during the day, they worked at a vet’s office; and they told me that someone had dropped off a box of kittens. So I went in the next day, and got my cat. Best cat I ever had! Must have been the Dayton blood. Must have been the Ohio…

Ian Saint:

I was actually born in Dayton, so that is a very touching remark! <laugh>

Paula Poundstone:

See! Yeah, there’s something! I don’t know, it’s a barometric pressure? I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about Dayton — and I used to love being there for five nights. One of the things that I made note of, when walking around Dayton at one point, was that the Otis Elevator Company is there…

Ian Saint:

Really??

Paula Poundstone:

Yes — and that their office building is ONE floor!

Ian Saint:

Oh, my goodness! I need to jump down this rabbit hole, and get to the bottom of the story there. <laugh> It had to be deliberate… or maybe they were pioneers and they, you know, developed the technology, and the building was grandfathered in some historic…

Paula Poundstone:

Yeah — just never got around to it. I mean, maybe it’s different now — this would’ve been, I don’t know, maybe in the ‘80s. Maybe since then they’ve gotten two floors…

Ian Saint:

Expanded a little bit? [Editor’s Note: the Otis Elevator Company on Dayton’s Main Street remains one story.]

Paula Poundstone:

Yeah, I think of Dayton every time I step on an elevator. Not because it’s a necessarily an Otis elevator; but because it reminds me of walking by the Otis Elevator building, and discovering that it was one floor. Maybe the people who make it know more than we do.

Ian Saint:

Yeah. Oh, my gosh; I’m gonna have to dedicate a whole episode to this now. <laugh> Well, speaking of the ‘80s… I would imagine many folks first knew of you, perhaps, from your comedy specials on HBO, or maybe your appearances throughout the 1992 election cycle — where you were a very prominent, unforgettable character, commentator, etc. But you have been in comedy for over four decades, and entertaining generations now! I’m not a spring chicken, but I am a millennial; and I actually first knew of you from To Tell the Truth.

Paula Poundstone:

Wow! Yeah, that was so much fun, that show!

Ian Saint:

Yeah, the iteration hosted by John O’Hurley in the 2000s.

Paula Poundstone:

Yeah! And Meshach Taylor, on the end of the panel there. Oh, my gosh! We had fun during that show.

Ian Saint:

Was it a little bit of the Brett [Somers] and Charles Nelson Reilly chemistry [on Match Game] going on there?

Paula Poundstone:

Perhaps, perhaps! You know To Tell the Truth had a number of iterations. But the original To Tell the Truth had a woman named Kitty Carlisle, who I believe was Moss Hart’s wife. She was one of the original panelists on To Tell the Truth, the old black & white one. And so they had her on the one that I did, as somebody that you had to guess. And I think they had, like, something over their faces or something; I can’t remember anymore. You know, “I’m Kitty Carlisle; I’m Kitty Carlisle.” Right. So after we did the show, or maybe before… it was her birthday, so they wheeled out a birthday cake, and she was quite elderly. She said she was 90 at the time; but they told me that she was actually older than that! <laugh>

Ian Saint:

Well, I would imagine! I mean, this was the 2000s, you know, so it was already many decades after.

Paula Poundstone:

Yeah, you’re right. So, anyways, at one point they were taking a picture, and we were standing beside each other. We didn’t know each other. But, you know, just to make conversation, I said, “Kitty, where do you live?” And she said, “I broke both my hips!” You know, the problem is that, socially, I didn’t know what to do with that. Do I bother repeating? Do I bother saying “no, that’s not what I asked, I’m repeating my question”? I opted to go “oh, I’m sorry!”

Ian Saint:

That’s fair!

Paula Poundstone:

It was small talk. It could have taken any direction.

Ian Saint:

So on that note of, that’s how I first got acquainted with you… I interviewed Marie Osmond recently, and she’s kind of in a similar boat — where she’s been entertaining generations of fans. And she said that a lot of her youngest fans tell her they actually first knew of her from Nutrisystem commercials.

Paula Poundstone:

I would think, yeah!

Ian Saint:

So that got me wondering: what’s the oddest circumstances you’ve heard from, someone who’s become a fan? Where they became acquainted with you in an a way that you hadn’t anticipated, or you don’t hear a whole lot?

Paula Poundstone:

There was a videotape of a show that I made, with a couple of other comics, for Poptarts – well, Kellogg’s, but [specifically] Poptarts — where you could send in box tops from Poptarts, and a little bit of money, whatever it was, and get this videotape. And a lot of people tell me that they wore that tape out when they were kids!

Ian Saint:

Oh, wow!

Paula Poundstone:

Sometimes, people even bring me the box and ask me to sign it. Because this was quite a while ago, I hadn’t seen it a really long time. And by the way, I allowed the Kellogg’s stylist — I guess that would be the person who tells [Frosted Flakes mascot] Tony the Tiger what to wear. So when I look at the picture [of me] on the cover, I’m like, “WHOAAAAAA!” <laugh> You’re right: I’ve been at this for 43 years. And it’s the best job in the entire world. I’m the luckiest person! But it took me probably, I don’t know, 35 years to get to where I can go “Yeah, I’m not wearing that.” I was kind of a late bloomer, in terms of advocating for myself.

Ian Saint:

Well, you know, I think a lot of people are in that boat! I think that perhaps, if there was a silver lining of this pandemic… a lot of people were reevaluating their lives, and their directions, and their boundaries, and things like that. So I don’t think you might be as late [of a bloomer] as you might think — because I hear this so often, when I’m talking to people lately, about how this was a terrible thing to go through… but it did make them realize things about themselves, and implement things in their lives that they, in retrospect, wished they had done sooner.

Paula Poundstone:

I think so. I think for a lot of us, myself included. I have something terrible to confess… which is that prior to COVID, I might have… I have no evidence of this, but I might have whined about travel here and there!

Ian Saint:

Uh, oh!

Paula Poundstone:

Lord, yes! Maybe a little. Well, lemme tell you… you know what? You can fold me into the overhead compartment, to get me to a job; I don’t care! I am THRILLED to be working in theaters, in front of audiences; and how DARE I ever have felt otherwise! I mean, it’s not that I didn’t want to be in front of the audience… it was, you know, the travel and the schedule. And now, I get up a lot of times with cat hair all over me, so I’m itchy. I get up at three in the morning, at the hotel, to go to the airport. And you know what? I trot across that lobby, and I go, “good morniiiiiing!” Happy as a clam!

And, yeah, I think a lot of people re-evaluated lots and lots of much more significant things than that. I swear, it was about two weeks before COVID hit, I said to my oldest daughter — and I never was very good about teaching my kids about money — but I said to my oldest daughter, “you know, you have to save money, because you don’t know what’s gonna happen. And bad things do happen! And so you have to have that cushion. You have to have saved money. That was about two weeks. Boy, I had the biggest ‘I told you so’ coming my way!

Ian Saint:

I’m glad you brought up dressing as you wish, because I read where you had a management company early in your career, in the ‘80s, when you were 23 years old… and they had this fixation with the way that you dressed. Which is, looking back, kind of ironic — because that’s part of what makes you stand out, and that’s part of why people love you. Especially now that there are so many comedians, not only on TV, but on TikTok and things like that. So to have a distinct marker, that people identify and and cherish, is wonderful.

But I also was a little bit struck by that… because I’m like, “wait a minute, this would’ve been the ‘80s. Like, who were they really to judge how you dress?” Because they, honestly, maybe looking back, would not be so proud of how they dressed, either. <laugh>,

Paula Poundstone:

You know what, it was older guys; it was a very powerful management company. And I was happy to be with them at the time! But it was older guys. And the truth is, when you look back over their roster over the years, they had a handful of women EVER — and the women didn’t stay with them for very long. And there’s a good reason for that, which is, it just wasn’t their forte, knowing what to do with a woman. And the world of comedy, certainly, over the years, hasn’t always known what to do, uh, with women – particularly as a standup comic. Not so much, like, a sitcom person. You know, because we have Lucille Ball…

Ian Saint:

I was gonna say, you’re saying this with Lucille Ball over your shoulder — literally! And in the ‘50s, no less — you know, a pretty patriarchal time.

Paula Poundstone:

Yeah. I mean, there were lots of women who starred in sitcoms; but there weren’t as many women in standup, and so… they always reminded me a little bit of my father, in that he didn’t really know what to say to girls, either.

And they were very concerned that I wasn’t… you know, for many, many years, I’ve done a thing about how I don’t like sex. I’ll say on stage, “I don’t like sex!” You know, I’m happy for the rest of you! It’s not, like, a prudish thing… it just doesn’t do anything for me. And I realize that that’s somewhat unique. I’m not the only one, though, I can tell you that. But this used to just panic them, that I would say that… they would say “Don’t say that!” Because it wasn’t their feeling.

I think there’s so many things that have come out of the stay-at-home order, and this COVID period of life… and one of them, for me anyways — and I think I can speak for some of my audience members —one of the things we really missed was being audience members.

As a performer, obviously, I missed having an audience — and you can’t do standup comedy, via Zoom, in your living room. You just can’t. Trust me, a lot of us tried! It can’t be done. But this thing, where you enjoy something with a group of mostly strangers collectively, that takes you through some sort of emotional trail… be it laughter — you know, a funny movie, a scary movie, one that combines all those things — some sort of emotional trail, that you go through. It could be a concert of music, that you go through as this collective group. It must have something to do with when we lived in caves, I don’t know. <laugh> But that experience is so valuable.

I love The Three Stooges, and I showed The Three Stooges to my kids, many, many times. I have them on DVD and VHS, and I just love them. So I took the kids one time, to a Three Stooges film festival… and, you know, when we would watch at home — and, certainly, when I watched The Three Stooges by myself — I acknowledge that I think that things are funny, [but] I don’t laugh out loud! But here we were, watching in a theater full of people — strangers, but everybody there was a Three Stooges fan. And we were caught up in waves of laughter!

You appreciate things differently when you’re with other people. I remember one day, during the stay-at-home order, I was on Twitter or something… and somebody posted a little clip of a Springsteen concert, but it was mostly the audience. I burst into tears! And it wasn’t because I was missing having an audience in front of me — it’s because I was missing being a part of a group emotional experience. And I don’t think most of us would’ve known how important that was to us, had we not had the stay-at-home order.

Ian Saint:

I love what you said about that, though, because I literally — just the other day interviewed Wynonna Judd. She is going through a period of mourning, with what happened to her mom, and going on a tour that she was supposed to do with her mother. And she talked about how important it was to hear the audience singing back to her. And how there’s a perfectionism that you surrender in live performance, versus when something is in the studio, and it’s not edited. And that’s hard for someone of her stature in entertainment. But at the same time, she said, “it’s like being suspended between here and Heaven” when you hear that validation from a sea of people that you’re resonating with.

Paula Poundstone:

Oh, it’s the best! You know, the truth is, I used to bus tables at a restaurant in Boston when I was young. And I was really good. When I left, they had to hire, like, two people. I was really good! Part of it’s because I have OCD [Obsessive Compulsive Disorder]. So I was a really good table busser. In the world of table bussing, I would say I was one of the top five. In the world of comedy, I’m good; but I’m not in the top five. Yet, no one ever applauded me [for bussing tables]! <laugh> Very, very few people; I mean, the waiters and waitresses would express some amount of appreciation of my work — but I never had that sort of collective, like, “oh, my gosh, this meant so much to us” [sentiment]. So, being a performer, I see where why [Wynonna Judd] says that — it’s nice. That’s why people do it for free, for a really long time! <laugh>

Ian Saint:

Right! That’s a great point! I’m glad you brought up the OCD. I was reading a review of your show, that you did at the Wadsworth Theater in LA, way back in 2008; and you had ended your set by confessing that your chatterbox kind of ultimately thanks to the OCD. Your mind is so wildly associative, it never runs out of material.

And this hit me like a ton of bricks! Because I have OCD myself — and it’s caused, you know, a good amount of grief in my life at different points, especially in adolescence. But I swear, this is why I like interviewing people! And I’ve had famous people who’ve done millions of interviews, tell me “oh my God, nobody’s ever asked me that question!” [Author note: I’m particularly proud of asking Rick Springfield a substantive question about “Jessie’s Girl,” where Springfield exasperatedly replied that he’d never heard it before.] And it’s just because I can fixate on something that they say, and run wild with it. [Paula replies “Yeah!”] So is that kind of what you were alluding to?

Paula Poundstone:

Yes. Everything that gets said reminds me of something that I feel that I must say. It’s why I don’t go to many funerals and memorials, because I would likely inadvertently forget to focus on the loved one. <laugh>

The thing about OCD is… it took me a very long time to figure out that that was an aspect of that, a symptom of that. It’s so eclectic in the way that it manifests itself. We don’t all have the same symptoms. But a lot of people don’t realize that that’s what that is. And by the way, by figuring out that that’s what that is, it doesn’t necessarily stop it… but, I don’t know, you don’t feel as bad about it.

Ian Saint:

Maybe it allows you to better harness a direction that would be beneficial. Everything can [simultaneously] be a pro and a con, or a double-edged sword.

Paula Poundstone:

I’m pretty sure the Wright brothers had raging OCD. <laugh> I had a gorgeous picture book of them; and it had photos of their hut at Kittyhawk. And all the canned goods on their shelf were facing in the same direction! And they tested that glider, I think, many more times than they probably had to. And they wore suits on the beach. So all these things suggest, to me, that the Wright brothers had OCD — and probably to our benefit! And I don’t want an accountant that doesn’t have OCD. So there are applications for it.

Ian Saint:

I love that you noticed the cans all facing forward!

Paula Poundstone:

Oh, I’m so jealous!

Ian Saint:

That’s why I love Paula Poundstone. Okay. So my last question… you know, we’ve been talking a lot about the journeys we’ve been on, and realizing self, and understanding self, and bettering self and, navigating disappointments that might have been silver linings.

Something I thought of in your story… you had expressed that you have always wanted to show — like Carol Burnett, or Mary Tyler Moore, or Lucille Ball — and you felt like that opportunity is just not in the cards for you at this point in your career.

I was thinking about all the accomplishments that you have had — and yet there’s still something that can be a little bit of a bummer, I guess, if you get too fixated on it.

You appeared alongside Ellen DeGeneres in the Women of the Night HBO special in the ‘80s, and I was sort of thinking about her show. Not her sitcom — and I love that sitcom, I wish it were more in syndication and stuff, because I thought it was really funny — but her talk show, [which was] also a wonderful program. But then it grew to such a height, and such a level of celebrity, and such a behemoth operation — that, towards the end, there were a lot of issues that kind of tarnished it. I guess there were just things going on behind the scenes, that she could not even control, she didn’t have oversight of… yet she still faced blow back from that happening.

So I’m thinking about what you said, how you would’ve liked your own show and, and how it’s a bummer that that didn’t happen. But at the same time, is there something to be said about how, over the course of your career, you’ve had a lot of autonomy [over your brand]? Like, there’s something to be said about something that didn’t become so big, that you kind of lose sight of what it was about and why you wanted to go into it, and you get to do exactly what you wanna do? Does this make any sense?

Paula Poundstone:

It does. I’ve always maintained a small staff <laugh>.

Ian Saint:

There’s something to be said about oversight; and protecting your image, and your direction, and your mission, I suppose.

Paula Poundstone:

Yeah. I remember, years ago, seeing some sort of story that Britney Spears had to have stores closed in order to shop. Uh, I can walk right in. <laugh> I’m only a household name in my house — I insist on it here! I’m sure that there’s good and bad in both worlds. I’ve just, mostly, I just feel lucky to do what I get to do.

Again, you know, maybe there was something about the stay-at-home order and realizing — as I told my oldest daughter — you know, something can happen, you never know what. I really foolishly had just always assumed — even though I did tell my daughter she had to save money for that reason — I just always assumed that, you know, that I would do this job until I’m, you know, 102 [years old].

Ian Saint:

[Until] you’re Kitty’s age on To Tell the Truth!

Paula Poundstone:

<laugh> Yes, exactly. And maybe I will! But there is the possibility that, you know, one of these damned cats will bite me and I’ll get some hideous infection, and it’s all over! Or worse than being all over, it’s not all over, but I’m not able to communicate or whatever. So I don’t know if that’s an age thing or whatever, where you do just get to a point where you’re like, “you know what? I count my lucky stars.”

Ian Saint:

Yeah. And there’s liberation in that, too.

Paula Poundstone:

I think there is. Yeah, yeah. You know, I felt sorry for Britney Spears, when I heard she had to have stores closed in order to shop.

Ian Saint:

Mm-hmm. And she cannot, you know, assess the cans and what direction they’re facing [like the Wright Brothers] in peace. <laugh>

Paula Poundstone:

That’s right! Back when I heard that, um, I was still catalogue shopping, so part of me said, can’t she just get some catalogues?

Ian Saint:

<laugh> We’ll have to bring Britney on the program, and pick her brain.

Paula Poundstone:

Yeah! I have so many questions!

Ian Saint:

Yes, yes. We’ll make sure to reign you in on that. We’ll check your schedule and hers. <laugh> Well, speaking of schedules: we know you’ve got to jump, and we want to thank you once again for this wonderful conversation with WOUB in Ohio. We’re very excited to welcome you back to the Buckeye State, and we wish you smooth travels. We know you’ll be over the moon to be doing it, regardless of what barriers might come in the way!

Paula Poundstone:

Nothing, NOTHING can keep me from Ohio, I’ll tell you that!

Paula Poundstone plays the Taft Theatre (317 E 5^th Street) in Cincinnati on Friday, March 17; and the Southern Theatre (21 E Main Street) in Columbus on Saturday, March 18. For tickets, and a complete list of Paula’s tour dates, visit her official website: https://paulapoundstone.com/