Paula's Getting Rave Reviews!

Paula knocks ‘em dead
By Blake Ellis

Comedian Paula Poundstone mentioned that her shows have been referred to as “hostage crises” on several occasions because of her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder-driven inability to stop talking. Saturday evening’s performance in Bar Harbor was nothing of the sort. From the moment she stepped on to the Criterion Theater stage in her red and white pin-stripe suit, perfectly matching her bright red lipstick, Ms. Poundstone had the audience – nearly filling the theater to capacity – sitting on the edges of their seats, eager to hear what she would say next.

The laughs started right from the beginning.  In her introduction, Cathy Miller, the Executive Director of the Maine Lighthouse Corporation, an organization founded in support of families with alcohol problems, had explained that Ms. Poundstone was brought to the Criterion by this organization because of her own past problems with alcoholism. 

Ms. Poundstone got right to these issues, explaining, “I had an alcoholism problem myself, but I don’t know if you’ve heard about it, it was kept kind of hush-hush,” making fun of her nationally broadcasted court-ordered admittance to Alcoholic Anonymous meetings.  She went on to remark, “sure takes the hell out of that second ‘A’.”  She said “now it’s weird for me being in front of a group like this and not hearing everyone’s story.”

From alcohol to politics to her 11 “butt-sniffing” cats, Ms. Poundstone had something to say on just about every subject.  But she didn’t leave the focus on her own experiences and observations alone; she spent much of her time on stage turning her remarkable wit and improv ability on the audience. 

Near the beginning, coins were heard clinking as they dropped to the floor somewhere in the audience.  Ms. Poundstone immediately pointed to the area where the sound had come from and said, “I just heard change drop.  Excuse me, who just dropped their change?”  She was answered by a resounding silence; no one even answered her when she asked, “Was anyone next to the person who dropped the change?”  But finally, to the delight of Ms. Poundstone and the hysterical members of the audience, by process of elimination, the culprit was found. It happened to be a young boy with “shallow pockets,” his sheepish mother explained.

From here on out, Ms. Poundstone teased the audience, saying Mainers didn’t appear to be the quickest-witted folks around, as they took an astonishingly long time to answer some very simple questions, such as “Where do you work?” or “Are you from Maine?” When the answers were long in coming Ms. Poundstone remarked, “I don’t understand.  You surely can’t be taking this time to gather your thoughts.”  She finally concluded that the reason for the inherent slowness of these audience members, had to be because of Mainers’ unusually “shallow pockets.”

Ms. Poundstone made many Maine-related jokes throughout the show.  She talked about the “modest stone walls” that are everywhere in Maine but seem to serve no purpose, and remarked on the unique baggage claim system of Bar Harbor Airport where her luggage was tantalizingly within reach, but she was not allowed to take it until after she was made to wait ten minutes, watching as someone moved her luggage five feet inside to the “baggage claim area.”

Of course the audience members were not offended in the least.  On the contrary, at the end of the show, they hooted and hollered and stamped their feet in an attempt to keep her from leaving.

After she did leave the stage and people began filing out, she made a surprise return to say a final farewell and thank- you but remarked, “I see some people have taken this opportunity to get out of here, but you know what,” she leaned in and whispered to the remaining audience, “they are exactly the ones I wanted to get rid of!” 

After another huge round of applause, the laughter-filled evening ended, and people wiped tears from their faces and checked their “shallow pockets” for loose change to buy Ms. Poundstone’s book of memoirs, There’s Nothing in this Book that I Meant to Say, on their way out.

Let’s hope the folks at the Criterion treated Ms, Poundstone well, so that this is just the first of her visits to us slow-witted folks in Bar Harbor.