Experience informs Poundstone's punch lines
Paula Poundstone's first paying stand-up gig was in 1979 at the Charles Playhouse when it was home to the Comedy Connection, but she got her start at the Ephraim Curtis Middle School in Sudbury.
Every morning, it seemed, young Paula would be late for homeroom. Her father would drop her off on his way to his job at
"My teacher, Mr. Reed, was very old-fashioned -- he would ask, 'Miss Poundstone, why are you late?' and I would tell him that me and my father were watching ' Leave It to Beaver,' " she said in a telephone interview last week.
"On occasion he would allow me to explain an episode to the class -- which now I see was sheer brilliance on his part as I had a very hard time sitting down and shutting up."
Fortunately for Poundstone, she found a calling in which "sitting down and shutting up" are not part of the job requirements. The comedian performs in a cafe-style setting Saturday night at the annual fund-raiser for the Center for Performing Arts in Natick. For an additional fee, fans can attend a reception after the show, where they can ask her about her new book, "There's Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say."
The title does not exactly roll off the tongue, but when she talks about the way her mind is forever running off on tangents, it makes perfect sense.
Poundstone uses a historic figure as a springboard for each chapter.
In one, "I used Abraham Lincoln as my base subject and every time something I researched reminded me about myself I would jump off and tell it," she said.
"Not only do I have material about my own life and jokes about me, but the fodder about the people I wrote about and the period of time that they lived in."
Poundstone said she has many fond memories of growing up in Sudbury, such as exploring the conservation land behind Barton Drive and Brook Road.
"There was a train track with a trestle and a blueberry patch," she said. "It was like something out of ' Huck Finn. ' "
As her family moved, she managed to make the rounds of Sudbury schools. In addition to Curtis Middle School, she attended General John Nixon Elementary School, the now-closed Fairbanks Elementary School, and the Peter Noyes Elementary School.
"I had great teachers like Marty Dahl, who taught music in seventh and eighth grade, and Mrs. Forbes, who was a legendary English teacher," she said.
While theater wasn't her main interest in school, she did appear in "The Music Man," playing Winthrop, "the little brother with a lisp," and Mae in "The Pajama Game."
Poundstone has made the pilgrimage back to her hometown, recalling a magical moment at the Fairbanks school when she was looking for a tree she had planted with her Brownie troop.
"I was looking for this little sapling and all of a sudden I realized that this giant tree that I was driving by was the one," she said. "It had been 25 years yet still had the little wire attached that had originally held it up."
Poundstone fell out of favor in 2001 when she pleaded guilty to felony endangerment and misdemeanor child abuse after driving while intoxicated with her children in the car. She was sentenced to five years' probation and six months of drug treatment, which included attending AA meetings. She emerged with a tarnished image, but her sense of humor still intact.
"This is the first night performing since I've been a criminal... it's kind of strange seeing so many seats not in a circle," she recalled telling the audience. "It was Dec. 15, 2001, in Santa Cruz, the first time working after my debacle."
Poundstone is a regular panelist on NPR's "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me." The hourlong weekly quiz show tests knowledge of current events, both important and obscure.
"One of the things about me on that show is that I constantly lose," said Poundstone. "I don't do it on purpose -- I even bone up before I go on." Not that it matters. "I get tossed stuff that I've never heard of or thought about before," she said.
Asked what she wishes she had been taught in school, she said: "Lincoln-Sudbury High School had a wide range of weird [stuff] that was offered so I don't know if I could think of anything strange, but I'd say sex. Not sex education, like the sperm goes into the egg, but it would have been great if there had been a course on realistic sex. I think that would be a helpful thing."
While Poundstone has never been married, she said that she once came close.
"When I was 18 or 19 I was going to marry a gay illegal Iranian immigrant to keep him in the country," she said.
"Then one night he came on to me. It was truly one of the more bizarre incidents in my life. I really loved this guy as a friend."
Poundstone said she used to feel sorry for herself because she had never fallen in love. "I thought it was so sad and awful that I didn't have this thing that other adults seem to live for," she said.
But over the past five years, she said she has come to terms with her life and is truly happy. She has an 8-year-old son and daughters age s 12 and 15, all adopted.
"I look around and friends are getting divorced for the second time and I realize I am a genius. I don't want to committee my decisions about my children, and fortunately I have no sex drive whatsoever, so I have no master to serve here," she said.
"I love taking care of my kids and working and having an occasional ping-pong party. That's all I need."
Tickets are $100; $150 with reception. A portion of the price is tax-deductible. Call 508-647-0097, ext. 201, or visit www.natickarts.org.
Susan Chaityn Lebovits can be reached at Lebovits@globe.com. 
