THE NIGHT STUFF
Poundstone works to turn misery into comedy

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Comic Paula Poundstone makes her Hawai'i debut Thursday night at Pipeline Café. Paula Poundstone 8 p.m. Thursday and Jan. 16 Pipeline Café $20 general, $25 table seating 926-3000 Also: Maui Arts & Cultural Center, 7 p.m. Jan. 17. $20-$30, (808) 242-7469.

"My house has the flu. So it's not been a very energetic day so far," said Poundstone, her voice a bit sandpapery over a long-distance connection. "Two of my kids and me (have the flu). And then I have one son who, although he didn't have the flu, had a huge tantrum."

Poundstone laughed hard.

"It's been a classically Poundstonian morning."

Given any opening in a conversation to do so, Poundstone will gladly snatch it to boast the day-to-day marvels of raising her adopted children — Toshia, 12, Allie, 9, and Thomas, 5. Less happily, but with as much honesty as she is allowed, Poundstone will also touch on the painful 2001 events that took her children away from her for almost two years.

Along with Poundstone's usual kinda twitchy, kinda drily humorous observations of the world around her, expect stories from both sides of her parenting experience when she takes the stage at Pipeline Café Thursday for another performance on her self-titled "Unauthorized Autobiography" tour.

"I actually have obsessive-compulsive disorder. And I've never kept a secret in my entire life," said Poundstone, by way of explaining the tour moniker. "So every time I'm either on stage or in a conversation with somebody, I'll always come away going, 'Well, I shouldn't have said that!' So in essence, everything I say is part of an unauthorized autobiography."

Poundstone was arrested in June 2001 for endangering the lives of her children and two foster children in her care at the time by driving while intoxicated. After pleading no contest to a felony count of child endangerment and misdemeanor infliction of injury on a child, Poundstone saw her three children taken away to foster homes while she completed six months of rehab and 18 months of legal wrangling to get them back.

The very public airing of the charges blemished Poundstone's stellar comic reputation, and lost her potentially lucrative bookings. In time, mounting legal fees cost Poundstone her home. Her children were returned to her custody in December 2002, but Poundstone, by court order, is required to attend two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings each week until mid-2006.

Interviewers still ask the questions about the charges. And Poundstone still dutifully answers within reason. (Case details have been sealed by court order.)

"Hopefully, it's funny," said Poundstone, of the stand-up material pulled straight out of her travails. "The goal is to be entertaining. Part of (what happened) is funny. Part of it is not. But I only talk about the funny parts.

"Fortunately, a sense of humor is a wonderful thing to have. I think people find themselves laughing or thinking of funny things in the worst of situations. And this probably would have been one of those."

Just don't call her career since anything resembling a "comeback."

"I find that such a regrettable characterization, as I only didn't work for six months," said Poundstone. "That was while I was in rehab. And there aren't that many clubs in rehab.

"I laughed harder playing ping pong with my loser rehab friends ... than I ever have in my entire life. I don't know if it was just, like, a group of people for whom the chips were a little bit down that day ... (but) it was a particularly welcomed oasis. ... Everything was horrible for those six months, with the exception of the handful of friends I made."

Bookings for shows have been "more challenging than (they) used to be," but more encouraging as time goes by. Poundstone's three Hawai'i performances will be her first-ever shows here.

As for the home front, day-to-day life for Poundstone and her children has at least returned to something resembling normality.

"Once you're in the system, you're in pretty much forever, as near as I can tell," said Poundstone. "So for the rest of my life I'll be signing papers and paying off bills. I have a few more years of accountability. That takes up some amount of time, but nothing horrible, for the most part.

"We have, to the best of our ability, put that horrible stretch of life behind us. Right now, Allie is in the fourth grade. Tosh is struggling with long division, and Thomas has after-school basketball today and then gymnastics later this afternoon. And so, I've mooooore than enough to think about."

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.

Night notes ...

After closing up shop at Compadre's Bar & Grill a few months back, Stone Groove Family's and Veejay Entertainment's Club Puma weekly resurfaced Wednesday at new home Reign nightclub. We had a good time at Puma when we stopped by Compadre's for a Night Stuff column in August, so we're expecting the party to be even better with Stone Groove's G-Dog and Freeze doing a residency. Cover is $5, 21 and older only, at 1220 Kona St.

Also kicking off this week was W Honolulu's ReVive Wednesdays wine and martini party at Diamond Head Grill. ReVive's tempting draw was The Grill's delicious appetizer specials, specialty drink menus, a selection of wines by the glass, and adventurous martini combinations. The mid-week pau hana starts at 6 p.m. and pours until 11 p.m., with no cover.

Downtown's O'Toole's Pub is the new home of KIPO-FM's Blues Thursdays. The weekly live showcase for O'ahu blues bands launched its O'Toole's residency earlier this month and continues this week with Northside Art from 5 to 9 p.m., and the David Lamar Project from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. More information at 536-4138.

If live blues doesn't move you, Universal Joint's Spindrift drops Thursdays at Indigo Eurasian Cuisine from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Bennie James (soul, rare grooves, R&B), Nocturnal Sound (underground classics) and Empire Sound (reggae, dancehall) spin throughout the night. No cover; 21 and older.

Four DJs enter, one DJ leaves at Club Rebel Rebel!: Hang the DJs party tonight. DJs will each have three songs per back-to-back set to keep the crowd happy. Cheers or jeers determine who lives to spin another set. How many times in one night can you handle Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer?" At Club Pauahi, from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Entry is $5.