I have been listening to PHC for quite a few years. I’ve heard a lot of performers perform there over those years. I do not always care for the genre or style of these performers but they are always very good at what they do. I often think to myself “damn, I can’t stand this type of music (or whatever) but these people sure are talented.”
The only person I’ve heard well and truly bomb is Paula Poundstone. Tonight was the second time. To the point that she had to beg Keillor (not in so many words) to excuse her. Something like “Ya know Garrison, we never discussed how I would know the skit was over (hint, hint)”. She sounded so nervous and eager for it to end. She can be funny on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, but she should avoid PHC from here on out.
I just caught part of it, and it was weird how forced she sounded. She’s so good at ad-libbing both on Wait Wait and in her comedy act, its bizarre that when given a script she was such a mess. And she’s done at least some acting, I remember her on Home Movies, and I don’t recall her being memorably bad.
I thought maybe they decided ahead of time to just let her ad lib because she’s good at that…but she choked.
The weird thing to me was that this was her second appearance (that I’ve heard) on PHC and the other time was just as painful to listen to. That and the fact that as a long time listener I can’t remember anyone else crashing and burning like that.
I love WWDTM, it’s filmed in front of an audience and Poundstone is one of the funnier panelists on there.
Because of time constraints (and personality characteristics) Garrison holds the reins pretty tight on his show. Perhaps she wasn’t prepared for the structured style?
She was on a Celebrity Jeopardy once, and spent so much time yammering they barely got through half the second board. I think I was especially…peeved…because Kelsey Grammer was one of the other celebs, and I wanted to see how he would do. Would have done, if not for Poundstone. And to the extent that I’ve noticed her since then, she’s irritated me all the other times too.
I love her on “Wait Wait” but missed this. She can go off the rails a bit on that show, but considering that Mo Rocca does it so often that he once had a special retrospective segment covering the amount of stammering and babbling he can get into before answering a question, she sure isn’t the biggest offender there. (Plus, the host can typically bring order to the usual unruly bunch.)
Poundstone is good on PHC’s “Joke Night.” Because she can tell a joke with a punchline that ends the joke. She just can’t ad lib a story. Keillor should have gotten out the hook and used it.
I remember that. He looked like he wanted to deck her and IIRC did remind her jokingly but not-jokingly that they were playing for charity.
I’ve never found Paula Poundstone funny though I’ll admit I haven’t watched or listened to that much of her (mainly because I don’t find her funny). I give her some kudos for addressing the elephant in the room- her DUI arrests and child custody battle- in one of her stand-up acts I saw when that was still in the news. I haven’t listened to WWDTM so that might be her venue.
Funnier than hell. And much funnier to me after having read her book and seen how her mind just works differently, and everything she had to go through.
I haven’t listened to PHC in years but the first episode I ever heard was one of the annual joke shows with her on it in the mid-90s. It was actually her voice that caught my attention since I was already familiar with her. She was a regular on the joke show at the time (is she still?).
I used to be a pretty big fan of hers before the scandal kinda took her off the map for awhile. I haven’t heard this most recent show in question but I find it sad to hear she bombed.
