Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?

Audience members at the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor Friday, July 18 may be asked these questions when Paula Poundstone brings her brand of humor and commentary to the stage.

Poundstone has used this time-honored way of getting to know her audience since she began doing her observational comedy in 1979.

“I love to talk to the crowd so, to some degree my act organically changes wherever I am,” Poundstone said in a telephone interview on July 2. “I love Maine. Who doesn't love Maine, it's such a great place. I grew up in (Massachusetts) and my parents' best friends were Maineiacs. I remember their accent, demeanor, and how very generous they were with their laughter. I still remember hearing the cackly laughs coming up through the floor when they were all sitting around playing canasta when we visited.”

Today, Poundstone is not “the kid,” but the parent of three children, two daughters and one son. She talked a bit about parenthood and “electronics addiction.” No doubt we will be hearing about her son, who is proving to be a real challenge.

“I really think we are in the most difficult generation of parenting because of computers. I believe I would rather tote my water from a faraway river than do the continuous supervision of my son to be sure is not on inappropriate websites,” Poundstone said. “My son has an electronics addiction which is not taken seriously at all; I think some parents may like it as a babysitter. I think it makes for a raggedy parent.”

But, she noted that technology can be helpful to parents, particularly the GPS.

“My son argues with me from the minute he wakes up, so I sometimes go in my car, put the GPS on and deliberately drive a different way just to practice for arguing with him. My son also doesn't want me to have any fun. If I dance, sing or try to be silly outside of the house he corrects me,” Poundstone said, chuckling. “His brain is wired to recognize any pleasure or joy in my brain and the very minute he senses I'm going in that direction.”

She said people without children get the joy of the stories, they remember what they were like as kids, but what they don't get is the physiology of being a parent.

“They don't know that you wake with a stomach ache in the morning because your 16-year-old boy is in the next room and soon (the teenage behavior) will begin.”

In addition to being a standup comedian, Poundstone is an author, columnist of “Hey Paula” in Mother Jones magazine, an interviewer, and is a regular panelist on NPR's “Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me.”

Those who listen to the show, which airs on Saturday mornings at 11 a.m. and repeats Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m., will be familiar with the segment called, “Bluff the Listener.” Callers are asked to listen to three similar stories read by each of the three panelists and decide which is the real story.

Panelists that also include Mo Rocca, P.J. O'Rourke, Ray Blount Jr. and Amy Dickinson, are told the real story in advance. One of them reads the real story to the audience, while the other two must then make up stories with a similar theme.

Poundstone finds the broader the topic, the more challenging the writing is.

“Many of the other panelists are writers, I feel that they cheat,” Poundstone said.

Another NPR show Poundstone has played on is the “Prairie Home Companion” annual joke show with Garrison Keillor whom she calls “a national treasure” and his program a “fun theatrical radio show.”

Poundstone's quick wit and wry sense of humor gives audiences the opportunity to laugh at themselves and that shared experience, life.

Yet, even after 35 years, Poundstone sometimes gets a bit anxious before going on stage.

“It depends on the night,” she said. “There are times where I feel like I don't have a thought in my head. I don't know where in my brain I left my material. Sometimes there are a little storage cabinets in my head. I reach in for a joke and I pull out a spatula. But, it can lead to really great stuff ... for the most part, the way I try to arrive really excited to talk to people like a beloved friend or relative and all that stuff you want to tell them.”

For those of us who remember Poundstone in the early days, one of the first things we learned about her was that she loves Pop Tarts.

And, yep. She still eats them. She said she prefers the “old fashioned” original flavors like brown sugar and cinnamon or strawberry.

And, yep, it's still fun listening to her do one of the best bits on the toaster pastry.

“They changed the packaging. It used to be six, three foil packages of two. I would eat two because you can't leave one, but once you do, it's not really a snack, so I'd eat two more, which was a meal. Then, I had to eat the other two — just to tidy up.”

Don't miss the extraordinary treat of seeing Poundstone July 18, thanks to the sponsorship of The Topside Inn and the Inns at Greenleaf Lane. But, beware of her secret goal of the night.

“I want every audience member to fear incontinence. I want to give you the deluxe, not the children's plate.”

For tickets and information on the 7:30 p.m. show, visit www.boothbayoperahouse.com or call the box office at 207-633-5159.

For more on Poundstone, visit www.paulapoundstone.com.