STAND-UP Comedian takes life's lessons on the road

Paula Poundstone talks about her 2001 arrest and the charges it involved.
KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL
Call comedian Paula Poundstone, and she's likely to be in the most unexpected places. On this particular day, "I'm in my closet," she says.
"Not only that, it's very crowded in here."
Her dog has accompanied her into her hotel closet, where Poundstone is searching for something.
Asked if she's performing that night, she hesitates. She misunderstands the question, thinking the query is about her Knoxville, Tenn., show, which is actually set a week later.
"I'm in Cincinnati," she says. "If I'm supposed to be in Knoxville right now, I would be guilty of making yet another in a series of mistakes."
The subject of mistakes is bound to come up when talking to the 45-year-old. She anticipates it and has opened the door for the conversation.
She can't do an interview anymore without being asked about her 2001 arrest in Santa Monica, Calif. She was charged with committing lewd acts on a girl under age 14, and on charges of endangering two other girls and two boys. (Three of the five juveniles are Poundstone's adopted children; the other two were under her foster care at the time.) She pleaded not guilty at her arraignment.
Later that year, she entered a rehab center for alcoholism, a condition she says brought about the abuse charges involving her children.
A plea agreement was accepted and Poundstone pleaded no contest to felony child endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of inflicting injury on a child.
Charges dropped
The three charges of lewd conduct were dropped. "The lewd-conduct charges against me were dropped because they weren't true," Poundstone has been quoted as saying. "My drinking helped to create a dangerous situation for the children. For this, I am very sorry."
She was sentenced to five years' probation and 180 days in rehab for felony child endangerment and misdemeanor child injury. She's sober now and thankful that time is distancing her from the past.
Four years later, the Boston-born Poundstone has her three children back. (They had been placed in temporary foster care.) She is on the road eight days of every month and tries not to be away from home two consecutive nights.
Life has returned to normal for her now -- or as normal as it will ever get after a scandal that was national news.
"I still think about it every day," she says. "The only thing I can do is what I do for myself and my children, which is to just keep going and let that speak for itself."