At the Denver Center, ‘Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End’ is a one-woman show with a lot of heart

Walk onto a stage all alone and you’d better have some damn good material. For Pam Sherman, she’s bolstered by the works of Erma Bombeck — one of America’s most legendary newspaper columnists and humorists.

In Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End, Sherman holds forth for about an hour, hitting many of Bombeck’s greatest hits and zingers on a simple set depicting the writer’s bedroom and kitchen. Sherman is confident, funny and personable as she zips through choice material culled from the 15 books and over 4,000 columns Bombeck published between 1965 and her death in 1996.

After setting aside her journalism career to focus on parenting their three kids, she took up writing again with a newspaper column that initially earned her $3 a pop. Her focus was nearly always humorous takes on suburban life — the trials and tribulations of being a stay-at-home mom in Ohio. Before long, she became syndicated, with her “At Wit’s End” column ultimately appearing in over 900 newspapers in the U.S. She also appeared on TV shows like Good Morning, America and was an active proponent of the Equal Rights Amendment.

An homage to one of the greats

The solo show, now up at the Denver Center’s Garner Galleria Theatre, is a simple, straightforward biographical piece that rings true because it was written and performed by journalists. It’s neat to see a writer go from unknown to nationally famous, and Sherman marks a pivotal moment in a phone call to her husband, Bill. (It was interesting to see the audience laughing as she tried to quickly dial the number on a rotary phone.)

Bombeck’s work was pure Middle Americana, and it’s easy to grok her vibe just by looking at some of her corny book titles:

I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression

The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank

If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?

Sherman delivers many of Bombeck’s signature lines with spot-on, homespun sarcasm.

On exercise: “The only reason I would take up jogging is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.” And “I’ve exercised with women so thin that buzzards followed them to their cars.”

On picking up writing again: “I was too old for a paper route, too young for Social Security and too tired for an affair.”

On marriage: “People shop for a bathing suit with more care than they do a husband or wife. The rules are the same. Look for something you’ll feel comfortable wearing. Allow for room to grow.”

As she grew ill from a long battle with liver disease, Bombeck never stopped writing and delivered this bit of wisdom: “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me’.”

For those who remember reading Bombeck’s columns in the paper or all those bestsellers, At Wit’s End is a fun hour of remembrance. The script is a clever compilation of quotes from her work interwoven with the behind-the-scenes of Bombeck’s life as a mother, wife and writer. Sherman clearly loves the material, and even those with no idea who Bombeck was will be able to relate to the many truisms and humorous takes on everyday life she was so good at writing.