Joe Boudreaux, owner of Zack’s Frozen Yogurt, comes onto the microphone:

“The fire marshal just drove by, and he said that we have reached our maximum occupancy. Somebody has to leave so Poo Poo can come in. So who is going to leave?”

Boudreaux scans the room, looking for any volunteers. After a few minutes the faint, flat Cajun voice of Poo Poo Broussard comes over the microphone:

“Hey Joe, did they leave?”

Boudreaux calls back, “Yeah, Poo Poo, they left.”

Broussard makes his entrance through the kitchen doors of Zack’s. He wears a trucker hat to keep his long, brown unkempt hair in place, a button-up shirt with a clip-on tie to dress up for the occasion and jeans with patches on the knees.

The crowd, sandwiched around the small stage area, comes alive with applause for Broussard.

Someone shouts out, “Hey Poo Poo!” With a smile of oversized, yellow buckteeth, Broussard replies with a hello.

He comments to the crowd of 225 men, women, teenagers and children, “It’s really hot in here. Could someone stop breathing?”

James Carrier of Lafayette created his character, Poo Poo Broussard, as a part of Cypress Knees, a group that performed shows for church groups and other functions.

Broussard is a comedian and philosopher from Da Basin, his fictional hometown in the Atchafalaya Basin, Carrier says.

Broussard begins the show with his “PooPooisms,” which are not to be confused with Confucianism, the ancient Chinese moral teachings of Confucius. PooPooisms are a Cajun spin on things that matter most in life.

Broussard asks the crowd, “Does anyone get road rage?” A few people raise their hands.

Broussard then gives a PooPooism on self-control. “Well, if someone gives you the bird, cook some rice.” The crowd cheers.

Carrier, a self-employed jeweler, says he is open to his comedy becoming a full-time career. He and his staff are planning to create a short film to send to film festivals, he says.

One of Broussard’s signature lines, – “Man, my lips get chapped! – came about when Carrier was filming a video and his lips became chapped.

“I liked when [Broussard] said, ‘Poo, my lips are chap, chap’ and how he went over all his PooPooisms,” Marcy Terrebonne, freshman from Larose, said.

Broussard broaches the subject of afterlife in PooPooism #72: “Heck is for people who don’t believe in gosh.”

Being a romantic, Broussard shares with the crowd lessons he has learned about love and relationships.

“One day my friend asks me, ‘Poo Poo, I know the ladies really like you. Can you help me?’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘I can give you some pick-up lines. The best pickup line that I have works every single time. It’s ‘Hello my name is Poo Poo Broussard, and then we start makin’ out.'”

Broussard also has advice for those who have tied the knot.

“PooPooism #2002: Women should not have children after 35 because 35 children is enough.”

Broussard continues his philosophical jokes.

“There are two kinds of people – pessimists and optimists. The pessimist says, ‘The glass is half empty.’ The optimist says, ‘No, the glass is half full.’ Poo Poo is a realist, and the realist says, ‘Either way you’re gonna need some more water.'”

Carrier’s performances Saturday were his first in Thibodaux, although he has done shows at clubs in Lafayette. He is negotiating with Raising Canes about making monthly performances in Baton Rouge, he says.

Broussard addresses judging others in PooPooism #35: “Before you criticize somebody, they say you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you’ll be a mile down the road and you’ll have their shoes.”

During Broussard’s second show Saturday night, he rips a page with a PooPooism written on it out of a palm-sized notebook after each PooPooism is read. The ragged piece of paper also contains Broussard’s autograph.

Broussard balls up the page he has just read and throws it to the eager crowd. People scramble around, hoping to catch a souvenir from the show.

Broussard thanks the crowd, and then one man shouts out: “Hey Poo Poo, I want to tell you some jokes outside.”

Poo Poo says, “Ok, I will come with a pen and will claim it all as my own. I won’t pay you anything but I might use it.”

Broussard walks away from the stage to greet the crowd with handshakes, autographs and pictures.