Phoebe Potts was a “professional Jew,” as she describes herself, long before she was professionally funny. But the comedian has been funny since long before she was professionally anything.

“I was raised by journalists and Jews,” the Brooklyn, N.Y.-native said, “so you had to tell a really good story at the dinner table if you wanted the warm sunshine of my parents’ love to fall on you. And I think being funny made you even more compelling.”

Her solo show, “Too Fat for China,” is the peak of a compelling story told humorously, and she’ll tell it twice in Portland this weekend – Saturday, Nov. 8 at the Eastside Jewish Commons at 7:30 pm and Sunday, Nov. 9 at Congregation Neveh Shalom at 4 pm.

“Too Fat for China” follows the story of Potts’ two efforts to adopt a child – the first was unsuccessful, the second resulted in her adopting her son from Ethiopia. She addresses the murky world of adoption, the complications and absurdities that came with the process and, as she puts it, “the terrible things I did for love along the way.”

The professional part of Potts’ Judaism was teaching religious school to middle school-age students at a synagogue – the toughest of audiences. As part of this work, she completed the Mandel Teacher Educator Institute program and met Mel Berwin, Neveh Shalom’s Director of Congregational Learning, who saw and loved “Too Fat for China” at Mandel’s Graduate Conference and arranged for her to come to Portland. There is also a deep connection, Potts said, between her Judaism and her humor.

“I think [humor] is part of our tradition as Jews, because if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry,” she said.

Her first work of humor was the 2010 graphic novel, “Good Eggs,” about her experience with infertility. “Too Fat for China” is something of a sequel and maintains a graphic element to its presentation in the form of a hand-cranked display board that rotates through a series of illustrations throughout the show.

“I bring my comics with me on a six-foot wide newsreel, so I scroll through my comics as I’m telling the story,” she said. “Imagine a sideways Torah, but with pictures.”

The Torah – the real one – comes into the story as Potts discusses the stories of Judaism foundational period, of the adoption of Moses and the ancient Jewish connections to Ethiopia, her son’s homeland. Like the actual experience of her adoption, these stories can be complicated.

“There’s no clear path in the Torah,” she said. “That’s part of what has kept us together, that we keep talking about it, we keep reading it together.”

After all, stories are how families are formed, whether it is the overarching family that is the Jewish people or the small family Potts has created – the hard way.

“The delightful challenge for me is to make it into something funny and beautiful to look at,” Potts said.

Mission accomplished.

Tickets for the Saturday performance of “Too Fat for China” are $25 and are available at events.humanitix.com/comedy-phoebe-potts-too-fat-for-china/tickets. Pott’s Sunday show tickets are $20, $15 for Neveh Shalom members, and are available at members.nevehshalom.org/event/TFFC25.

Learn more about Potts and her work at toofatforchina.com.