Paula Poundstone

Paula Poundstone, one of the foremost comics working today, draws on her own complex life: three kids, 13 cats, motherhood, a demanding job and crazy travel schedule, her frustration at getting older, and a bag of neuroses, including her famous inability to ever shut up. In other words: she’s just like many of us. Part of the fun is watching her engage various audience members in a humorous dialogue. She manages to gently make fun of people and some of the nutty things we do without demeaning anyone. She even manages to handle politics without provoking the pall of disapproval less artful comics have received. She has a rare talent.

Attending a Paula Poundstone performance will leave you marveling at her ability to interact spontaneously with audience members. In conversations bound to garner riotous laughter. Armed with nothing but a stool, a microphone and a can of Diet Pepsi, Paula’s ability to create humor on the spot has become the stuff of legend. Little wonder people leave Paula’s shows complaining that their cheeks hurt from laughter, and debating whether the random people she talked to are “plants” – which, of course they never are.

Paula’s spontaneity and intelligent humor makes her the perfect panelist for NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me where she gets to match wits with some of our nation’s leading pundits. The show is a winner of the prestigious Peabody Award for Broadcasting excellence. Paula was the first woman to win an ACE Award for Best Standup Comedy performance and the first woman to be invited to perform at the distinguished White House Correspondents dinner. She has starred in solo specials on HBO and BRAVO and made frequent TV appearances on Letterman, Leno, Craig Ferguson, and Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. Paula is also an author and lecturer. She wrote her first book for Random House, There Is Nothing in This Book That I Meant To Say (with foreword by Mary Tyler Moore) and is hard at work on her second tomb for the same imprint. Her first CD is entitled: I Heart Jokes: Paula Tells Them In Maine. Her editorial pieces can be heard on NPR’s Morning Edition. It is easy to see why a night with Paula Poundstone will keep you laughing and be like no other!