“At the top of her game…” (San Francisco Chronicle)
“Never been funnier…” (Boston Globe)
“Insightful, thought-provoking humor… (Chicago Tribune)
32 years ago Paula Poundstone climbed on a Greyhound bus and traveled across the country — stopping in at open mic nights at comedy clubs as she went. She went on to become one of our country’s foremost humorists. You can hear her through your laughter as a regular panelist on NPR’s #1 show, a rascal of a weekly news quiz show, Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me. This year she was part of the talented cast in Pixar’s critically acclaimed movie, INSIDE OUT, and she tours regularly, performing standup comedy across the country, causing Bob Zany with the Boston Globe to write: “Poundstone can regale an audience for several hours with her distinctive brand of wry, intelligent and witty comedy.”
While there is no doubt that Poundstone is funny, the thing that separates her from the pack of comics working today and that has made her a legend among comics and audiences alike is her ability to be spontaneous with a crowd. Poundstone says: “No two shows I do are the same. It’s not that I don’t repeat material. I do. My shows, when they’re good, and I like to think they often are, are like a cocktail party. When you first get there, you talk about how badly you got lost and how hard it was to find parking. Then you tell a story about your kids or what you just saw on the news. You meet some new people and ask them about themselves. Then, someone says, “Tell that story you used to tell,” and then someone on the other side of the room spills a drink, and you mock them. No one ever applauds me when I leave a party, though. I think they high five.”
Paula’s interchanges with the audience are never mean or done at a person’s expense. She even manages to handle politics without provoking the pall of disapproval less artful comics have received.
Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me is now the most popular show on NPR, having reached #1 status in 2014. Listeners can test their knowledge against some of the best and brightest in the news and entertainment world while figuring out what’s real news and what’s made up. Paula quickly goes on record about how much she loves being part of the show saying: “I am a proud member of the endorphin production industry. They allow me to say whatever I want on Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me. The panelists are unscripted, so it’s perfect for me. I feel like I’m a batter in a batting cage. I get lobbed topics. Sometimes I just watch them go by, but every now and then I get a piece of one. If the others didn’t cheat, it would be an almost perfect work experience.” The show is also heard internationally on NPR Worldwide and on the Internet via podcast. In May 2013 the show was Cinecast to movie theatres across the country. Paula was on the show, as was Steve Martin.
It has been said of Poundstone that she not only shot through the glass ceiling, she never acknowledged it was there. She was never one to stereotype herself as a ‘female comedian’ or limit herself to comedy from a ‘female’ point of view. Over the span of her career, she has amassed a list of awards and accolades that include: The first woman to win the cable ACE Award for Best Standup Comedy Special (1992); The first woman to perform standup at the White House Correspondents dinner; (1993); . She has starred in her own comedy specials on HBO and BRAVO. In fact, “Paula Poundstone Goes to Harvard,” on HBO, was the only time the elite university has allowed their name to be used in the title of a television show. If it means anything to anyone, Paula is recognized as one of Comedy Central’s 100 greatest stand-ups of all time. She won an American Comedy Award for Best Female Standup Comic, and in 2010 she was one of a select group voted into the Comedy Hall of Fame.
