Paula Poundstone is an American comedian, actress and writer who will be performing at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center on September 20, 2024. Poundstone has voice acted in the popular film series “Inside Out,” as “Forgetter Paula.” Poundstone has her own podcast “Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone,” where she discusses a wide range of topics with her audience. Poundstone goes to performing art centers all across the country, and she shares her ingenious observational humor with the masses. At the American Comedy Awards 1989, Poundstone received “Best Female Stand-Up Comic.” From there, Poundstone wrote and acted in two HBO comedy specials that earned her even more awards. Poundstone has also been a consistent panelist for National Public Radios’ comedy podcast “Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me.”
One of the reasons Poundstone chose the stand-up life is because she’s always had a love for humor. “I like the sound of laughter,” Poundstone said. “I was camping one night, and there were people having a party at the campsite next to us. In the morning, my friend comes out of her tent all pissed off, and I’m like, what’s the matter?”
Her friend replied, “those people … they were up partying all night!” Poundstone then thought, “I just heard the sound of people having a good time, and I like that”
Poundstone got her start at small comedy clubs in and around the bay area. Robin Williams, the infamous actor and comedian who passed tragically in 2014, was sent to listen to her comedy set. “Both Robin [Williams] and Dana Carvey were clients of the management company down in LA that ended up taking me on when I was a pup,”
From there, Poundstone was officially a managed comedian. “I went with this management company for a number of years,” she said. “And it was good.”
Poundstone continuously reiterated her appreciation for Robin Williams, and how she personally benefited from the work he did. “He was helpful to lots of people,” she said. “I always say any comic my age or younger owes a debt of gratitude to Robin Williams, he created a renewed excitement for stand-up comedy as a whole, me and many others benefited from that.”
As far as consistently coming up with new and original content, Poundstone notes “Every now and then I get into a state of flow.” “I carry a little notebook in my back pocket, and a small pen on my belt loop, and when I have a thought, by god, I write it down”
Poundstone knows what works for her after being a comedian for multiple years. When coming up with ideas, she acknowledged how she does her work. Poundstone said “I have hundreds of pieces of paper lying around, with things I’ve just jotted down.”
As far as her notes go, Poundstone isn’t always sure of where her thoughts end up taking her. “I have one [note] that just says ‘kids don’t listen,’ and although that’s the time-honored truth, I know that I wrote it because I had a joke based on that in my head,” she proclaimed. “But those words remind me of nothing, so.”
During her years as a comedian, Poundstone noted the bests and the worsts. Poundstone is constantly bettering herself as a comedian, learning from other comedians and performers every day. Poundstone explained “I never learned very much from someone who was really good,” she said. “Because you can’t see the seams, where if they’re bad, you can see what they’re doing wrong.”
Poundstone explained how being a comedian doesn’t automatically mean people find you funny. “Sometimes you’ll be on stage, like ‘oh god, I’m just getting nowhere here,’ and you pull out your A stuff, and it doesn’t go over.”
Over Poundstone’s years, she has gained understanding that audiences will not always give bold reactions. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come off the stage thinking ‘they didn’t like me,’ but then people come up saying that’s the hardest they’ve laughed”
Poundstone prefers to think differently about those kinds of shows. She said “People will respond in whatever way they do.”
When Poundstone is off of the stage, she spends time with her pets, she packs and she parties. “I have 10 cats and one big dog, and it requires a tremendous amount of work.”
“I write, I have a podcast, “Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone,” and listeners would be shocked to know I write some of the things on the show,” Poundstone exclaimed. “I write them, I just deliver them with an unpolished edge.”
Poundstone claims that she could win awards for packing her bags. “First of all, your socks and underwear go in the shoes, so they don’t bend and fold and crack,” she said. “What it means, however, is that you can’t just grab a couple of things from the bag, because everything is packed in something else.”
But, Poundstone does take major pride in her parties. “I have ping-pong parties in the back of my yard every year, I look forward to it,” she said. “We have a doubles tournament, there’s trophies, we have an electronic scoreboard.”
“My kitchen wall is lined with invitations, because I pride myself on my invitations, they’re all carefully crafted,” Poundstone revealed. “I make them by hand, and I don’t do any of it online, I do make copies but that’s as technical as I go.”
And Poundstone’s hard creative work pays off. “Lily Tomlin has saved all of my invitations, even if she hasn’t been to all of the parties.”
Since COVID-19 and the 2016 election, Poundstone has been very vocal about her political values. Poundstone takes a comedic twist to her opinions, yet she still acknowledges the issues she feels are so important. “Trump was right about something in the debate the other night;” Poundstone said. “Kamala Harris won’t be able to pass a law protecting women’s reproductive freedoms, she won’t have the congress.”
“I wonder if I couldn’t get together a class action suit against Trump,” Poundstone added. “Just for the irritable bowel syndrome that has been created since he came down the escalator.”
As Poundstone found herself more politically active, she decided to pay her due diligence. “I’ve been making videos for an organization called Field Team 6 to help register democrats to vote,” she said. “and if Harris gets in office, and she can’t do anything, people will complain about that, but it’s because you [the voter] didn’t vote blue all the way down the ballot.”
Barbara Johnson • Sep 18, 2024 at 8:58 pm
I just saw her live show in MA. She is a genius.