Paula Poundstone

"I'm not doing a tour that could be on the back of a sweatshirt," explains Paula Poundstone. "I'd like to, 'cause I'd get a sweatshirt out of it." Such is life for a woman with three kids in school. "I'm on the road about eight nights a month; a couple nights here, a couple nights there." One semi-regular gig she has is as a panelist on National Public Radio's news quiz, Wait, Wait...Don't Tell. "I'm on once or twice a month. It's a little bit like being a batter in a batter's cage. I get lobbed topics." It's an ideal situation for her, though. She adds, "In most settings I am not encouraged to say whatever I want to say, but it's nice to be in a place where they think that's a good thing." Onstage, Poundstone still offers self-deprecating humor, as well as social and political observations. She also likes working the crowd. "I just love talking to the audience. I do the tried and true 'Where ya from? What ya do for a living?' Invariably I find someone that is really fun to talk to. I found somebody the other day that said they were a life coach, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I just think that's the silliest sounding thing."
Mon., May 18, 7:30 p.m., 2009