Paula Poundstone

Paula Poundstone
Poundstone in 2008
Born	(1959-12-29) December 29, 1959 (age 57) Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.
Medium	Standup Comedy, television, radio, print, internet
Nationality	American
Years active	1979–present
Genres	standup, improvisational comedy, actress, commentator, interviewer,
Subject(s)	Observational humor
Notable works and roles	Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! There Is Nothing In This Book That I Meant To Say I Heart Jokes: Paula Tells Them in Boston (CD) I Heart Jokes: Paula Tells Them in Maine (CD)

Paula Poundstone (born December 29, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, author, actress, interviewer and commentator. Beginning in the late 1980s, she performed a series of one-hour HBO comedy specials. She provided backstage commentary during the 1992 presidential election on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Poundstone is a frequent panelist on National Public Radio's weekly news quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me and was a recurring guest on the network's A Prairie Home Companion variety program during Garrison Keillor's years as host.

Poundstone was born in Huntsville, Alabama, the daughter of Vera, a housewife, and Jack Poundstone, an engineer. Her family moved to Sudbury, Massachusetts, about a month after her birth. Poundstone attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, but dropped out before obtaining her diploma. Her jobs have included busing tables at an IHOP and working as a bicycle messenger.

Poundstone started doing stand-up comedy at open-mic nights in Boston in 1979. In the early 1980s, she traveled across the United States by Greyhound bus, stopping in at open-mic nights at comedy clubs en route. She stayed in San Francisco, where she became known for improvisational sets at The Other Cafe comedy club in the Haight-Ashbury. She was seen by Robin Williams, who encouraged her to move to Los Angeles and included a stand-up comedy set for her on an episode of "SNL" he hosted. In 1984, Poundstone was cast in the movie Gremloids. She continued as a comedian and began appearing on several talk shows. In 1989, she won the American Comedy Award for "Best Female Stand-Up Comic". In 1990, she wrote and starred in an HBO special called Cats, Cops and Stuff, for which she won a CableACE Award — making her the first female to win the ACE for best Standup Comedy Special. She went on to another first with her second HBO stand-up special, Paula Poundstone Goes To Harvard, taped on campus in Sanders Theatre. Poundstone also had her own Bravo special in 2006 as part of their three-part Funny Girls series, along with Caroline Rhea and Joan Rivers, titled Paula Poundstone: Look What the Cat Dragged In. Poundstone worked as a political correspondent for The Tonight Show during the 1992 US Presidential campaign and did field pieces for The Rosie O'Donnell Show in 1996. In 1993, Poundstone won a second CableACE Award for "Best Program Interviewer" for her HBO series "The Paula Poundstone Show." She was then featured in her own variety show, The Paula Poundstone Show, on ABC (which lasted two episodes). She also appeared on Hollywood Squares and was a regular panelist for the remake of To Tell the Truth.