Paula Poundstone at the Englert Theatre -- December 17.
Friday, December 17, 8 p.m.
Englert Theatre, 221 East Washington Street, Iowa City IA
A decades-long favorite who was named by Comedy Central as one of the 100 greatest standup comedians of all time, Paula Poundstone brings her national tour to Iowa City's Englert Theatre on December 17, the gifted standup long acclaimed for her solo shows, books, political coverage, and tenure as a frequent panelist on NPR's weekly quiz show Wait, Wait … Don't Tell Me!
The 61-year-old Poundstone started doing stand-up comedy at open-mic nights in Boston in 1979, and in the early 1980s, she traveled across the United States by Greyhound bus, stopping in at comedy-club open-mic nights en route. She stayed in San Francisco, where she became known for improvisational sets at Holy City Zoo and The Other Cafe comedy club in Cole Valley, and in 1984, Robin Williams saw her act and encouraged her to move to Los Angeles. Poundstone performed her act when Williams hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live and began appearing on numerous talk shows, winning the American Comedy Award for "Best Female Stand-Up Comic" in 1989. The following year, she wrote and starred in the HBO special Cats, Cops, & Stuff for which she won a CableACE Award, making her the first woman to win the ACE for best Standup Comedy Special. (In March of 2019, fellow comedian Tig Notaro, in Time magazine, named Cats, Cops, & Stuff one of "The Five Funniest Stand-Up Specials Ever.")
Poundstone worked as a political correspondent for The Tonight Show during the 1992 U.S. Presidential campaign, and the next year, she won a second CableACE Award as "Best Program Interviewer" for her HBO series The Paula Poundstone Show. The performer's razor-sharp wit and impeccable timing make her an ideal fit as a regular panelist on NPR’s top-rated Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me!, and when asked about Poundstone, the show's host Peter Sagal replied, “Paula Poundstone is the funniest human being I have ever known. Everything she does, thinks, or says is hilarious. Air becomes funny having been breathed by her.” An author in addition to a comedian, Poundstone's second book The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness landed at number one on the Amazon Best Sellers lists in hardcover, Audible, and CD, and is one of five finalists for Audio Book of the Year. Poundstone also voiced the character “Forgetter Paula” in Pixar's Oscar-winning Inside Out, and her recent TV guest appearances include spots on Late Night with Stephen Colbert, Last Call with Carson Daly, and Nerdist with Chris Hardwick.
Paula Poundstone performs at the Englert Theatre on December 17, admission to the 8 p.m. show is $38.50-58.50, and more information and tickets are available by calling (319)688-2653 and visiting Englert.org.
