Paula Poundstone

“Poundstone epitomizes what is great and special about stand-up comedy.” — Los Angeles Times Paula Poundstone has been making audiences laugh for decades — and making them think just as hard. Known for her smart observational humor and spontaneous wit, Poundstone has built one of the most distinctive and durable careers in American comedy. She is a regular panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, host of the weekly podcast Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone, and the voice of Forgetter Paula in Pixar’s Inside Out and Inside Out 2. She has starred in multiple HBO specials, including Cats, Cops and Stuff, which won the CableACE Award for Best Comedy Special, and made history as the first female comic to host the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Her second book, The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness, was a semifinalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor; the audiobook was a finalist for the Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year. After all this time, a Poundstone show still feels like something happening in real time — sharp, unpredictable, and completely alive.