Paula Poundstone

Paula Poundstone
Poundstone in 2008
Born (1959-12-29) December 29, 1959
Notable work
  • Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
  • The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness
  • Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone, the comedy podcast
  • Cats, Cops and Stuff
  • Paula Poundstone Goes to Harvard
  • The French Trump Weekly Press Conference
Children3
Comedy career
Years active1979–present
MediumStandup comedy, television, radio, print, internet
GenresStandup, improvisational comedy, crowd work, voice acting, commentator, interviewer
SubjectObservational humor

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. She is the host of the podcast Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone, which is the successor to the National Public Radio program Live from the Poundstone Institute. She is a frequent panelist on NPR'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.