This week I talked with comedian Paula Poundstone, who's currently on tour and will be appearing at The Crown & Anchor in Provincetown, Mass., for two shows on Sunday, August 25, at 7:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. Since Paula is a regular panelist on the hit NPR news quiz show, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, I talked to Paula about our LGBT issues, including the U.S. Supreme Court gay marriage decisions, Russia's anti-gay laws and how this may impact the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, and more.
When asked about her grueling year-round performance schedule Poundstone stated:
To go into a room of people who come out to laugh for the night is already magical to begin with. In our society it's almost unique at this point because people are so electronically hooked-up and enjoy that kind of entertainment so much. So to be in a room of live human beings where you can shake hands, make eye contact, talk about what happened to you on the way there, have some real genuine exchanges is a fantastic thing in itself. And then to get to stand on the stage and say what you think is funny and often times by the way I've shared things that were very personal on stage. I've had lots of struggles along the way and I've shared those struggles whether they were the most dramatic struggles or just the lesser frustrating ones and people laugh because the truth is, as much as we may think we're terribly unique, in all of our difficulties we have a lot more in common than we have differences no matter who you are. So to be in a room of people laughing about those difficulties is the most amazing wonderful thing in the world. I'm really lucky that I sort of just stumbled in that direction and it's helped me out in the last 34 years.
In March 2013 Paula joined Whoopi Goldberg, Joan Rivers and several other prominent women in comedy for a feature-length documentary produced by Lions Gate for Showtime TV titled, Why We Laugh Too: Women of Comedy. Her newest comedy CD, I Heart Jokes: Paula Tells Them in Boston, was recorded during a performance at the Wilbur Theatre in the heart of the city and was released on April Fool's Day 2013. Poundstone lives in Santa Monica, California with her three children, Toshia, Allison and Thomas E.
