The Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center is inviting another well known personality to take the stage this Saturday as part of its Wit and Wisdom series.
Comedian Paula Poundstone will be bring her signature, quick-think, unscripted style of joke telling to Long Beach as part of her 2016 tour.
The Paula Poundstone website describes her as one of our country’s foremost comics. She is known for her ability to create humor on the spot as a frequent panelist on National Public Radio’s number one weekly news quiz show, “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me.” She holds the record for game losses on the quirky talk show.
“The others cheat,” Poundstone said. “You wouldn’t think NPR would put up with that.”
Nick Zaino of the Boston Globe writes: “You know she’s a great comic the way you know any fine performer when you see one — there’s a disarming ease in her craft, an immediate sense that she’s so quick on her feet you need never worry about the possibility of something going wrong.”
She got her start in the late 1980s with a series of one-hour comedy specials on HBO like “Cats, Cops and Stuff,” and “Paula Poundstone Goes to Harvard.” Her career progressed when she provided commentary during the 1992 presidential election on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”
In 1992, her commentary opened a door for her to become the first woman to share the stage with the President as a host for the White House Correspondents dinner.
Poundstone was the first woman to win a Cable ACE Award for Best Standup Comedy Special. She’s won an American Comedy Award for Best Female Standup Comic and is a part of the Comedy Central list of 100 Greatest Standups of All Time.
Her standup stylings will start at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Carpenter Center. As per usual with the known improvisor, it will be a unique performance for both first time audience members and loyal fans. Tickets are still available at carpenterarts.org