BY BTL STAFF
EAST LANSING — Michigan Radio welcomes comedian Paula Poundstone to Wharton Center's Cobb Great Hall on Feb. 18. Tickets to see Poundstone start at $38 and will be available at the official source to purchase Wharton Center tickets online, www.whartoncenter.com, at the Auto-Owners Insurance Ticket Office or by calling 1-800-WHARTON.
Twenty-five years ago Paula Poundstone climbed on a Greyhound bus and traveled across the country – stopping in at open mic nights at comedy clubs as she went. A high school drop out, she went on to become one of the great humorists of our time. You can hear her through your laughter as a regular panelist on NPR's popular rascal of a weekly news quiz show, "Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me."
She tours regularly, performing standup comedy across the country, causing Bob Zany with the Boston Globe to write: "Poundstone can regale an audience for several hours with her distinctive brand of wry, intelligent and witty comedy." Audience members may put it a little less elegantly: "I peed my pants."
Over the span of her career, Poundstone has amassed a list of awards and accolades that stretch the length of a great big tall guy's arm. She not only shot through the glass ceiling, she never even acknowledged that it was there. Never one to stereotype herself as a "female comedian" or limit herself to comedy from a "female" point of view, in the early 90s she was the first woman to win the cable ACE for Best Standup Comedy Special and the first woman to perform standup at the prestigious White House Correspondents dinner where she joined the current president as part of the evening's entertainment.
Poundstone is also a published author and lecturer. Her hard cover book, "There is Nothing In This Book That I Meant To Say" (Crown, 2006, with a forward by Mary Tyler Moore) is still in release on audio (Highbridge) and in paperback. Other writing credits include the back page columnist of Mother Jones, The Los Angeles Times Entertainment Weekly and Glamour magazine.
Not only a writer, but an avid reader, Paula continues her role for the American Library Association (ALA) as the National spokesperson for United for Libraries, their "Friends of Libraries" national network – a citizens support group who work to raise awareness and much needed funds to support their local libraries.
Poundstone will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 18 in the Wharton Center's Cobb Great Hall, East Lansing.
