Paula Poundstone extracts comedy from anything
Fox Theatre
Tucson, AZ
October 26, 2021
By Mary Andrews
Comedian Paula Poundstone is a fan favorite in Tucson. Her third appearance at the Fox Theatre on October 28 was an example of how fans expect every Poundstone show to be unique. They are aware that a major part of her show relies on “working” the crowd. This show was no exception.
Poundstone started doing stand-up comedy in 1979. Within ten years, she had won the American Comedy Award for Best Female Stand-Up Comic, starred in an HBO comedy special, and appeared on multiple talk shows. Her accomplishments have continued throughout the years including voicing animated cartoons, maintaining a very active tour schedule, and authoring several books.
She also has a podcast called “No One Listens to Paula Poundstone,” which she’s been particularly thankful for over this past year. Poundstone spoke about her podcast early in the set. With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, the venues that hosted entertainers like Poundstone shut down and the podcast’s value, by comparison has grown.
Poundstone asked the crowd what Tucson was most famous. A fan shouted out, “Food.” Poundstone immediately rejected the idea that Tucson was most famous for its food. The answer she was reaching for was that Tucson was most famous for the heat. After ranting about the heat in Tucson for ten or 15 minutes, Poundstone revisited the idea about Tucson being famous for its food. She learned that someone in the audience worked for El Charro, one of Tucson’s premier Mexican restaurants. That led to local restaurant humor.
There is nowhere Poundstone fears to tread with her observational humor. No one was safe in the theatre from her questions. Only two people were selected from the front row. The front row is not the only place she will gain a partner for her humor. That said, no one upfront is safe.
Be prepared to be peppered with questions from her about what you do for a living, what you had for dinner, or how you travelled to the theatre. Politics, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, the pandemic, TSA, Canada, and her kids were some of the many subjects that Poundstone wittingly discussed. She may have felt a little rusty when she first returned to performing in June. It didn’t take her long to get her mojo back. That’s what happens when you’ve been doing observational humor so long.
The consensus is that she works a crowd better than any other comedian working today. Tucson was reminded just how brilliant Poundstone is.
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