Paula Poundstone
Stand-up comedian

Paula Poundstone

Who Paula Poundstone is

Paula Poundstone is a stand-up comedian raised in Sudbury, Massachusetts, known for improvised crowd work and several HBO specials. She began at Boston open mics in 1979 and worked San Francisco's Holy City Zoo before appearances on Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and her 1990 HBO special Cats, Cops and Stuff won a CableACE Award. She hosts the podcast Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone, tours theaters and is a regular panelist on NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

At a glance

Born
1959
Style
Crowd work
Came up through
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Stand-up specials
Paula Poundstone: Look What the Cat Dragged In, Paula Poundstone Goes to Harvard, Paula Poundstone: Cats, Cops and Stuff and 1 more
Albums
Live at The Alex, Cats, Cops and Stuff, Paula Poundstone Goes to College and 3 more
Podcasts
Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone, The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness and There's Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say
On screen
Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Just for Laughs and 5 more
Official site
paulapoundstone.com ↗

On stage

No dated show on D.O.C.'s Comedy Calendar right now — their own site has their dates: paulapoundstone.com ↗.

Lineups belong to the rooms and the comedians, and can change; each listing has the last word. Their nights on the Comedy Calendar →

Specials, shows and podcasts

Stand-up specials

Albums

On screen

Podcasts

Where they got their start

Came up the same way

Other comedians in SUCDb who came through The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson:

The Launching Pads: the shows the comedians came through →

Comedians like Paula Poundstone

Each linked to them by something on the record — a stage they both came through, a bill, a show, a style or a home town.

Every stand-up comedian with a page, A to Z →

Career timeline

  1. 1959Born
  2. 1984Saturday Night Live (stand-up guest, 1984) On screen
  3. 1984Late Night with David Letterman (stand-up, 1984–1990) On screen
  4. 1986The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (stand-up, 1986–1992) On screen
  5. 1989One Night Stand (1989, HBO) Special
  6. 1990Paula Poundstone: Cats, Cops and Stuff (1990, HBO) Special
  7. 1992The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (stand-up, 1992–1997) On screen
  8. 1993The Paula Poundstone Show (host, 1993) On screen
  9. 1996Paula Poundstone Goes to Harvard (1996, HBO) Special
  10. 2005Just for Laughs (stand-up, 2005) On screen
  11. 2006Paula Poundstone: Look What the Cat Dragged In (2006, Bravo) Special
  12. 2006The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (stand-up, 2006–2015) On screen
  13. 2006There's Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say (book, 2006) Book
  14. 2009I Heart Jokes: Paula Tells Them in Maine (2009) Album
  15. 2013I Heart Jokes: Paula Tells Them in Boston (2013) Album
  16. 2015Inside Out and Inside Out 2 (voice of Forgetter Paula, 2015 and 2024) On screen
  17. 2016North by Northwest: Paula Poundstone Live! (2016) Album
  18. 2017The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness (book, 2017) Book
  19. 2021Paula Poundstone Goes to College (For One Night) (2021) Album
  20. 2022Cats, Cops and Stuff (2022) Album
  21. 2025Live at The Alex (2025) Album

Questions about Paula Poundstone

Where is Paula Poundstone performing next?

No date is on D.O.C.'s Comedy Calendar right now; their own site has their dates: paulapoundstone.com ↗.

What stand-up specials have they released?

Paula Poundstone: Look What the Cat Dragged In, Paula Poundstone Goes to Harvard, Paula Poundstone: Cats, Cops and Stuff and One Night Stand.

What podcast do they host?

Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone, The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness and There's Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say.

What TV shows and films are they in?

Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Just for Laughs, Late Night with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Paula Poundstone Show, among 8 credits.

Where did they get their start?

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (stand-up).

When were they born?

In 1959.

Who are some comedians like them?

Andy Kaufman (also in Late Night with David Letterman), David Letterman (also in Late Night with David Letterman), Jay Leno (also came through The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson), Flip Wilson (also came through The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) and George Carlin (also came through The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson).

The full SUCDb record

The full record — the career in order, the specials and credits, and the sources for each — is on SUCDb, with a button to add them to your D.O.C., your twelve.

Their SUCDb record →Their own site ↗

Sources

Updated 5 October 2026 · the record checked 27 September 2026