Paula Poundstone brings her comedy to Sellersville Theater

Paula Poundstone has had plenty to do during the pandemic.
She’s been involved with two podcasts – her own, “Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone,” and National Public Radio’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” – she’s been volunteering at a friend’s food bank, and she started a worm farm (yes, really, but more on that later).
Nevertheless, the stand-up comic missed performing in front of a live audience. She returned to touring last summer and is appearing at the Sellersville Theater in Bucks County at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18.
“It’s fun. I’m really happy to be back with audiences,” she said. “I’m finding that the crowds in almost all circumstances are masked, and I assume vaccinated.”
Poundstone said she doesn’t ask, or check, but she hopes that’s the case. (The Sellersville Theater is currently requiring proof of full vaccination or a negative PCR COVID test within 72 hours of performances, and Poundstone requests audience members wear masks when not eating or drinking, according to the theater’s website.)
“I missed this so much, and I want it to go on,” Poundstone said. “The thing about comedy is you can’t do it any other way. Everyone reacting together makes an enormous difference – more than any other form (of entertainment) I can think of.
“I don’t want to lose this, not to mention I don’t want my audiences to die. It’s immoral, and it’s a bad business model,” she quipped.
Asked whether her current tour is at all pandemic-based, she said, “My act is largely autobiographical, about what I’m doing and thinking. Right now I’m thinking about a lot of this stuff.
“I think it’s interesting now to reconvene. I feel a bit like we’re munchkins in the (‘Wizard of Oz’) ‘come out, come out wherever you are.’”
Poundstone said she enjoys talking with her audiences and feeds off of their questions and comments, making her act different from night to night. The author of two books, she doesn’t dwell on her long-ago struggles with alcohol, but will still occasionally make a drinking joke.
Many of Poundstone’s fans know from her from her regular appearances over the past 20-plus years as a panelist on the humorous NPR news quiz show “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me.” The show is typically taped before a live studio audience, in its home base in Chicago, or in various venues around the country. But, the pandemic forced the cast to gather via Zoom and tape without a live studio audience.

Poundstone said that was reminiscent of her early days on the show when each of the panelists was in a radio studio nearest them. “It was kind of lonely,” she said, adding that format didn’t last long because the show was invited to tape in front of a live studio audience, and after that, there was no going back.
Poundstone describes her own podcast, “Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone,” as a comedy podcast with an educational nugget. She said she interviews both famous people, such a Billie Jean King or John Cleese, and interesting but not famous people. It was from one of those interesting people – a professor – that she learned about vermicomposting, which utilizes worms.
“One-third of the methane we produce comes from food waste, which is shocking,” Poundstone said.
“I volunteered one day a week during the pandemic at a food bank friends started. There was a bin of food waste and they didn’t have anywhere to compost it. One of my jobs was taking away 40 gallons of rotten food waste.
“I started a worm farm and I love it. When you lift the bin, you can hear them eating. There’s a lot of them in there.”
Poundstone said she began with a pound of worms, which she purchased, and they reproduced quickly. She has three bins now, which she likened in size to those one would use to move a child’s belongings to college.
“I sell the worm castings,” she said, which is the waste. It’s considered black gold as a fertilizer.
“It’s just a really odd use of my time,” Poundstone said. “I’ve come to love them. I chop up their food for them.”
For show tickets and information, visit the theater online or call 215-257-5808.
jarthur@buckscountyherald.com

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