The last time comedian Paula Poundstone performed in Durango, the world was still coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and all that it had wrought. We were all still trying to figure out what the world was going to look like – including how society got back to things such as shows and concerts.
Poundstone, a legendary comedian, author, podcaster and longtime panelist on NPR’s “Wait Wait ... Don’t Tell Me!” was, according to a news release from the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, was named by Time Magazine as one of the “5 Funniest Stand-Up Specials Ever” for her HBO special “Cats, Cops and Stuff.” She was the first woman to perform at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and the first female stand-up to win the ACE Award for Best Comedy Special on cable.
She’ll return to Durango on Oct. 2 to perform at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College.
If you go
WHAT: Comedian Paula Poundstone.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2.
WHERE: Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
TICKETS: $22.50 to $40.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit durangoconcerts.com.
We recently caught up with Poundstone and chatted about a whole host of topics, including what she’s been up to since she was here last, Monty Python and ... Ring Dings.
The following Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Q: The last time we spoke was in 2023, and we were still getting out of the pandemic. What have you been up to since then?
A: Prior to the pandemic, I had started a podcast because I’m a human being, and we all have podcasts now. It’s like now when you register to vote, they’re going to make you show your passport or your birth certificate, and they’re going to ask you about your podcast, because you have to have one, or you’re not only not an American, you’re not a human being. I started that once a week, and I worked the road.
I’ve recently started – since there was the technological capability for someone like myself – to make videos, dropping one a day. I call them, “Hey, Donald Trump” videos. You know, I worship at the feet of Heather Cox Richardson, the historian who every day writes a thing called “Letters from an American,” and they’ve been so helpful to me. She also reads them aloud, in addition to printing them. She also does a thing called “Politics Chat,” where people write in their questions on Facebook or whatever. Those are more like 40-minute sessions, and I listen to those, and people often write, “What can we do?” Everyone feels so helpless. One of the things she said one day was, “You know what? Get your voice out there.” And that’s why I started doing them.
Then, like an idiot, I felt the compulsion to do one a day. ... But what I enjoy, and this is kind of what ball and chains me to the podcast, what I really enjoy is people, right? And they go, “Oh my gosh, you’re getting me through this and that.” That’s heady stuff, to feel like you somehow help someone while you’re doing this thing that you probably would do anyways. You know, if they said to me, “What would really get me through is those Ring Dings, Drake cakes that your friend in Maine gave you. If you would send me those that would get me through.” That I would be more reluctant to do.
I really am a Ring Ding person. You know, in a pinch I’ll do a Yodel because that’s close enough. But Funny Bones? No, stop it with your peanut butter badness.
Q: Is this still fun for you?
A: Yes. You know, the travel certainly isn’t as much fun as one might think. I was just coming home from Boston the other night on a 6 p.m. flight, and, oh, darn if there’s not a delay. And it was delayed and delayed and delayed. Finally, they go, OK it is going to take off, but 11:30 tomorrow morning.
Well, some people that I worked for in Maine had given me these two big boxes of Ring Dings, and they were in my suitcase. I have a really terrific travel agent, and she got me on another flight that left at 6 a.m. that morning, so she saved me a few hours anyway. It was a different airline, so I had to go get my bags so I could check them on the airline that I was going to fly.
The great thing is I can actually sleep comfortably on top of my suitcases; I’m like a service dog; I can fold myself in anywhere. I’m a gifted sleeper, so, I was sort of excited to get my bags to sleep on top of them. Then I realized one of my suitcases is soft-sided, and I’m like, wait a minute, the Ring Dings are in there. So I took them out and created a nightstand beside my suitcases with the Ring Ding boxes. It was decorative. It was comforting. And I’m like, OK, but if I squish those, I’m going to be so upset. I would rather sit awake in a chair than smoosh those Ring Dings.
So the travel part, I have to say, gets a little old after a while, but the part of being on stage, I mean, selfishly, it’s really healing. No matter what’s going on, my hope is that it’s the same for the audience in front of me, which is kind of transporting.
It reminds me sometimes of that scene in “Life of Brian,” one of the most brilliant movies ever made, when Brian’s running from the Roman soldiers and they’re chasing him and all of a sudden he sees an animated spaceship, and he gets into the animated spaceship, and it takes off, slides them all the way around the Earth, and lands right back where he was, and he gets out, and he’s running from the Roman soldiers. So hopefully my show is an animated spaceship: It’s not gonna solve everything. It’s not necessarily even gonna move us forward. But by God, it’s a couple of hours of the Roman soldiers not chasing you.
Q: What kind of show are you giving us? What can people expect?
A: A lot of silliness. I do talk about politics here and there. I do not consider myself a political comedian. I’m a voter. I’m a citizen, and it certainly is a big part of my focus in my regular life right now. I can’t help but talk a little bit about travel, because it’s a third of my life. My act is largely autobiographical – I talk about raising a house full of animals and various experiences that I’ve had. I don’t have a an act, per se. My favorite part of the night is just talking to the audience. I do the time honored “Where are you from?” “What do you do for a living?” And in this way little biographies emerge, and I use that from which to set my sails. I like to find out about the area from the audience in front of me. Sometimes people think I researched it before I got there. I would argue that that would require the E word – effort – and I’m just not likely to do that. I mostly just find stuff out when I’m there. You talk to people; everybody has great stuff to tell you.
Q: You must like Durango. You’ve been here a bunch.
A: I do. Colorado is a beautiful, beautiful state. And you know, Durango makes me feel like I’m on one of those travel shows.
katie@durangoherald.com
