Paula Poundstone is always looking for the funny things in life.
As a stand-up comedian, it’s her job.
Yet the longtime performer also enjoys a little bit of drama.
Enter “Breaking Bad.”
“I have literally watched it a lot,” Poundstone says. “When I’m home, I keep a portable DVD player and I put on a disc and watch about three or four episodes to fall asleep. When I wake up, I continue watching. Someone had suggested to watch ‘Better Call Saul’ and I said, ‘I can’t.’ I already had this disease of staying up late watching the show, how could I add another to the mix?”
This is exactly why Poundstone is looking forward to spending time in Santa Fe on Friday, March 24, at the Lensic Performing Arts Center.
“For years I would watch ‘Perry Mason’ and then ‘Columbo.’ Then I got into the ‘Bad’ bender,” she says. “I feel like I’m in the ‘Valley of the Dolls.’ ”
Poundstone has spent decades traveling the world and performing her comedy.
She’s known for her observational humor, which has led her to headline a number of HBO comedy specials.
Poundstone is a regular panelist on NPR’s comedy news quiz, “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!” and is heard weekly on her comedy podcast, “Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone.”
When she’s not working on any of those projects, Poundstone can be found writing books.
Her second book, “The Totally Unscientific Study Of The Search For Human Happiness,” was one of eight semi-finalists for The Thurber Prize for American Humor, the highest recognition of the art of humor writing in the United States. The audiobook was one of five finalists for the AUDIE Audiobook of the Year award.
She’s also the first female to host The White House Correspondents Dinner.
“It’s been a lot of hard work, but I like to stay busy,” she says of her career. “I don’t feel like I can stop.”
Poundstone is enjoying her time back on stage, after spending nearly three years off the road due to the pandemic.
“It’s much easier to work on stage,” she says. “I get to go on and tell my little jokes and it’s so much fun. In some ways, it’s even more fun now that everything else feels so (messed) up. It feels like I’m performing in this oasis, taking everyone’s cares away for a moment. It all feels more substantial now.”
