PAULA POUNDSTONE
Name: Paula Poundstone
Born: 29 December 1959 Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.
Paula Poundstone (born December 29, 1959 in Huntsville, Alabama) is an American
stand-up comedian. She is known for her quiet, self-deprecating style, political
observations, and her trademark suit and tie outfit.
Poundstone's family moved to Sudbury, Massachusetts when she was young (some
sources incorrectly state Poundstone was born in Sudbury)[citation needed]. She
adopted her first child, Thomas, in 1993. In 1997, she adopted two girls, Toshia
and Allison. She has been a foster mother to several children, but is now barred
from providing foster care in the aftermath of her arrest (the charges were
later dropped) for three counts of a lewd act upon a child, a felony.
Poundstone attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, eventually dropping
out to pursue a show business career. Her jobs have included bussing tables and
working as a bicycle messenger. She started doing stand-up comedy on open-mike
nights in Boston in 1979 and then relocated to California. In 1984, Poundstone
was cast in the movie Hyperspace but she did not follow through on a potential
acting career. Instead she became better known as a comedian and began appearing
on several talk shows. In 1989, she won the American Comedy Award for "Best
Female Stand-Up Comic." In 1990, she wrote and starred in an HBO special Cats,
Cops and Stuff and subsequently won a CableACE Award for the show. She worked as
a political correspondent for the Tonight Show during the 1992 Presidential
campaign and did the same for The Rosie O'Donnell Show in 1996.
In 1993, Poundstone won a second Cable Ace Award, began writing a regular column
"Hey, Paula!" for Mother Jones magazine (1993-1998), and had a variety show The
Paula Poundstone Show on ABC (which lasted only two episodes). She was a regular
panelist for the game shows Hollywood Squares and To Tell the Truth.
Poundstone voiced Judge Stone on Science Court, an edutainment cartoon series
done in Squigglevision shown on ABC Kids in 1997. she also voiced the mother
from Home Movies in the first season.
Poundstone also served as a panelist on the 2000 revival of the television game
show To Tell the Truth.
She was the original voice of Paula Small for the first five episodes of the
cartoon series Home Movies, which aired on UPN, but left the show when it moved
to Cartoon Network and was replaced by Janine Ditullo. The character's name and
appearance were modeled after Poundstone. Also, she is currently a regular
panelist on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, a radio game show produced by NPR. She
is a regular guest on A Prairie Home Companion, often appearing in shows in Los
Angeles or at joke shows.
She is number 88 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of all
time, and number 7 on Maxim's list of "Worst Comedians of All Time".
She had her own Bravo special as part of their three-part Funny Girls series,
along with Caroline Rhea and Joan Rivers. It was entitled, "Look What the Cat
Dragged In."
Around the same time as her Bravo special, Poundstone also released her first
book entitled "There is Nothing in this Book That I Meant to Say." Described as
an autobiography that is "part memoir- part monologue," the book intertwines
historical biographies with anecdotes from her own life story. She took a number
of years to write the work, since she does not use a computer or know how to
type, she wrote the entire book by hand in her spare time.
In 2001 Poundstone was arrested on a felony warrant for three counts of
committing a lewd act on an unidentified girl under the age of 14. The Los
Angeles County District Attorney's Office also stated that Poundstone was
charged with endangering two other unidentified girls and two boys.
Poundstone pled guilty to charges of felony child endangerment and misdemeanor
inflicting injury on a child. Few details were released, but the prosecutor
indicated that the charges were a result of an incident in which Poundstone was
driving her children while intoxicated. She accepted a plea agreement and pled
no contest to felony child endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of inflicting
injury on a child. In exchange, the three charges of lewd conduct were dropped
by prosecutors.
"The lewd conduct charges against me were dropped because they weren't true,"
says Poundstone. "I pled no contest to the child endangerment/injury charges
because they were. My drinking helped to create a dangerous situation for the
children. For this, I am very sorry." [14 September 2001] Poundstone was
sentenced to five years probation and 180 days in an alcohol rehabilitation
program. Following completion of the program, she was granted full custody of
her adopted children but permanently lost custody of two other children who were
in Poundstone's home as part of the foster care system.
Poundstone's troubles were referenced in the South Park episode "Super Best
Friends" and in the Family Guy episode "8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage
Daughter".
Name: Paula Poundstone
Born: 29 December 1959 Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.
Paula Poundstone (born December 29, 1959 in Huntsville, Alabama) is an American
stand-up comedian. She is known for her quiet, self-deprecating style, political
observations, and her trademark suit and tie outfit.
Poundstone's family moved to Sudbury, Massachusetts when she was young (some
sources incorrectly state Poundstone was born in Sudbury)[citation needed]. She
adopted her first child, Thomas, in 1993. In 1997, she adopted two girls, Toshia
and Allison. She has been a foster mother to several children, but is now barred
from providing foster care in the aftermath of her arrest (the charges were
later dropped) for three counts of a lewd act upon a child, a felony.
Poundstone attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, eventually dropping
out to pursue a show business career. Her jobs have included bussing tables and
working as a bicycle messenger. She started doing stand-up comedy on open-mike
nights in Boston in 1979 and then relocated to California. In 1984, Poundstone
was cast in the movie Hyperspace but she did not follow through on a potential
acting career. Instead she became better known as a comedian and began appearing
on several talk shows. In 1989, she won the American Comedy Award for "Best
Female Stand-Up Comic." In 1990, she wrote and starred in an HBO special Cats,
Cops and Stuff and subsequently won a CableACE Award for the show. She worked as
a political correspondent for the Tonight Show during the 1992 Presidential
campaign and did the same for The Rosie O'Donnell Show in 1996.
In 1993, Poundstone won a second Cable Ace Award, began writing a regular column
"Hey, Paula!" for Mother Jones magazine (1993-1998), and had a variety show The
Paula Poundstone Show on ABC (which lasted only two episodes). She was a regular
panelist for the game shows Hollywood Squares and To Tell the Truth.
Poundstone voiced Judge Stone on Science Court, an edutainment cartoon series
done in Squigglevision shown on ABC Kids in 1997. she also voiced the mother
from Home Movies in the first season.
Poundstone also served as a panelist on the 2000 revival of the television game
show To Tell the Truth.
She was the original voice of Paula Small for the first five episodes of the
cartoon series Home Movies, which aired on UPN, but left the show when it moved
to Cartoon Network and was replaced by Janine Ditullo. The character's name and
appearance were modeled after Poundstone. Also, she is currently a regular
panelist on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, a radio game show produced by NPR. She
is a regular guest on A Prairie Home Companion, often appearing in shows in Los
Angeles or at joke shows.
She is number 88 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of all
time, and number 7 on Maxim's list of "Worst Comedians of All Time".
She had her own Bravo special as part of their three-part Funny Girls series,
along with Caroline Rhea and Joan Rivers. It was entitled, "Look What the Cat
Dragged In."
Around the same time as her Bravo special, Poundstone also released her first
book entitled "There is Nothing in this Book That I Meant to Say." Described as
an autobiography that is "part memoir- part monologue," the book intertwines
historical biographies with anecdotes from her own life story. She took a number
of years to write the work, since she does not use a computer or know how to
type, she wrote the entire book by hand in her spare time.
In 2001 Poundstone was arrested on a felony warrant for three counts of
committing a lewd act on an unidentified girl under the age of 14. The Los
Angeles County District Attorney's Office also stated that Poundstone was
charged with endangering two other unidentified girls and two boys.
Poundstone pled guilty to charges of felony child endangerment and misdemeanor
inflicting injury on a child. Few details were released, but the prosecutor
indicated that the charges were a result of an incident in which Poundstone was
driving her children while intoxicated. She accepted a plea agreement and pled
no contest to felony child endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of inflicting
injury on a child. In exchange, the three charges of lewd conduct were dropped
by prosecutors.
"The lewd conduct charges against me were dropped because they weren't true,"
says Poundstone. "I pled no contest to the child endangerment/injury charges
because they were. My drinking helped to create a dangerous situation for the
children. For this, I am very sorry." [14 September 2001] Poundstone was
sentenced to five years probation and 180 days in an alcohol rehabilitation
program. Following completion of the program, she was granted full custody of
her adopted children but permanently lost custody of two other children who were
in Poundstone's home as part of the foster care system.
Poundstone's troubles were referenced in the South Park episode "Super Best
Friends" and in the Family Guy episode "8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage
Daughter".