Paula Poundstone is a stand-up comedian, author, actress, commentator and interviewer born on 29th December 1959 in Huntsville, Alabama, USA, and is known as one of the most successful and rewarded female comedians in the US, and was the first woman to win a Cable ACE Award for Best Stand-Up Comedy Special for her HBO special “Cats, Cops and Stuff”. She is a frequent panelist on weekly news quiz show “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me”, and was a recurring guest on “A Prairie Home Companion” variety program.
Have you ever wondered how rich Paula Poundstone is? According to sources it has been estimated that Paula Poundstone’s overall net worth is $1.5 million, accumulated through a diverse and lucrative career which she started in the late ‘70s. Since she is still active in the entertainment industry, her net worth continues to grow.
Paula Poundstone Net Worth $1.5 Million
Raised in Sudbury, Massachusetts, Paula attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School but dropped out before matriculation. Before starting a career as a stand-up comedian, she did various jobs to support her living, including working as a waitress at IHOP and being a bicycle messenger. However, in 1979, Poundstone began doing stand-up comedy at open-mic nights in Boston, but continued to travel across the US by Greyhound bus, and performing in similar comedy clubs, before she settled in San Francisco, where she became known for her improvisational acts at “The Other Cafe” comedy club. Soon, she was noticed by Robin Williams, who encouraged her to move to Los Angeles and arranged a stand-up comedy set for her on an episode of “SNL”, which he hosted. Paula even had an acting venture, when she was cast in “Hyperspace” movie in 1984”, but decided to continue practicing stand-up comedy and appearing in talk shows. Her net worth was established.
By the end of ‘80s she had won the American Comedy Award for “Best Female Stand-Up Comic”, and in 1990 she wrote “Cats, Cops and Stuff”, an HBO special for which she was awarded a Cable ACE Award, the first ever female to receive this accolade. Thanks to her quick wit and spontaneity, she was also the first woman to headline the White House Correspondents Dinner, and provided live coverage of the ’92 political conventions and presidential inauguration for “The Tonight Show”. The following year, she was presented with a second Cable ACE Award, this time for “Best Program Interviewer” for her HBO series “The Paula Poundstone Show”. Her second HBO special, “Paula Poundstone Goes to Harvard” was released in 1996, the first time this elite university had allowed their name to be used in a TV show title.
She is a frequent panelist on “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me”, a weekly news quiz show on the National Public Radio.
In addition to her career in the entertainment industry, Paula came off also as a writer. She published her first book, “There is Nothing In This Book That I Meant To Say”, in 2006, and her second book was set to publish in late 2016.
She has also written columns for “Mother Jones”, articles for “The Los Angeles Times”, “Glamour”, “Entertainment Weekly” and others. has been on Comedy Central ranked Poundstone on the list of 100 greatest stand-ups of all time at no.88, however, “Maxim” magazine’s listed her at no.6 of Worst Comedians of All Time – work that one out!
In her personal life, Paula identifies as asexual. She has been serving as a foster parent since the ‘90s, but was prosecuted for child endangerment, and lewd acts upon a child and alcoholism, which she professes to have overcome.
