Politics & Witchcraft: Paula Poundstone Off the Top of Her Head

PAULA POUNDSTONE: comic, author, radio personality, Harry Potter wannabe.

"My children don't think in terms of travel time," she says, explaining why she's conducting a phone interview in a parking lot after picking up her kids. "If I were Mrs. Weasley and I could apparate everywhere; that would be so much easier."

Perhaps one would need magical powers to have a career as varied as Poundstone's: She got her start as a comic in the 1980s, her shtick being her spontaneous riffs on everything. She wrote political columns for Mother Jones, did voice work for the kid's show Science Court ("My knowledge of condensation is much improved"), is a panelist on the NPR news quiz "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" and more.

Though associated mostly with self-deprecating humor, cats and parenting jokes, Poundstone's oeuvre includes a hefty dose of politics.

"I toyed with not voting, but the people at my polling place know me. ... I seriously went back and forth 30 times" between the two Democratic candidates. "There's no question that they're both annoying and it'll be a challenge to live with four years of either of them."

Poundstone's 2001 arrest, for driving drunk with her children in the car, is still talked about by news media, though she's been clean for years. She has long since bounced back and still performs sold-out shows across the country. She hits the stage locally at Alexandria's Birchmere on Saturday, and is slated to return in October.

She'll also sign copies of her recent memoir, "There's Nothing in This Book That I Meant To Say," that briefly deals with her drinking but also somehow manages to cover the lives of famous figures like Lincoln and Beethoven.

However original the book's conceit, there's not much chance of Poundstone quitting the comedy biz to become a full-time author.

"It took me nine years to write my book. ... How do you know you're going to get [another] idea? Sometimes months go by, I don't have a thought. I was just at this tae kwon do lesson. The teacher said, 'What are you thinking about?' Honestly? I was thinking it looked like the mat was moving, and 'How much longer before I pass out?'"

» Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria, Sat., 7:30 p.m., $39.50; 703-549-7500

Written by Express contributor Rachel Kaufman
Photo courtesy Personal Publicity