Dan's Papers - June 26, 2009 - Comedy Tonight (and the Next) at PAC and Bay Street

Comedy fans have a lot to look forward to this July and August as two of the East End's premiere venues - Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor and the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center (WHBPAC) - have scheduled a line-up of some of the best stand-up comics in the country, guaranteeing that you'll walk out of there laughing.

One of the highlights of the summer will be when Paula Poundstone, who has been in stand-up for 30 years, hits WHBPAC on July 4. Poundstone, known for touching upon a wide range of topics, from politics to family life, as well as her improvisational nature, most recently released her first ever comedy CD, I Heart Jokes: Paula Tells Them in Maine. "Turns out it was a fun thing to do," she said. "A guy just flips the switch and records it. I tell my jokes, and now I have stacks of them in my house."

And in this digital age, where artists of all kinds are able to utilize technology in order to control their creative works, Poundstone has decided to release the CDs on her own. "There aren't the gatekeepers there once were," she said. "It is nice that things are more in the hands of the artists now. There's a nice freedom." Likewise, Poundstone utilizes popular social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook in order to connect with fans, constantly keeping them abreast of news and updating her statuses with her typical witty one-liners.

Also, for the past two years, Poundstone has been a popular panelist on NPR's weekly news quiz show "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me." In 2008, the show won the Peabody Award for Broadcasting excellence. "It's just plain fun to do," she said. "We answer questions about the weekly news, and we're supposed to be funny. It's like being a batter in the batting cage. We're lobbed questions and we have to say funny things. It's my favorite thing to do," adding that she has "the world losing record on the show. I'm the village idiot."

Still, one of Poundstone's favorite places to be is performing live in front of a crowd and promises that at least one-third of her show will be improvisational in nature, as she interacts with the audience in a segment where she gets to know the crowd and use them as fodder for comedic gold. "I usually stumble upon some hysterical stuff," she said.

During her career, Poundstone has had several solo specials on HBO, and most recently, on Bravo. Amongst her accolades, she was the first woman to receive a Cable ACE award for Best Stand-up Comedy Performance and was also the first woman to be invited to perform at the White House Correspondents dinner. Her frequent TV appearances include Letterman, Leno, Craig Ferguson, as well as Garrison Keillor's, "A Prairie Home Companion."

Following Poundstone's performance over the holiday weekend, gossip-loving Joan Rivers, fresh off her appearance on Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice," will be at WHBPAC on July 31, while the 4th annual Long Island Comedy Festival, this year featuring Keith Anthony, Carie Karavas, Rob Falcone and Paul Anthony, returns to Westhampton on August 13. And Louis CK, known for his pithy one-liners, will close out comedy at the PAC on September 4. For more information about Westhampton shows, go to whbpac.org.

Meanwhile, Bay Street has a full line-up of comedians heading to Sag Harbor on a weekly basis. David Brenner, who has the most frequent guest appearanecs on the Tonight Show, with 158 appearances, and ranks among Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time, will perform July 13. Celebrity Autobiography, which features actors and comedians reading unintentionally hilarious passages from celebrity autobiographies, will take place on July 20. Jim Breuer, hailing from Valley Stream, N.Y. and best known for his stint on "Saturday Night Live" in the late '90s, will come to the area on July 27, while Susie Essman, most recently on Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," is in town on August 17. Mario Cantone, who has appeared on "Chapelle's Show" and is best known for his role of Anthony on "Sex and the City," will perform at Bay Street on August 24, with Robert Klein, coming to Sag Harbor a week later, on August 31. Janeane Garofalo, with Rob Riggle, closes out the comedy season at Bay Street on Sept. 7. For more information, go to baystreet.org.