Paula Poundstone visits Phoenix for Harris/Walz political fundraiser

Not much seems funny about the upcoming presidential election, but comedian Paula Poundstone is coming to Phoenix on Monday to generate some laughs — and some money for the Harris/Walz campaign.

Poundstone, along with fellow comedians Jimmy Tingle and Tony Tripoli, will appear in the Valley in a program called "Headliners for Harris," presented by Mark Robert Gordon (DNC National Committeeman, AZ) and the Maricopa County LGBTQ+ Committee. Tickets start at $100, and proceeds benefit the Harris Victory Fund.

Though she is appearing at a political fundraiser, Poundstone doesn’t want to be mislabeled.

“I saw — just recently — me billed as a political comedian," Poundstone says. "I'm like, I'm not a political comedian; I am a voter. I'm a comic who is a voter and I am concerned, and I express that concern in jokes. But I'm not a political comedian and I'm not an expert.”

Poundstone has been making audiences laugh for decades. She was one of the first female comedians to have an HBO special at a time when women weren’t being booked to do such things. She was also one of the first to introduce genderfluidity into her professional wardrobe; her signature three-piece suits and ties became a trademark. What Boy George was doing for pop music fashion in the '80s, Poundstone was doing on stage for standup.

It caused some people to question her sexuality. But she has been open and honest about that aspect of her life.

“I'm just sort of asexual,” she says, chuckling. “I feel very lucky not to have any interest in sex whatsoever. I've never understood it — how people afford the time. When I go to bed, I wanna sleep.”

Poundstone is also clear about who she supports in the Nov. 5 election.

“I think that Kamala Harris is terrific,” she says. “I think she'll do a great job. I like the things she talks about. Clearly, her economic plan is approved by many economists. But the truth is, you know, I would vote for my dirty denim jacket that's on the bed beside me before I would vote for Donald Trump. He's been very clear about what he would do. And I believe him — I believe that he will round people up and that's such a horrible thought.”

At 64, this isn’t the first election cycle in which Poundstone witnessed a controversial conservative candidate. She lived through the Reagan years in the '80s, but her material didn’t address that at the time, and it may have been because she wasn’t an avid news watcher back then. That would all change thanks to another controversial character.

“I started watching the news in the '80s,” she says. “I lived briefly, one summer at Timothy Leary's house.”

“I knew him and his wife through some friends,” Poundstone recalls of the famous counterculturist and drug advocate. “I was at a party one time, and I had gone into the kitchen to help with the dishes. Tim's wife was in there and ... somebody was asking me questions, and I said, ‘Oh, I have to leave the place I'm staying in a couple days.' And Tim's wife said, Oh, you could come stay, with me.'"

Poundstone says the Learys were obsessed with television news.

“Tim would come into the room, and he'd go, ‘The news is on,’ and then he'd disappear. ... One night he came in and I said, ‘Tim, let me ask you something. Why are you coming to tell me the news is on every night?’ He said it was just so great. He goes, 'You know what? You come watch with us, and any questions you have we’ll answer.' And that's how I started watching the news.”

Since then, the comedian has kept up with current events, especially politics. She mentions Tucker Carlson and his recent contention that America “needs a spanking,” a sentiment that didn’t sit well with her.

“We're not children — we're voters, we're citizens, we're intelligent, functioning people. We will neither profit from nor benefit from a dictator. That's a horrible idea,” she says, adding that if Trump wins she will not leave the country. “I know people who are planning to, you know, a plan B. But I would not leave because I would stay and fight. But, I would be so ashamed to be in a place that finds these behaviors acceptable.”

For her Phoenix show in support of the Harris-Walz ticket, she says it will be an evening of laughter.

“I'm just gonna tell my little jokes, you know. I do some Trump jokes. I don't even know how much time they're having me do,” she says.

Poundstone is definitely familiar with Arizona politics, though, especially U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake.

“By the way, I bumped into Kari Lake at the Phoenix airport one time and her background was blurry,” Poundstone jokes. “Marjorie Taylor Green may be just that stupid, but Kari Lake is making some choices here. I don't know that she was always even a Republican, but she certainly wasn't always a Trump follower. She’s an opportunist and a hook-your-wagon kind of person. But, oh my God, phony, and the idea that she would copy him with, ‘I won, I won,’ you know, it's just ridiculous.”