Every night when I go to bed, I put this podcast on. It interrupts my overactive worrying and guarantees that I fall asleep with a smile on my face.
Paula Poundstone is my hero. She is kind, smart and silly and cares deeply about people. And she can make anything funny. Anything. While she’s the “star” of the show – she would bristle at that characterization, she is modest and yet has no shame when it comes to humor!! – there are three other people entertaining the listeners, aka The Nobodies. There’s her manager Bonnie Burns who is beloved by the fans for her inability to tell a story in any kind of sensical manner and the frequency with which she sticks her foot in her mouth. Toni Anita Hull is a former producer of the show who has her finger on the pulse of pop culture and has no qualms about sharing the inane. And of course, poor beleaguered Adam Felber, Paula’s longtime sidekick who does his best to keep the show from going off the rails. (He rarely succeeds.) Listening to them is like hanging out with your best friends.
I don’t think they make a lot of money doing this podcast; I think they keep doing it because they know that “The Nobodies” (what the listeners are called) have come to rely on it as an antidote to the horror that has been ravaging our country under Trump. PP keeps a paper copy of the American Constitution folded up in her pocket at all times. Paula is extremely involved with the resistance movement. Her passion for doing the right thing is unending. She got educated about the world by none other than Timothy Leary when she was crashing at his house towards the beginning of her career. She was discovered by Robin Williams in San Francisco who had her perform on SNL the week he was hosting.
Unlike other podcasts where people simply chat, this is a SHOW, complete with sketches and bits, recurring characters, running gags, musical interludes (played by the episode’s “house band” which consists of one person!).
There’s usually a guest and they have ranged from experts on alligators, parking lots, grammar, the Constitution and the mating habits of insects. There have been some heavy hitters such as Carl Lewis, Daryl Davis, Vivek Murthy (Surgeon General under Biden), Mickey Dolenz (yes! From The Monkees!), historian Heather Cox Richardson, John Cleese, Alex Trebeck. Carol Burnett, and Tom Hanks.
NLTPP will make you laugh, it will make you think, and in these dark times, it will give you hope.
