Paula Poundstone Profile- Virginian-Pilot Newspaper

Paula Poundstone wants people to know that she really is trying. "Yes, I do want to win," the comedian said of her gig as a panelist on NPR's weekly news quiz show, "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me."

"It seems to be an urban legend that I'm attempting to lose," she added, talking on the phone from her home in Santa Monica, Calif. "Apparently my losses are so dominant that I'm the agony of defeat of public radio. I do study up, but my children and my cats interrupt my training."

So how much prep does Poundstone do before each taping of the radio show?
"Well, I sort of collect newspapers during the week, and then on the flight to Chicago, I cram," she said. "Some weeks I have great success at being well-apprised and others just not at all."

The comic does have a theory on how her fellow panelists consistently achieve victory. "I do feel that the others cheat," she joked. "They were simply born into the world knowing more about current events than I, and if they want to play on that uneven playing field, I'm not going to be a bad sport about it."

Known for her off-kilter sensibility and razor-sharp wit, Paula Poundstone balances her radio duties with an active stand-up schedule. On Sunday, she brings her act to Newport News for a performance at the Ferguson Center for the Arts.

The youngest in her family, Poundstone was introduced to comedy quite young. "When the other kids went to school, my mother would make them breakfast and then she would go back to bed for an hour, so I was sort of baby-sat by television," she noted.

As fate and TV scheduling would have it, that hour spent watching the tube would play a pivotal role in Poundstone's development. "My relationship with the Three Stooges started very early," she said. "I've seen each episode literally hundreds of times."

Clearly, Larry, Moe and Curly made a big impression.

 "I have a very silly sense of humor," admitted the 52-year- old funnywoman. "I've never laughed harder in my entire life than seeing someone with toilet paper stuck on the bottom of their shoe. I do love clever and witty, but I think that the Three Stooges were geniuses."

By age 19, Poundstone was a regular on the comedy club circuit. She's since hosted her own TV show, written a comedic memoir, won an Emmy award and two Cable Ace awards.
As achievements go, it adds up to a pretty nice resume, but Poundstone says an honor bestowed to her several years ago remains a personal favorite.

"A while back, the Chicago Tribune did an article on the history of the Pop-Tart, and my face was pictured on the timeline. I am very proud of it. I had it laminated, and it's hanging on my office wall."
The comic's relationship with the toasted pastry is one of her best-known gags. She attributes her love of them to a self-diagnosed "riboflavin deficiency." Just don't get her started on Pop-Tarts' ever-changing packaging.

 "They keep adjusting the toasting directions," she explained."The truth is, the way you toast a Pop-Tart has not changed since they were invented, but they keep changing the way they articulate it. It's like, 'How else can we say, remove the pastry from the pouch?' It must be coming from their legal department. That would be the only reason to keep investing that kind of money in retooling the packaging. My guess is they're being sued over yet another facial disfiguration from someone who looked into the toaster while the packaging was still on and it burst into flames."

Observational humor about life's little absurdities has long been Poundstone's trademark. Take, for instance, her view on the tendency of TV meteorologists to report outside during inclement conditions.
 "Why would you want to get the weather from someone who's not smart enough to come inside from a rainstorm?" she joked.

Poundstone's home life has also provided the Comedy Hall of Fame inductee with plenty of fodder. The mother of three is also the caretaker of two dogs and 16 cats. Her felines' foibles are well documented.

"My old assistant did not like animals, and she was always bellyaching about my cats," Poundstone said. "Finally I said to her, those cats have written half of my act, so get over it - you pretty much work for those cats."

River City Gang- Virginian-Pilot Newspaper

Sam Hayes' life might have turned out much differently if his mother hadn't been such a stickler for diversity.
"When I was young, I wanted to be an orthodontist," revealed the Yorktown native. "But my mom wanted me to be a well-rounded individual, so she made me do sports and music."

When Hayes discovered a knack for the latter, a career in dentistry didn't seem quite so interesting. By the time he graduated from York County's Tabb High School in 2005, music had become a full-blown passion.

"I don't think my mother ever thought I would take it this far, to be honest with you," said Hayes.

Music has carried him south to Nashville, as the frontman for the country music trio River City Gang, which plays at Norfolk Harborfest on Saturday. The band was named after Richmond, known as River City, and Hayes says his Virginia roots run deep.

"My family has lived in Yorktown for three generations, and I'm proud to call it my hometown. The reason the band is based in Nashville is really to get more connections to pursue the dream."

For Hayes, that journey began by playing open mic nights while he was still in high school. At 19, he got his first big break opening for country musician David Allan Coe at The NorVa.

"It really lit a fire in me," said Hayes of performing in front of the sold-out crowd. A year later the musician was among the performers at a country music festival in Charlottesville, where he met superstar Tim McGraw.

"I got to hang out with him backstage and talk with him for a while," Hayes said.

Later that night, he was in the front row for McGraw's set when the headliner told the audience that he wanted to invite his new friend Sam onstage to sing with him.

"I swore he wasn't talking about me, so I just froze," Hayes said with a laugh. "Next thing you know, 15,000 people were staring at me. After the show it took me about an hour to come back down to earth."

Although his budding career looked promising, the musician was paying bills by stacking wood at a lumberyard in Yorktown.

"I was literally standing on a pile of wood when I got a call from Nashville," Hayes said.
On the other end of the line was Rusty Harmon, former manager of Hootie & the Blowfish and a Nashville insider. It seems as though the demo that Hayes had given McGraw's management had made its way into the hands of executives at the Universal Music Publishing Group.
Harmon was enlisted to persuade Hayes to come onboard as a songwriter.

"I was blown away," said the musician. "People don't get an invitation to come to Nashville and then say no."

Hayes packed his bags, and his career has been growing steadily ever since. His songwriting stint was followed by a touring gig as an opening act for Tracy Lawrence.

"I spent a year and a half with him, living on a tour bus and learning the ins and outs of the music business," said Hayes.

In 2010, the musician met Richmond native Brian Friedman, the guitarist and founder of the River City Gang. They became fast friends, and when the Gang's singer departed a year later, Hayes took over the spot. The trio, which also includes bassist David Karns, released their first single, "This Old Town," last year.

Perhaps no song represents the band's spirit better than "Born in Virginia."

 

"It has a lot of meaning for me," Hayes said. "The chorus goes, 'I was born in Virginia where the river splits the sea, and if my prayers are answered, that's where they'll bury me.' That pretty much says it all."