Paula Poundstone bring her stand-up comedy to Sarasota

It's her second interview of the morning, and Paula Poundstone is still in her jammies.

"I'm lying on the floor of my bedroom, because that's where I sleep," she said in a phone interview.

The comedian known for her likeable but acerbic wit will be in Sarasota this weekend for a stand-up performance at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.

In conversation, Poundstone hints she's lazy. She loves her regular appearances on NPR's, "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me," she said, but there's a problem.

"Oh, it's fun," she said. "I get to sit there and make wisecracks for a couple of hours and no one stops me. It's fun, that is, until I actually have to get up and go there. It's that horrible E-word. Effort."

She's just finished writing a new book. To most people that would be an accomplishment. Poundstone chides her self for taking so long.

"I've been working on this book forever" she said. "My first book took me nine years to write. I thought that if I wrote another book it'd be a quick process, but it took me seven years."

The book's called, "The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness." She finished it so recently no release date is set. It chronicles her experiences conducting a series of life exercises that, according some expert or another, are supposed to lead to a happier life.

"They might have made me happy," Poundstone said, "if I didn't have to write about them."

Flying to Chicago every few weeks for "Wait, Wait" is an unpleasant amount of effort, she said, but writing is a shore she finds especially loathsome.

"I only write," she said, "because if I bang my head against the wall it might chip the paint."

Now that she's done, she said, she's pretty happy with the book.

"It's a funny book, that's the good news," she said. "I sent it to Lily Tomlin, who just got back to me and she said she liked it."

Her stand-up comedy audiences will see in Sarasota is partly scripted but largely improvised.

"I talk about living in my house full of animals and children," she said. "And I talk about staying well-read enough to cast an informed vote. But a lot of it is just talking to people in the audience, talking to them about where they're from and things like that. So about a third of the show is unique to that night."

She make poke fun at the audience members but, unlike some other comedians she's never mean and they never seem embarrassed.

"They come up to me after the show, because I always do a little meet and greet, and they always thank me and they want a picture or something to remember the experience," se said. "So I guess they enjoy it."

Details: 7 p.m. April 17, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets: $20-$45. Information: 941-953-3368, vanwezel.org.

Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.

This story was originally published April 15, 2016 at 8:36 PM with the headline "Paula Poundstone bring her stand-up comedy to Sarasota ."