Dwight Yoakam

May, 1986

Paula Poundstone remembers her childhood well. "Some people found me amusing," she recalls. "Some found me annoying." Such reactions made the choice of a career seem clear. And now, at 26, Poundstone is one of the most-talked-about comediennes on the club-and-college circuit. Robin Williams tells interviewers she's destined for stardom, and David Letterman has brought her back four times.Poundstone's inventive wit is sometimes acidic, a product, she claims, of a troubled chil...