Comedian Paula Poundstone, known for wearing baggy suits and neckties while delivering clever one-liners about politics and life in general will be gracing the stage at Loveland's Rialto Theater on Saturday.

Poundstone started back on the comedy circuit in June after the COVID-19 stay at home order put the breaks on her travel schedule.

"I feel like I am up and running; it's good, it's great," she said. "I'm not in charge of all the rules, but I certainly ask everyone to be vaccinated and masked. I look out at a sea of masks and I have to say, I can't speak for the audience, but I wear a mask to the airport or the theater until I go on stage, and it's not that challenging.

"The laughs are quite audible," she added.

Poundstone has noted that audience members are more excited to be out and about than bummed over having to wear masks.

"When I first come out, the applause is very big. It's just relief applause; it's not just applause for me, it's applause for all of us," she explained. "It's like 'here we are,' and even though the pandemic isn't over, we are back to being able to do some of the things we like to do."

Poundstone began her journey into comedy over 20 years ago, performing at open-mic nights around Boston.

"It was ruckus, it was a time. It wasn't humanity at its best," she said, laughing. "They were really like eat you up and spit you out kind of crowds. Probably because of the tone of the comics that were successful."

However, when she relocated to San Francisco, Poundstone fell in love with the people and the city.

"I was 'oh. Oh, it can be like this,' and it was so much easier and so much fun," Poundstone said. "The thing about the San Francisco crowd was, the people the went to the open-mics, they seemed to delight in getting in on the ground floor on something. So, if you were kind of unpolished and you decided to try something in this director or change directions, they were along for the ride. They liked the idea that what you were doing was not finished."

Poundstone, known for her witty observations about life and people, carries a pen and notepad with her to write down things she sees for possible fodder for her act.

"Usually it's just an inkling of something and I just throw it in somewhere in the mix of a night," Poundstone said. "The hardest thing for me is just remembering it. That's not easy. Sometimes I go back to my notebook and think 'dammit, I didn't try that thing'."

The comedian describes the style of her show  as "like when you go to a party."

"You arrive and you talk about how difficult it was to get there with the traffic and the parking and how you got lost.  And then you chat about current events for a few minutes," Poundstone said. "And then somebody says 'oh, tell that story you told before,' and then somebody on the other side of the room spills a drink and you mock them."

Poundstone's favorite part of her show is when she gets to talk with audience members — the classic "where are you from," "what do you do," "who are you with" questions.

"I use that to set my sails and the reason I came to doing that is that I always have had the worst memory," she said. "So somebody will say something that reminds me of something and I will tell this story that somehow relates to what someone just said."

The process is makes Poundstone's show unique —with different audiences in different cities comes different answers and stories.

Despite the rise of "cancel culture" and the possibility of offending someone in the audience, nothing is really off-limits in Poundstone's show.

"I started out in Boston as a comic. Boston comics were not gentile. They were very misogynist, it was very homophobic, it was very racist…and we all laughed," Poundstone said. "When I arrived in San Francisco, one of the things I began to notice is that most of the comics made gay jokes, not all, but most."

Seeing the different styles comics adopted, Poundstone wanted to create a show where people could come out and have fun and not be "the fodder" all of the time.

Knowing about the different cultures, sexual orientations and other aspects of communities allows Poundstone to make a joke that "comes from a different place."

"I have no desire to make people miserable," the comedian commented.

When not performing in clubs and theaters, Poundstone keeps busy with her podcast, "Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone," and as a regular panelist on NPR's comedy news quiz, "Wait Wait…Don't Tell Me!"

Poundstone recently released a new album, "Paula Poundstone Goes to College (One Night Only)," which is available on streaming music platforms like iTunes and Spotify.

In addition to her comedy, Poundstone would like to get dip her toe into directing as well as write a novel and a screenplay.

"I am a standup comic," Poundstone quipped. "It doesn't matter what other little pursuit I may have at one time or another, I'm a standup comic forever…and a table busser, but still."

Tickets for Poundstone's show range from $42 to $57 per person depending on seat choice.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, go to www.rialtotheatercenter.org.