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Varietopia with Paul F. Tompkins comes to The Egg on 6/2

Varietopia Tour Poster 2025
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Have you ever had that thing happen where you know a performer’s resume so well that you’re paralyzed by the options unspooling in your memory when you try to explain who they are to someone who doesn’t know them by name?

That’s what happened to me when I started to write this introduction for my interview with Paul F. Tompkins.

He was the host of “Best Week Ever” when I was in college and had cable for the first time. WAMC’s News Director Ian Pickus and I have a joke that I majored in VH1. PFT was also on - and wrote for - “Mr. Show with Bob and David” on HBO. He has hosted, co-hosted, and regularly guests on many comedy podcasts to which I subscribe. (Send me an email (sladuke@wamc.org) if you want me to start listing comedy podcasts at you - it’s not an experience that feels fair to impose on the uninterested. Please trust that I know this from experience.)

Tompkins is an fantastic improviser and performer. He's also an excellent voice-actor who lends his talents to many animated series - including voicing Mr. Peanutbutter on the incredible Netflix series “BoJack Horseman.”

Paul F. Tompkins is bringing his VarieTOURpia - which is not a clumsy portmanteau - to The Egg in Albany, New York on Monday, June 2 at 7:30pm.

Paul F. Tompkins as J.W. Stillwater in a Varietopia performance at The Bell House in Brooklyn (2024)
Sarah LaDuke
/
WAMC
Paul F. Tompkins as J.W. Stillwater in a Varietopia performance at The Bell House in Brooklyn (2024)

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Sarah has worked in public radio since 2006. She grew up in Saranac Lake, New York where she worked part-time at Pendragon Theatre all through high school and college. She graduated from UAlbany in 2006 with a BA in English and started at WAMC a few weeks later as a part-time board-op in the control room. Through a series of offered and seized opportunities she is now the Senior Contributing Producer of The Roundtable and Producer of The Book Show. During the main thrust of the Covid-19 pandemic shut-down, Sarah hosted a live Instagram interview program "A Face for Radio Video Series." On it, Sarah spoke with actors, musicians, comedians, and artists about the creative activities they were accomplishing and/or missing. She is on the board of WAM Theatre and lives in Albany, New York with her husband, Paul, and their dog, Doritos.
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