 Garrison Keillor (left) with other performers onA Prairie Home Companion inLanesboro, Minnesota, 2007 | |
| Genre | Comedy–music variety |
|---|---|
| Running time | 2 hours |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | Minnesota Public Radio |
| Syndicates | American Public Media |
| Starring | Garrison Keillor (1974–1987, 1992–2016) Sue Scott Tim Russell Fred Newman |
| Produced by | Garrison Keillor |
| Original release | July 6, 1974 – September 2, 2016 |
| Opening theme | Tishomingo Blues |
| Website | prairiehome |
A Prairie Home Companion was a weekly radiovariety show created and hosted byGarrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musicianChris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamedLive from Here and ran until 2020.A Prairie Home Companion aired on Saturdays from theFitzgerald Theater inSaint Paul, Minnesota; it was also frequently heard on tours toNew York City and other U.S. cities. The show is known for its musical guests, especiallyfolk and traditional musicians, tongue-in-cheek radio drama, and relaxed humor. Keillor's wry storytelling segment, "News from Lake Wobegon," was the show's best-known feature during his long tenure.
Distributed byMinnesota Public Radio's distribution arm,American Public Media,A Prairie Home Companion was heard on 690public radio stations in the United States at its peak in spring 2015 and reached an audience of four million U.S. listeners each week.[1] The show borrowed its name from a radio program in existence in 1969 that was named after thePrairie Home Cemetery nearConcordia College, inMoorhead, Minnesota.[2] It inspired a 2006film of the same name, written by and featuring Keillor.
The Saturday-evening show was a partial spin-off ofA Prairie Home Morning Show with Keillor andTom Keith, which ran from 6 to 9 a.m. onMinnesota Public Radio and was continued by Keith and Dale Connelly for many years asThe Morning Show.
After researching theGrand Ole Opry for an article, Keillor became interested in doing a variety show on the radio. On July 6, 1974, the first live broadcast ofA Prairie Home Companion took place onMinnesota Public Radio. That show was broadcast from St. Paul in the Janet Wallace Auditorium ofMacalester College. Twelve audience members turned out, mostly children.[3] The second episode featured the first performance on the show byButch Thompson, who became house pianist. Thompson stayed with the program until 1986 and frequently performed on the show until its 2016 conclusion.
In 1978, the show moved into the World Theater in St. Paul, which Minnesota Public Radio purchased and renovated in 1986 and renamed theFitzgerald Theater in 1994. This is the same venue the program used to the end of its run.
A Prairie Home Companion began national distribution in May 1980.[4] BecauseNational Public Radio (NPR) rejected the show due to its presidentFrank Mankiewicz perceiving the show as too expensive and insulting towards small towns, the show was initially distributed through a public radio satellite system that had been completed by June 1980 and allowed NPR member stations to distribute programs outside the NPR network.[4] In 1983, Minnesota Public Radio president William Kling started a new company to distributeA Prairie Home Companion called American Public Radio, which would later be renamedPublic Radio International in 1994.[4][5]
The show went off the air in 1987, with a "final performance" on June 13, and Keillor married and spent some time abroad during the following two years. For a brief time, the show was replaced — both on the air and in the World Theater — byGood Evening, hosted byNoah Adams, a live variety show designed by ex-Prairie Home andAll Things Considered staffers to retain the audience Keillor had cultivated over the years. However, many stations opted instead to continueAPHC repeats in its traditional Saturday time slot.[6]
In 1989, Keillor returned to radio withThe American Radio Company of the Air (renamedGarrison Keillor's American Radio Company in its second season), broadcast originally from theBrooklyn Academy of Music. The new program featured a broadly similar format toA Prairie Home Companion, with sketches and musical guests reflecting a more New York sensibility, rather than the country and folk music predominant inAPHC. Also, while Keillor sang and delivered a regular monologue onAmerican Radio Company, Lake Wobegon was initially downplayed, as he felt it was "cruel" to talk to aBrooklyn audience about life in a small town. During this period, Keillor revived the fullAPHC format only for "annual farewell performances." In the fall of 1992, Keillor returned to the Fitzgerald Theater withARC for the majority of the season, with Lake Wobegon and otherAPHC elements gradually but unmistakably returning to prominence.
The following year, on October 2, 1993, the program officially reverted to theA Prairie Home Companion name and format.[7]
The show was originally distributed nationally by Minnesota Public Radio in association with Public Radio International. Later, its distributor was Minnesota Public Radio's distribution unit, American Public Media.[8]
SingerSara Watkins of San Diego, California, hosted the January 15, 2011, broadcast. The format was the same, but Keillor appeared only as a guest actor and to deliver the "News from Lake Wobegon". He claimed he had taken the chance to see the show being performed for himself. It was reported that this could be the beginning of a trend toward Keillor's eventual retirement,[9] and on March 16, 2011, Keillor stated in an interview with theAARP that he would most likely retire from the show by the time he turned 70 in August 2012.[10]
In September 2011, Keillor toldThe Tuscaloosa News that his last broadcast would be recorded in "early July 2013", and that instead of a permanent replacement host, there would be "a whole group of people. A rotation of hosts",[11] but in December 2011 Keillor said he had changed his mind and reconsidered his plans to retire because he still enjoyed hosting the show.[citation needed]
On February 7 and 14, 2015, mandolinistChris Thile hosted the show (like Sara Watkins, a member ofNickel Creek). As when Watkins hosted, the format remained largely unchanged, but Keillor did not make an appearance. Instead, storyteller Tristan Jimerson appeared on the February 7 show and comedienne/storytellerElna Baker on the February 14 show. Thile's bandPunch Brothers performed on the February 7 show.[12] Thile was named permanent host of the show in late June 2015, and took over as permanent host on October 15, 2016.[13][14]
When Keillor formally announced his departure fromAPHC at the show's airing on July 21, 2015, he indicated that Thile would succeed him as permanent host in 2016.[15] Keillor recorded his final regular episode as host live at theHollywood Bowl before an audience of 18,000, on July 1, 2016; it was aired on the following day.[16] The episode was titled"Sumus Quod Sumus" (Latin for 'We are what we are'),[17] and was a vocal duet show of "time-honored American ballads, British Invasion romps, country-western weepers, and Broadway classics," guest-starringSara Watkins,Sarah Jarosz,Aoife O'Donovan,Heather Masse, and Christine DiGiallonardo, alongside the "Royal Academy of Radio Actors,"Tim Russell,Sue Scott, andFred Newman, and theAPHC band, with music director and pianist Rich Dworsky and Bernie Dresel (drums), Larry Kohut (bass), Richard Kriehn (mandolin and fiddle), and Chris Siebold (guitar).[18]
Barack Obama recorded a telephone call into the show, which ran on the Saturday broadcast,[16] and Keillor performed his last "Lives of the Cowboys" sketch as regular host,[16] with regulars Scott, Russell, and Newman, and including a series of duets with the guests Masse, O'Donovan, Jarosz, DiGiallonardo, and Watkins.[19]
While the July 2 Hollywood Bowl performance was the last regular episode ofA Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor also hosted a final live performance titled "The Minnesota Show" at the Minnesota State Fair on September 2, 2016, including the last-ever "Guy Noir" and "News from Lake Wobegon" segments.[20]
Since his departure from the radio show, Keillor has continued to tour with his stage show also calledA Prairie Home Companion.[21][22]
On November 29, 2017, Minnesota Public Radio terminated its contract with Keillor because of "allegations of his inappropriate behavior with an individual who worked with him."[23][24][25] Because Keillor still owned artistic rights and the trademark to the show's name, MPR also announced that it would change the name.[26] After two episodes under the placeholder nameThe Show with Chris Thile, the new title was announced asLive from Here live on the December 16, 2017, broadcast of the show.[27] MPR also announced it would cease distributing reruns ofA Prairie Home Companion featuring Keillor.[28] Keillor stated he had been "fired" from MPR, but he had technically not been employed by MPR/APM since 2002, working instead as an independent contractor.[29] When it was announced in 2019 thatLive from Here was going to be based in and broadcast out of New York City, many Minnesotan fans publicly complained that the radio show was losing its Midwestern style.[30]Live from Here was canceled in 2020.[31]
On April 13, 2018, Minnesota Public Radio posted a message stating its intent to reinstate the free online archives ofA Prairie Home Companion andThe Writer's Almanac.[32] The portion of the PrairieHome.org website containing the archives was restored later in the year.
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From the show's inception until 1987, its theme song wasHank Snow's hit "Hello Love".[33] After 1987, each show has opened withSpencer Williams' composition "Tishomingo Blues" as the theme song, with lyrics by Garrison Keillor[34] written especially forA Prairie Home Companion.[35]
Music was a main feature of the program; the show was a significant outlet forAmerican folk music of many genres, especiallycountry,bluegrass,blues, andgospel, but it also had guest performers from a wide variety of other styles of music, including classical, opera, and music from a number of different countries. The country musician and former record company executiveChet Atkins appeared on the show many times, as did singer-songwritersMark Knopfler (lead guitarist andfrontman of the bandsDire Straits and theNotting Hillbillies) andJeff Lang. Folk/gospel duoRobin and Linda Williams had been regular guests since 1976, and often join Keillor and another female performer, often Jearlyn Steele, to form "The Hopeful Gospel Quartet".Peter Ostroushko,Greg Brown,Jean Redpath, andPrudence Johnson, among others, were recurring guests on the program between 1974 and 1987. TheWailin' Jennys and Andra Suchy were also recurring guests, and when the show travelled, Keillor generally featured local musicians and acts.
Greetings from members of the audience to friends and family at home (frequently humorous) were read each week by Keillor just after the show'sintermission, at the top of the second hour. Birthdays and anniversaries of famous composers and musicians were also observed.
Keillor and the ensemble performed comedyskits. Notable skits and characters often recur, such as the satirical "Guy Noir,Private Eye", which parodiedfilm noir andradio dramas. Guy Noir's popularity was such that the first few notes of the theme or the first lines of the announcer's introduction ("A dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets ...") often drew applause and cheers from the audience. Also regularly featured were the adventures of Dusty and Lefty, "The Lives of the Cowboys".
One of the show's best-known features was Keillor's "News from Lake Wobegon", a weekly storytelling monologue, claiming to be a report from his fictitious hometown ofLake Wobegon, "the little town that time forgot and the decades cannot improve ... where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average". The opening words of themonologue usually did not change: "Well, it's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, my hometown, out on the edge of theprairie." Keillor often poked fun at central Minnesota's largeScandinavian-American andGerman-American communities, and many of his fictional characters have names that reflect this. The "News from Lake Wobegon" did not have a set structure, but featured recurring characters and places such as the Chatterbox Café, the Sidetrack Tap, Pastor Ingqvist of the Lake WobegonLutheran Church and his successor Pastor Liz, Father Emil of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility Roman Catholic Church (a parody ofOur Mother of Perpetual Help), the Lake WobegonWhippets sports teams, various members of the Bunsen and Krebsbach families, and an assortment of nearby "Norwegian bachelor farmers".
In-jokes are sprinkled through the show, such as "Piscacadawadaquoddymoggin", a made-up word that's been used both for places and for people's names. The components of this made-up word are portions ofNative American place names in the New England region of the United States, most of them in Maine (i.e.: Piscataqua, Passamaquoddy, and Androscoggin).
Once a year the program featured a special "joke show", which generally included the Lake Wobegon monologue and musical acts, but with other skits replaced by the performers taking turns telling jokes. Humorists such asPaula Poundstone andRoy Blount Jr. often made guest appearances on those shows, and listeners and audience members were encouraged to submit jokes for use on the air. Portions of such shows were incorporated into a book[36] andCDs.[37]
The show creates advertisements for fictional products, performed in the style of live old-time radio commercials. The show acknowledges its actualunderwriters at the beginning, end, and middle (break) of the show.
Prairie Home's most prominent "sponsor" is the fictitious "Powdermilk Biscuits". Before he and the band performed the product's jingle every week ("Has your family tried 'em, Powdermilk?"),Garrison Keillor would extol Powdermilk's virtues in this way:
Heavens they're tasty, and expeditious. Give shy persons the strength they need to get up and do what needs to be done. Made from whole wheat raised by Norwegian bachelor farmers, so you know they're not only good for you, they're pure, mostly. Get 'em in the bright blue box with a picture of a biscuit on the front, or ready-made in the brown bag with the dark stains that indicate freshness.[38]
Among its other "sponsors", Bebop-A-ReebopRhubarb Pie (and Frozen Rhubarb Pie Filling) has been prominent, with ads featuring the Bebop-A-Reebop jingle, performed to the tune of "Shortnin' Bread":
One little thing can revive a guy
And that is a piece of rhubarb pie
Serve it up, nice and hot
Maybe things aren't as bad as you thought
Momma's little baby loves rhubarb, rhubarb
Bebopareebop rhubarb pie.[39]
The jingle is usually sung after a bombastic, sound-effect-enhanced tale of woe, and is immediately followed by Keillor asking, "Wouldn't this be a great time for a piece of rhubarb pie? Yes, nothing gets the taste of shame and humiliation out of your mouth quite like Bebop-A-Reebop Rhubarb Pie."[39][better source needed]
Another prominent "sponsor" is Bertha's Kitty Boutique, whose locations in the fictional "Dales" shopping centers ("Roy 'n'Dale,Airedale, Teasdale,Clydesdale,Chippendale,Mondale, and all the other fine shopping centers") allude to various real people and things, while also parodying Minnesota's similarly named real-life malls (Southdale,Brookdale,Rosedale, andRidgedale). Additionally, there is The Catchup Advisory Board—its name a portmanteau of the common "catsup" and "ketchup" spellings—which has the tagline "Catchup: For the good times."[40]
Other "sponsors" have included:
In addition, the recurring segment "The Lives of the Cowboys" featured its own Western-themed sponsors, including Prairie Dog Granola Bars ("healthier than chewing tobacco and you don't have to spit") and Cowboy Toothpicks ("the toothpick that's guaranteed not to splinter").
This was primarily aradio comedy program. Some of it was devoted to the sentimental. Other stories put together by Keillor and others, depicted tragedies. Occasionally political satire could be found in some episodes. Other occasions marked current events.
When Minnesota leaderPaul Wellstone's end came in a 2002 airplane crash, Mr. Keillor rewrote a portion of that program revolving around Senator Wellstone.[42][43]
Mentions during a 2004 show regarded the passing of President Reagan.[44][45][46]
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Regularly appearing actors includedTim Russell (beginning in 1994[47]) andSue Scott (beginning in 1989[47]). When the show resumed asThe American Radio Company of the Air in November 1989, radio comedianBob Elliott, half of the longtime radio and comedy television duoBob and Ray, became a regular cast member.[48] Actor Bill Perry was a member.Walter Bobbie made frequent appearances, as early as 1989, and continuing through 2006–2007.[47][49][50]Ivy Austin was a regular contributing comedienne (and vocalist) in the early '90s.Allison Janney also appeared regularly in the mid 1990s.Prudence Johnson has performed frequently on the show as an actress (and a singer). Mark Benninghofer joined the cast as a substitute actor for a brief time after Russell broke his ankle in February 2009, forcing him to take a month of medical leave.Erica Rhodes had been an occasional guest on the show, beginning in 1996 when she was 10 years old. Serena Brook joined the cast in October 2016 whenChris Thile became host.
The sound effects artists on the show,Tom Keith andFred Newman, primarily used mouth sounds for their effects, supplemented by props. Keith engineered the first two seasons of the show and then joined the cast. He performed on most shows until 2001. He retired doing his weekday morning radio show in 2008, but continued performing on Prairie Home broadcasts from the Fitzgerald Theater and other regional locations. He continued working on A Prairie home Companion until his death in 2011.[51] Newman eventually took over full-time after Keith passed away.[52]
Regular musicians in Guy's All-Star Shoe Band include Richard Dworsky, acomposer who appeared weekly as pianist, bandleader, and music director,Gary Raynor on bass and bass guitar, Peter Johnson on percussion,Jevetta Steele on vocals, andAndy Stein on violin, tenor and bass saxophones, and vocals.[53] When the Shoe Band had a horn section, Keillor referred to them as the Shoe Horns.
Other frequent, occasional, former, or one-time musicians on the show include:
Released on June 9, 2006,A Prairie Home Companion is a film about "a dying radio show that bears striking similarities to 'A Prairie Home Companion,'" with the actualAPHC home venue, the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul chosen to serve "asset piece,soundstage andframing device".[56] The film was written by Garrison Keillor and directed byRobert Altman, and shot digitally, with camera by Altman's son,Robert Altman Jr.; the film stars Keillor,Meryl Streep,Tommy Lee Jones,Lily Tomlin,Kevin Kline,John C. Reilly,Lindsay Lohan,Maya Rudolph,Woody Harrelson,Virginia Madsen, andL.Q. Jones.[56]APHC regular Rich Dworsky appears as the bandleader,[57] and served as the film's pianist, conductor, arranger, and composer. The film depicts the titular radio program'sbehind-the-scenes activities, and the relational dynamics within the cast over its anticipated, imminent cancellation. The antagonist, Axeman, "who has come to shut the show down", is played by Tommy Lee Jones.[56] As described in a 2005 on-set piece by David Carr forThe New York Times, thefilm set's atmosphere had
a kind ofSpanky and Our Gang let's-put-on-a-show quality, withcrew,marquee talent and "Prairie Home" acolytes and extras mixing freely. Thedailies, the traditional day's-end look at finished footage, usually include[d] about 75 people, a vivid reminder ofMr. Altman's penchant for collaborative filmmaking. And because music is such an important part of the movie and the radio show, the set always seem[ed] to be lifted by the pluck of amandolin or a three-partharmony rehearsal.[56]
The film, which makes no reference to Lake Wobegon,[57] is offeature length,[58] with its financing provided by GreeneStreet Films,River Road Entertainment, and local Minnesota sources.[56] Its award nominations (2006, unless noted) include theBerlin International Film Festival-Golden Bear award for best film, theNational Association of Film Critics-Bodil Award for Best American Film, theFilm Independent (film association)Independent Spirit Award for Best Director, theChicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay, theInternational Press Academy-Satellite Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, theIndependent Filmmaker Project-Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Performance, theBroadcast Film Critics Association-Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Cast, and theCasting Society of America-Artios Award for Best Casting for Feature Film (Comedy); its wins include theYomiuri Shimbun (film association)Hochi Film Award (2007) for Best Foreign Film.[59] In addition, Meryl Streep was nominated for anInternational Press Academy-Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress (Motion Picture),[verification needed] and won theNational Society of Film Critics Award for the same category.[verification needed][59][better source needed][60]
[Quote:] hosted by Garrison Keillor, Show #1557, July 1, 2016, Rebroadcast from July 2, 2016
Wellstone was dead, the state was reeling, a memorial service hadn't yet divided the state, and in many ways, Keillor had the task of being Minnesota's consoler-in-chief.
Garrison Keillor commemorated Wellstone in his nationally syndicated public radio program with these words: 'Paul Wellstone identified passionately with people at the bottom, people in trouble, people in the rough. He was an old-fashioned Democrat who felt more at home with the rank and file than with the rich and famous.'
When Garrison Keillor announced President Reagan's death on his publicly funded radio program, there was cheering in the audience. One Democratic Web site headlined a story on Reagan's death: "Bedtime for Bonzo."
The same holds true of politics. On one of his shows he announced the death of President Ronald Reagan. While some in the audience cheered, Keillor quietly sang a hymn in honor of the late president.
Opening his weekly national radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor said Reagan was "a great man who befuddled us old liberals for years, mainly his great, shining charm, which never ever failed him".
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