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A Prairie Home Companion

A Prairie Home Companion is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed Live from Here and ran until 2020. A Prairie Home Companion aired on Saturdays from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota; it was also frequently heard on tours to New York City and other U.S. cities. The show is known for its musical guests, especially folk 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.

A Prairie Home Companion
Garrison Keillor and the cast members of A Prairie Home Companion in Lanesboro, Minnesota (2007)
GenreComedy–music variety
Running time2 hours
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
Home stationMinnesota Public Radio
SyndicatesAmerican Public Media
StarringGarrison Keillor
(1974–1987, 1992–2016)
Sue Scott
Tim Russell
Fred Newman
Produced byGarrison Keillor
Original releaseJuly 6, 1974 – September 2, 2016
Opening themeTishomingo Blues
Websiteprairiehome.org

Distributed by Minnesota Public Radio's distribution arm, American Public Media, A Prairie Home Companion was heard on 690 public 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 the Prairie Home Cemetery near Concordia College, in Moorhead, Minnesota.[2] It inspired a 2006 film of the same name, written by and featuring Keillor.

History

Origin

The Saturday-evening show was a partial spin-off of A Prairie Home Morning Show with Keillor and Tom Keith, which ran from 6 to 9 a.m. on Minnesota Public Radio and was continued by Keith and Dale Connelly for many years as The Morning Show.

After researching the Grand Ole Opry for an article, Keillor became interested in doing a variety show on the radio. On July 6, 1974, the first live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion took place on Minnesota Public Radio. That show was broadcast from St. Paul in the Janet Wallace Auditorium of Macalester College. Twelve audience members turned out, mostly children.[3] The second episode featured the first performance on the show by Butch 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 the Fitzgerald Theater in 1994. This is the same venue the program used to the end.

A Prairie Home Companion began national distribution in May 1980.[4] Because National Public Radio (NPR) rejected the show due to its president Frank 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 distribute A Prairie Home Companion called American Public Radio, which would later be renamed Public Radio International in 1994.[4][5]

Hiatus

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—by Good Evening, hosted by Noah Adams, a live variety show designed by ex-Prairie Home and All Things Considered staffers to retain the audience Keillor had cultivated over the years. However, many stations opted instead to continue APHC repeats in its traditional Saturday time slot.[6]

In 1989, Keillor returned to radio with The American Radio Company of the Air (renamed Garrison Keillor's American Radio Company in its second season), broadcast originally from the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The new program featured a broadly similar format to A Prairie Home Companion, with sketches and musical guests reflecting a more New York sensibility, rather than the country and folk music predominant in APHC. Also, while Keillor sang and delivered a regular monologue on American Radio Company, Lake Wobegon was initially downplayed, as he felt it was "cruel" to talk to a Brooklyn audience about life in a small town. During this period, Keillor revived the full APHC format only for "annual farewell performances." In the fall of 1992, Keillor returned to the Fitzgerald Theater with ARC for the majority of the season, with Lake Wobegon and other APHC elements gradually but unmistakably returning to prominence.

Return to broadcast

 
A Prairie Home Companion at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair

The following year, on October 2, 1993, the program officially reverted to the A 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]

Guest hosts

 
Chris Thile as guest host in 2016

Singer Sara 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 the AARP that he would most likely retire from the show by the time he turned 70 in August 2012.[10]

In September 2011, Keillor told The Tuscaloosa News that his last broadcast would be recorded in "early July 2013", and that instead of a permanent replacement host, there will 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, mandolinist Chris Thile hosted the show (like Sara Watkins, a member of Nickel 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/storyteller Elna Baker on the February 14 show. Thile's band Punch 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]

Keillor's departure

When Keillor formally announced his departure from APHC 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 the Hollywood 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-starring Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O'Donovan, Heather Masse, and Christine DiGiallonardo, alongside the "Royal Academy of Radio Actors," Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman, and the APHC 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 of A 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]

Name change

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."[21][22][23] Because Keillor still owned artistic rights and the trademark to the show's name, MPR also announced that it would change the name,[24] which was announced as Live from Here live on the December 16, 2017, broadcast of the show.[25] MPR also announced it would cease distributing reruns of A Prairie Home Companion featuring Keillor.[26] 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.[27] When it was announced in 2019 that Live 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.[28] Live from Here was canceled in 2020.[29]

Broadcast archives

On April 13, 2018, Minnesota Public Radio posted a message stating its intent to reinstate the free online archives of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac.[30] The portion of the PrairieHome.org website containing the archives was restored later in the year.

Format

 
On Air sign at the Fitzgerald Theater

From the show's inception until 1987, its theme song was Hank Snow's hit "Hello Love".[31] After 1987, each show has opened with Spencer Williams' composition "Tishomingo Blues" as the theme song, with lyrics by Garrison Keillor[32] that were written especially for A Prairie Home Companion.[33]

Music was a main feature of the program; the show was a significant outlet for American folk music of many genres, especially country, bluegrass, blues, and gospel, 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 executive Chet Atkins appeared on the show many times, as did singer-songwriters Mark Knopfler (lead guitarist and frontman of the bands Dire Straits and the Notting Hillbillies) and Jeff Lang. Folk/gospel duo Robin 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, and Prudence Johnson, among others, were recurring guests on the program between 1974 and 1987. The Wailin' 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's intermission, at the top of the second hour. Birthdays and anniversaries of famous composers and musicians were also observed.

Features

 
The Rhubarb Sisters singing during taping of the show

Keillor and the ensemble performed comedy skits. Notable skits and characters often recur, such as the satirical "Guy Noir, Private Eye", which parodied film noir and radio 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".

News from Lake Wobegon

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 of Lake 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 the monologue usually did not change: "Well, it's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, my hometown, out on the edge of the prairie." Keillor often poked fun at central Minnesota's large Scandinavian-American and German-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 Wobegon Lutheran Church and his successor Pastor Liz, Father Emil of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility Roman Catholic Church (a parody of Our Mother of Perpetual Help), the Lake Wobegon Whippets 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 of Native American place names in the New England region of the United States, most of them in Maine (i.e.: Piscataqua, Passamaquoddy, and Androscoggin).

Annual "Joke Show"

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 as Paula Poundstone and Roy 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[34] and CDs.[35]

Fictional sponsors

 
A sign for "Guy's Shoes", one of A Prairie Home Companion's fictitious sponsors

The show creates advertisements for fictional products, performed in the style of live old-time radio commercials. The show acknowledges its actual underwriters 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.[36]

Among its other "sponsors", Bebop-A-Reebop Rhubarb 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.[37]

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."[37][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, and Ridgedale). 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."[38]

Other "sponsors" have included:

  • Café Boeuf, a fictionally and exceptionally snobbish French restaurant in Lake Wobegon "where the elite meet to eat"[39]
  • Guy's Shoes—purveyor of Guy's All-Star Shoes, the Converse-like sponsor of the Shoe Band, which specializes in steel-toed shoes ("so even when you strike out [ping!] you can walk away")
  • The American Duct Tape Council
  • The American Society of Sound Effects Specialists
  • Bob's Bank ("Save at the sign of the sock", "Neither a borrower nor a lender be")
  • The Bon Marché Beauty Salon
  • Earl's Academy of Accents
  • The Fearmonger's Shop, a purveyor of security devices for the perpetually paranoid
  • The Federation of Associated Organizations
  • Fred Farrell Animal Calls
  • Fritz Electronics ("Where everything you need is on the Fritz"; a possible parody of Muntz Electronics)
  • Jack's Auto Repair and Jack's Warm Car Service ("All tracks lead to Jack's, where the bright shining lights show you the way to complete satisfaction")
  • Marvin and Mavis Smiley seasonal bluegrass albums
  • Midwestern Discount Store
  • Monback Moving & Storage, in which a mover can be heard directing a moving truck to back up (hence the name) while the truck's backup alarm can be heard beeping ("Monback ... Monback ... [crunch] That's good.")
  • Mournful Oatmeal, a parody of Quaker Oats ("Calvinism in a box")
  • The Professional Organization of English Majors (P.O.E.M.)
  • Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery ("If you can't find it at Ralph's, you can darn well get along without it")
  • Raw Bits breakfast cereal, a cereal for a select small target audience ("Oat hulls and wheat chaff—it's not for everybody")
  • Rent-a-Raptor ("Rid your home of mice, rabbits, squirrels, and pesky boyfriends")
  • The Sidetrack Tap

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").

Alterations

While much of the show is directed toward radio comedy, a portion is usually devoted to some more sentimental and sometimes dark stories put together by Keillor and others. The program occasionally also features political satire. At the beginning of the June 5, 2004, show (broadcast from Meadowbrook Musical Arts Center in Gilford, New Hampshire), Keillor announced that former U.S. President Ronald Reagan had died. A member of the audience hooted and cheered loudly, but Keillor, a staunch Democrat, gave the Republican Reagan a warm tribute in the form of a gospel song. Similarly, in a 2002 show airing the weekend after the death of Senator Paul Wellstone, Keillor changed the format of the show, starting it off with Wellstone's favorite segment, Guy Noir, skipping even the show's theme song.

Cast

 
Rich Dworsky playing piano on a live broadcast in 2015

Actors

Regularly appearing actors included Tim Russell (beginning in 1994[40]) and Sue Scott (beginning in 1989[40]). When the show resumed as The American Radio Company of the Air in November 1989, radio comedian Bob Elliott, half of the longtime radio and comedy television duo Bob and Ray, became a regular cast member.[41] Actor Bill Perry was a member. Walter Bobbie made frequent appearances, as early as 1989, and continuing through 2006–2007.[40][42][43] Ivy Austin was a regular contributing comedienne (and vocalist) in the early '90s. 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 when Chris Thile became host.

Sound effects artists

The sound effects artists on the show, Tom Keith and Fred 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, working until he retired in 2008.[44] Newman took over full-time after Keith left the show.[45]

Musicians

Regular musicians in Guy's All-Star Shoe Band include Richard Dworsky, a composer who appeared weekly as pianist, bandleader, and music director, Gary Raynor on bass and bass guitar, Peter Johnson on percussion, Jevetta Steele on vocals, and Andy Stein on violin, tenor and bass saxophones, and vocals.[46] 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:

Film

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 actual APHC home venue, the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul chosen to serve "as set piece, soundstage and framing device".[48] The film was written by Garrison Keillor and directed by Robert 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, and L.Q. Jones.[48] APHC regular Rich Dworsky appears as the bandleader,[49] and served as the film's pianist, conductor, arranger, and composer. The film depicts the unnamed radio program's behind-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.[48] As described in a 2005 on-set piece by David Carr for The New York Times, the film set's atmosphere had

a kind of Spanky and Our Gang let's-put-on-a-show quality, with crew, marquee talent and "Prairie Home" acolytes and extras mixing freely. The dailies, the traditional day's-end look at finished footage, usually include[d] about 75 people, a vivid reminder of Mr. 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 a mandolin or a three-part harmony rehearsal.[48]

The film, which makes no reference to Lake Wobegon,[49] is of feature length,[50] with its financing provided by GreeneStreet Films, River Road Entertainment, and local Minnesota sources.[48] Its award nominations (2006, unless noted) include the Berlin International Film Festival-Golden Bear award for best film, the National Association of Film Critics-Bodil Award for Best American Film, the Film Independent (film association) Independent Spirit Award for Best Director, the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay, the International Press Academy-Satellite Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, the Independent Filmmaker Project-Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Performance, the Broadcast Film Critics Association-Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Cast, and the Casting Society of America-Artios Award for Best Casting for Feature Film (Comedy); its wins include the Yomiuri Shimbun (film association) Hochi Film Award (2007) for Best Foreign Film.[51] In addition, Meryl Streep was nominated for an International Press Academy-Satellite Awards for Best Supporting Actress (Motion Picture),[verification needed] and won the National Society of Film Critics Awards for the same category.[verification needed][51][better source needed][52]

Books

  • Lake Wobegon Days (1985), Viking Press ISBN 978-0-67080-514-3
  • A Prairie Home Companion Pretty Good Joke Book (2015), 6th ed., HighBridge ISBN 978-1-62231-863-6

LP/CD releases

  • A Prairie Home Album [LP] (Minnesota Educational Radio)
  • "Tourists" [LP] (1983 PHC)
  • Pretty Good Jokes [2 CD] (2000, HighBridge Audio)
  • Garrison Keillor and the Hopeful Gospel Quartet (1992, Sony)
  • Prairie Home Comedy: Radio Songs & Sketches by Garrison Keillor (1988, HighBridge Company)
  • Lake Wobegon Loyalty Days (1993, EMI)
  • Garrison Keillor's Comedy Theater: More Songs and Sketches from A Prairie Home Companion [3 CD] (1996, HighBridge Company)
  • Horrors! A Scary Home Companion [2 CD] (1996, HighBridge Company)
  • A Prairie Home Companion Anniversary Album [2 LP] (1980, Minnesota Public Radio Inc.)
  • Shaking The Blues Away, Rob Fisher and The Coffee Club Orchestra with Garrison Keillor (1992, Angel Records in association with EMI Records Ltd.)
  • Pretty Good Bits From a Prairie Home Companion (2003)
  • A Prairie Home Companion: English Majors: A Comedy Collection for the Highly Literate [2 CD] (2008, HighBridge Company)
  • Church People: The Lutherans of Lake Wobegon (2009)

Stories from Lake Wobegon

  • Gospel Birds and Other Stories of Lake Wobegon (1985). Includes the stories "Pastor Ingqvist's Trip to Orlando", "Mammoth Concert Tickets", "Bruno, the Fishing Dog", "Gospel Birds", "Meeting Donny Hart at the Bus Stop", "A Day at the Circus with Mazumbo", "The Tolleruds' Korean Baby", "Sylvester Krueger's Desk", and "Babe Ruth visits Lake Wobegon".
  • News from Lake Wobegon (April 1990). Includes the stories "Me and Choir", "A Day in the Life of Clarence Bunsen", "Letter from Jim", "Fiction", "The Living Flag", "The Tollefson Boy Goes to College", "Tomato Butt", "Chamber of Commerce", "Dog Days of August", "Mrs. Berge and the Schubert Carillon Piano", "Giant Decoys", "Darryl Tollerud's Long Day", "Hog Slaughter", "Thanksgiving", "The Royal Family", "Guys on Ice", "James Lundeen's Christmas", "The Christmas Story Retold", "New Year's from New York", and "Storm Home".
  • More News from Lake Wobegon (April 1990). Includes the stories "Rotten Apples", "O Death", "The Wise Men", "A Trip to Grand Rapids", "Truck Stop", "Smokes", "The Perils of Spring", "Let Us Pray", "Alaska", "Uncle Al's Gift", "Skinny Dip", "Homecoming", "Pontoon Boat", "Author", "Freedom of the Press", and "Vick's".
  • Lake Wobegon USA (September 1993). Includes the stories "The Krebsbachs' Vacation", "Prophet", "The Six Labors of Father Wilmer", "Fertility", "Aunt Ellie", "Duke's 25th", "Job-Hunting", "You're Not the Only One", "Blue Devils", "Nostalgia", "O Christmas Tree", "Pageant", "Messy Shoes", "Rhubarb", "Sweet Corn", "The Sun's Gonna Shine Someday", and "Yellow Ribbon".
  • Summer (May 1997). Includes stories from disc 2 of News from Lake Wobegon.
  • Fall (October 1997). Includes stories from disc 3 of News from Lake Wobegon.
  • Winter (December 1997). Includes stories from disc 4 of News from Lake Wobegon.
  • Spring (April 1998). Includes stories from disc 1 of News from Lake Wobegon.
  • Life These Days (October 1998). Includes the stories "Gladys Hits A Raccoon", "The World's Largest Pile", "My Cousin Rose", "The Risk Takers", "Pastor Ingqvist at the Mall", "Hunting Stories", "Sorrows of January", "Clarence Cleans His Roof", "Miracle of the Pastor's Dog", "War of the Krebsbachs", "Graduation", and "Spring" (printed insert).
  • Mother Father Uncle Aunt (May 1998). Includes the stories "Ball Jars", "Love While you Dare To", "Saturday Morning in The Bon Marché", "Family Trip to Yellowstone", "The Flood", "Bob Anderson's Last Dance", "Children Will Break Your Heart", "Ronnie and The Winnebago", "Carl's Christmas Pageant", and "The Tombstone".
  • Humor (October 1998). Includes the stories "Skinny Dip", "Homecoming", "The Freedom of the Press", and "Vick's" from More News from Lake Wobegon.
  • Love (February 1999). Includes the stories "Truck Stop", "Uncle Al's Gift", "Rotten Apples", and "The Wise Men" from More News from Lake Wobegon.
  • Home on the Prairie (July 2003)
  • Never Better (2007)
  • Faith (April 2008). Includes stories from disc 1 of More News from Lake Wobegon.
  • Hope (April 2008). Includes stories from disc 2 of More News from Lake Wobegon.

References

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  6. ^ Bowermaster, Jon (December 13, 1987). "Fresh Voices Hope to Be Far From Wobegon". The New York Times.
  7. ^ Songer, Marcia (2000). Garrison Keillor: A Critical Companion. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 9–10. ISBN 0-313-30230-8.
  8. ^ . www.prairiehome.org. Archived from the original on December 2, 2016. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  9. ^ "The news from Lake Wobegon: more guest hosts likely | State of the Arts". Minnesota Public Radio News. January 15, 2011. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
  10. ^ Kaufmann, Carol (2011-03-16). Garrison Keillor Announces Retirement. AARP Bulletin. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  11. ^ Cobb, Mark Hughes (2011-09-09). 'Prairie Home Companion' tour comes to the Amp. The Tuscaloosa News. Page 5 of 5. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
  12. ^ Seel, Steve (February 7, 2015). "Musician Chris Thile subs for Keillor on APHC". Minnesota Public Radio News. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  13. ^ "Garrison Keillor hosts final A Prairie Home Companion episode". The Guardian. London. Associated Press. July 2, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  14. ^ Charlton, Lauretta. 'A Prairie Home Companion' Gets a New Host — and Maybe a Future. Vulture (June 30, 2015). Retrieved July 1, 2015.
  15. ^ Matthews, Cameron (July 21, 2015). "It's Official: Chris Thile to Become Full Time Host of 'A Prairie Home Companion'". thebluegrasssituation.com. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  16. ^ a b c AP Staff (July 2, 2016). "Garrison Keillor Hosts Final A Prairie Home Companion Episode". The Guardian. Retrieved November 30, 2016 – via Associated Press (AP).
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  18. ^ APM Staff (July 2, 2016). . PrairieHome.org. Archived from the original on January 2, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2016. [Quote:] hosted by Garrison Keillor, Show #1557, July 1, 2016, Rebroadcast from July 2, 2016
  19. ^ Keillor, Garrison; et al. (July 2, 2016). . PrairieHome.org. Archived from the original on January 2, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  20. ^ APM Staff (September 2, 2016). "The Minnesota Show". PrairieHome.org. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  21. ^ "Minnesota Public Radio". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  22. ^ Justin, Neal (November 29, 2017). "Garrison Keillor reportedly fired for improper behavior". Minneapolis Star Tribune.
  23. ^ Baenen, Jeff (November 29, 2017). "Garrison Keillor fired over alleged improper behavior". News and Record. Greensboro, NC. Associated Press. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  24. ^ Salam, Maya (November 29, 2017). "Minnesota Public Radio Fires Garrison Keillor Over Allegations of Improper Conduct". The New York Times.
  25. ^ "Live from Here: A Brief History". Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  26. ^ "Statement from Minnesota Public Radio Regarding Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion" (Press release). Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  27. ^ Staff, MPR News. "Keillor's conduct: What we know and don't know". Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  28. ^ Ross, Jenna (June 29, 2019). "'It's just kind of sad': Minnesota pride takes a hit as our radio shows move to New York". Star Tribune. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  29. ^ Wyllie, Julian. "APM/MPR eliminates 28 positions, ends 'Live From Here'". Current. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  30. ^ "MPR Reaches Agreement with Garrison Keillor to Restore Public Access to Online Archives", Minnesota Public Radio, retrieved April 13, 2018.
  31. ^ Sawyer, Bobbie Jean (September 12, 2016). "The Country Roots of 'A Prairie Home Companion'". Wide Open Country. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  32. ^ [1] Justin, Neal. Daher, Natalie. "Chris Thile addresses scandal around his 'Prairie Home' predecessor Garrison Keillor". Associated Press News online. December 2, 2017
  33. ^ Barton, Chris. "Garrison Keillor brings 'A Prairie Home Companion' to a close at the Hollywood Bowl". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  34. ^ A Prairie Home Companion Pretty Good Joke Book (2015), 6th ed., HighBridge ISBN 978-1-62231-863-6
  35. ^ A Prairie Home Companion Pretty Good Jokes Live! Audio CD – Audiobook, HighBridge
  36. ^ Lee, Judith Yaross (1991). Garrison Keillor: A Voice of America. Studies in Popular Culture. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. pp. 35, 85. ISBN 978-1617033995. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  37. ^ a b Keillor, Garrison; Tim Russell; Sue Scott & Fred Newman (February 14, 2004). "Rhubarb [Segment;A Prairie Home Companion, with Garrison Keillor]" (transcript). Saint Paul, MN: American Public Media. Retrieved November 30, 2016. [Contributing performer/writer names for this program were inferred by a Wikipedia editor from initials appearing in this source, based on regular cast information appearing elsewhere.]
  38. ^ Keillor, Garrison; Russell, Tim; Scott, Sue & Dworsky, Rich (February 4, 2012). "Catchup [Segment;A Prairie Home Companion, with Garrison Keillor]" (streaming video). Saint Paul, MN: American Public Media. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  39. ^ Keillor, Garrison; Russell, Tim (April 28, 2012). "Café Boeuf [Segment;A Prairie Home Companion, with Garrison Keillor]" (transcript). Saint Paul, MN: American Public Media. Retrieved November 30, 2016. [Contributing performer/writer names for this program were inferred by a Wikipedia editor from initials appearing in this source, based on regular cast information appearing elsewhere.]
  40. ^ a b c "25 Years of Pretty Good Radio: Timeline". Saint Paul, MN: American Public Media. 2000. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  41. ^ Kimble, Lindsay (February 3, 2016). "Comedian Bob Elliott—Father of Actor Chris Elliott and Grandfather to SNL Alumna Abby Elliot—Dies at 92". People. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  42. ^ "Best Direction of a Musical: Walter Bobbie". Playbill. June 1, 1997. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  43. ^ "Walter Bobbie: Credits". AllMusic. December 13, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  44. ^ Slotnik, Daniel E. (November 1, 2011). "Tom Keith, Creator of Radio Soundscapes, Dies at 64". The New York Times. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  45. ^ Boeni, Meg (June 12, 2013). "Mouthing Off: The Art of Prairie Home Companion's Fred Newman". Mental Floss. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  46. ^ . prairiehome.publicradio.org. American Public Media. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  47. ^ Collins, Bob. "The man who put the swing in our prairie home". NewsCut.
  48. ^ a b c d e Carr, David (July 23, 2005). "Lake Wobegon Goes Hollywood (or Is It Vice Versa?), With a Pretty Good Cast". The New York Times. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  49. ^ a b Kaufman, Peter (July 28, 2005). "Radio for the Eyes: Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor, Unlikely 'Prairie' Film Companions". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  50. ^ . Digital Film Cloud Network. December 8, 2016. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  51. ^ a b "A Prairie Home Companion (2006): Accolades & Awards". Digital Film Cloud Network. December 8, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  52. ^ The NSFC was awarded to Streep for her performances in this as well as in The Devil Wears Prada (2006).

Further reading

  • Kaufman, Peter (July 28, 2005). "Radio for the Eyes: Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor, Unlikely 'Prairie' Film Companions". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 8, 2016. A rich source, not yet fully tapped, for the article.
  • Eugene Hernandez; Brian Brooks (February 13, 2006). IndieWire.com. Archived from the original on June 11, 2006. Retrieved December 8, 2016. A rich source, not yet fully tapped, for the article.
  • . HollywoodBowl. June 2, 2006. Archived from the original on May 24, 2006. Retrieved December 8, 2016. Hollywood Bowl event site, for the Friday, June 2, 2006 of APHC with Garrison Keillor hosting special guests Kevin Kline, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, and Meryl Streep.
  • "Radio's enduring appeal". BBC News Magazine. January 4, 2007. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  • Justin, Neal (June 19, 2016). "Sun Is Setting on Garrison Keillor's Time on Lake Wobegon". Star Tribune. Minneapolis, MN. Retrieved December 8, 2016.

External links

  • Official website
  • Archive of programs from 1996–2016 at PrairieHome.org
  • Full PHC shows from 1981 to 1995
  • Guide to episodes at the BBC
  • Index to several scheduled Public Radio programs
  • A Prairie Home Companion at IMDb

prairie, home, companion, this, article, about, historic, radio, show, hosted, garrison, keillor, later, radio, show, hosted, chris, thile, live, from, here, film, film, weekly, radio, variety, show, created, hosted, garrison, keillor, that, aired, live, from,. This article is about the historic radio show hosted by Garrison Keillor For the later radio show hosted by Chris Thile see Live from Here For the film see A Prairie Home Companion film A Prairie Home Companion is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016 In 2016 musician Chris Thile took over as host and the successor show was eventually renamed Live from Here and ran until 2020 A Prairie Home Companion aired on Saturdays from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul Minnesota it was also frequently heard on tours to New York City and other U S cities The show is known for its musical guests especially folk 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 A Prairie Home CompanionGarrison Keillor and the cast members of A Prairie Home Companion in Lanesboro Minnesota 2007 GenreComedy music varietyRunning time2 hoursCountry of originUnited StatesLanguage s EnglishHome stationMinnesota Public RadioSyndicatesAmerican Public MediaStarringGarrison Keillor 1974 1987 1992 2016 Sue ScottTim RussellFred NewmanProduced byGarrison KeillorOriginal releaseJuly 6 1974 September 2 2016Opening themeTishomingo BluesWebsiteprairiehome wbr orgDistributed by Minnesota Public Radio s distribution arm American Public Media A Prairie Home Companion was heard on 690 public 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 the Prairie Home Cemetery near Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota 2 It inspired a 2006 film of the same name written by and featuring Keillor Contents 1 History 1 1 Origin 1 2 Hiatus 1 3 Return to broadcast 1 4 Guest hosts 1 5 Keillor s departure 1 6 Name change 1 7 Broadcast archives 2 Format 2 1 Features 2 2 News from Lake Wobegon 2 3 Annual Joke Show 2 4 Fictional sponsors 2 5 Alterations 3 Cast 3 1 Actors 3 2 Sound effects artists 3 3 Musicians 4 Film 5 Books 6 LP CD releases 6 1 Stories from Lake Wobegon 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External linksHistory EditOrigin Edit The Saturday evening show was a partial spin off of A Prairie Home Morning Show with Keillor and Tom Keith which ran from 6 to 9 a m on Minnesota Public Radio and was continued by Keith and Dale Connelly for many years as The Morning Show After researching the Grand Ole Opry for an article Keillor became interested in doing a variety show on the radio On July 6 1974 the first live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion took place on Minnesota Public Radio That show was broadcast from St Paul in the Janet Wallace Auditorium of Macalester College Twelve audience members turned out mostly children 3 The second episode featured the first performance on the show by Butch 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 the Fitzgerald Theater in 1994 This is the same venue the program used to the end A Prairie Home Companion began national distribution in May 1980 4 Because National Public Radio NPR rejected the show due to its president Frank 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 distribute A Prairie Home Companion called American Public Radio which would later be renamed Public Radio International in 1994 4 5 Hiatus Edit 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 by Good Evening hosted by Noah Adams a live variety show designed by ex Prairie Home and All Things Considered staffers to retain the audience Keillor had cultivated over the years However many stations opted instead to continue APHC repeats in its traditional Saturday time slot 6 In 1989 Keillor returned to radio with The American Radio Company of the Air renamed Garrison Keillor s American Radio Company in its second season broadcast originally from the Brooklyn Academy of Music The new program featured a broadly similar format to A Prairie Home Companion with sketches and musical guests reflecting a more New York sensibility rather than the country and folk music predominant in APHC Also while Keillor sang and delivered a regular monologue on American Radio Company Lake Wobegon was initially downplayed as he felt it was cruel to talk to a Brooklyn audience about life in a small town During this period Keillor revived the full APHC format only for annual farewell performances In the fall of 1992 Keillor returned to the Fitzgerald Theater with ARC for the majority of the season with Lake Wobegon and other APHC elements gradually but unmistakably returning to prominence Return to broadcast Edit A Prairie Home Companion at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair The following year on October 2 1993 the program officially reverted to the A 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 Guest hosts Edit Chris Thile as guest host in 2016 Singer Sara 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 the AARP that he would most likely retire from the show by the time he turned 70 in August 2012 10 In September 2011 Keillor told The Tuscaloosa News that his last broadcast would be recorded in early July 2013 and that instead of a permanent replacement host there will 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 mandolinist Chris Thile hosted the show like Sara Watkins a member of Nickel 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 storyteller Elna Baker on the February 14 show Thile s band Punch 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 Keillor s departure Edit When Keillor formally announced his departure from APHC 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 the Hollywood 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 starring Sara Watkins Sarah Jarosz Aoife O Donovan Heather Masse and Christine DiGiallonardo alongside the Royal Academy of Radio Actors Tim Russell Sue Scott and Fred Newman and the APHC 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 of A 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 Name change Edit 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 21 22 23 Because Keillor still owned artistic rights and the trademark to the show s name MPR also announced that it would change the name 24 which was announced as Live from Here live on the December 16 2017 broadcast of the show 25 MPR also announced it would cease distributing reruns of A Prairie Home Companion featuring Keillor 26 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 27 When it was announced in 2019 that Live 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 28 Live from Here was canceled in 2020 29 Broadcast archives Edit On April 13 2018 Minnesota Public Radio posted a message stating its intent to reinstate the free online archives of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer s Almanac 30 The portion of the PrairieHome org website containing the archives was restored later in the year Format EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed November 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message On Air sign at the Fitzgerald Theater From the show s inception until 1987 its theme song was Hank Snow s hit Hello Love 31 After 1987 each show has opened with Spencer Williams composition Tishomingo Blues as the theme song with lyrics by Garrison Keillor 32 that were written especially for A Prairie Home Companion 33 Music was a main feature of the program the show was a significant outlet for American folk music of many genres especially country bluegrass blues and gospel 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 executive Chet Atkins appeared on the show many times as did singer songwriters Mark Knopfler lead guitarist and frontman of the bands Dire Straits and the Notting Hillbillies and Jeff Lang Folk gospel duo Robin 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 and Prudence Johnson among others were recurring guests on the program between 1974 and 1987 The Wailin 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 s intermission at the top of the second hour Birthdays and anniversaries of famous composers and musicians were also observed Features Edit The Rhubarb Sisters singing during taping of the show Keillor and the ensemble performed comedy skits Notable skits and characters often recur such as the satirical Guy Noir Private Eye which parodied film noir and radio 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 News from Lake Wobegon Edit 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 of Lake 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 the monologue usually did not change Well it s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon Minnesota my hometown out on the edge of the prairie Keillor often poked fun at central Minnesota s large Scandinavian American and German 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 Cafe the Sidetrack Tap Pastor Ingqvist of the Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church and his successor Pastor Liz Father Emil of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility Roman Catholic Church a parody of Our Mother of Perpetual Help the Lake Wobegon Whippets 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 of Native American place names in the New England region of the United States most of them in Maine i e Piscataqua Passamaquoddy and Androscoggin Annual Joke Show Edit 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 as Paula Poundstone and Roy 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 34 and CDs 35 Fictional sponsors Edit A sign for Guy s Shoes one of A Prairie Home Companion s fictitious sponsors The show creates advertisements for fictional products performed in the style of live old time radio commercials The show acknowledges its actual underwriters 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 36 Among its other sponsors Bebop A Reebop Rhubarb 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 37 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 37 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 and Ridgedale 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 38 Other sponsors have included Cafe Boeuf a fictionally and exceptionally snobbish French restaurant in Lake Wobegon where the elite meet to eat 39 Guy s Shoes purveyor of Guy s All Star Shoes the Converse like sponsor of the Shoe Band which specializes in steel toed shoes so even when you strike out ping you can walk away The American Duct Tape Council The American Society of Sound Effects Specialists Bob s Bank Save at the sign of the sock Neither a borrower nor a lender be The Bon Marche Beauty Salon Earl s Academy of Accents The Fearmonger s Shop a purveyor of security devices for the perpetually paranoid The Federation of Associated Organizations Fred Farrell Animal Calls Fritz Electronics Where everything you need is on the Fritz a possible parody of Muntz Electronics Jack s Auto Repair and Jack s Warm Car Service All tracks lead to Jack s where the bright shining lights show you the way to complete satisfaction Marvin and Mavis Smiley seasonal bluegrass albums Midwestern Discount Store Monback Moving amp Storage in which a mover can be heard directing a moving truck to back up hence the name while the truck s backup alarm can be heard beeping Monback Monback crunch That s good Mournful Oatmeal a parody of Quaker Oats Calvinism in a box The Professional Organization of English Majors P O E M Ralph s Pretty Good Grocery If you can t find it at Ralph s you can darn well get along without it Raw Bits breakfast cereal a cereal for a select small target audience Oat hulls and wheat chaff it s not for everybody Rent a Raptor Rid your home of mice rabbits squirrels and pesky boyfriends The Sidetrack Tap 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 Alterations Edit While much of the show is directed toward radio comedy a portion is usually devoted to some more sentimental and sometimes dark stories put together by Keillor and others The program occasionally also features political satire At the beginning of the June 5 2004 show broadcast from Meadowbrook Musical Arts Center in Gilford New Hampshire Keillor announced that former U S President Ronald Reagan had died A member of the audience hooted and cheered loudly but Keillor a staunch Democrat gave the Republican Reagan a warm tribute in the form of a gospel song Similarly in a 2002 show airing the weekend after the death of Senator Paul Wellstone Keillor changed the format of the show starting it off with Wellstone s favorite segment Guy Noir skipping even the show s theme song Cast EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed November 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Rich Dworsky playing piano on a live broadcast in 2015 Actors Edit Regularly appearing actors included Tim Russell beginning in 1994 40 and Sue Scott beginning in 1989 40 When the show resumed as The American Radio Company of the Air in November 1989 radio comedian Bob Elliott half of the longtime radio and comedy television duo Bob and Ray became a regular cast member 41 Actor Bill Perry was a member Walter Bobbie made frequent appearances as early as 1989 and continuing through 2006 2007 40 42 43 Ivy Austin was a regular contributing comedienne and vocalist in the early 90s 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 when Chris Thile became host Sound effects artists Edit The sound effects artists on the show Tom Keith and Fred 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 working until he retired in 2008 44 Newman took over full time after Keith left the show 45 Musicians Edit Regular musicians in Guy s All Star Shoe Band include Richard Dworsky a composer who appeared weekly as pianist bandleader and music director Gary Raynor on bass and bass guitar Peter Johnson on percussion Jevetta Steele on vocals and Andy Stein on violin tenor and bass saxophones and vocals 46 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 Pat Donohue acoustic and steel guitars vocals Peter Ostroushko mandolin acoustic guitar fiddle Randy Sandke trumpet piano keyboards Vince Giordano bass saxophone tuba also band leader of the Nighthawks Orchestra a Brooklyn based jazz style brass band Butch Thompson clarinet also appears as a frequent guest pianist George Red Maddock drums deceased from lung cancer in 1986 Greg Brown harmonica and electric acoustic and steel guitars Cindy Cashdollar dobro steel and acoustic guitars Roswell Rudd trombone only appeared once Marc Anderson drums percussion Johnny Gimble fiddle mandolin vocals skits died 2015 47 Buddy Emmons dobro steel guitar vocals died 2015 Charlie Parr steel guitar vocals Tim Sparks guitar Bill Staines acoustic guitar vocals Elana James fiddle vocals Philip Brunelle piano organ vocals John Koerner acoustic guitar vocals Dean Magraw acoustic guitar vocals Dan Barrett trumpet cornet Sam Bush mandolin banjo vocals Mike Craver acoustic guitar vocals Molly Mason bass acoustic guitar vocals Dick Hyman keyboards organ piano Howard Levy harmonica acoustic guitar Scott Robinson trombone French horn Stuart Duncan fiddle vocals Dave Bargeron trombone French horn Rob Fisher piano organ vocals J T Bates drums percussion Joe Ely guitar Andra Suchy vocals guitar Heather Masse of The Wailin Jennys vocals Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek vocals fiddle ukulele Maria Jette vocals Janet Sorensen vocals Lynn Peterson vocals Sarah Jarosz vocals mandolin banjo guitar Aoife O Donovan vocals Christine DiGiallonardo vocals Bill Hinkley Judy Larson Joel Guzman Chet Atkins guitarist The Manhattan Transfer vocal groupFilm EditMain article A Prairie Home Companion film 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 actual APHC home venue the Fitzgerald Theater in St Paul chosen to serve as set piece soundstage and framing device 48 The film was written by Garrison Keillor and directed by Robert 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 and L Q Jones 48 APHC regular Rich Dworsky appears as the bandleader 49 and served as the film s pianist conductor arranger and composer The film depicts the unnamed radio program s behind 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 48 As described in a 2005 on set piece by David Carr for The New York Times the film set s atmosphere hada kind of Spanky and Our Gang let s put on a show quality with crew marquee talent and Prairie Home acolytes and extras mixing freely The dailies the traditional day s end look at finished footage usually include d about 75 people a vivid reminder of Mr 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 a mandolin or a three part harmony rehearsal 48 The film which makes no reference to Lake Wobegon 49 is of feature length 50 with its financing provided by GreeneStreet Films River Road Entertainment and local Minnesota sources 48 Its award nominations 2006 unless noted include the Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear award for best film the National Association of Film Critics Bodil Award for Best American Film the Film Independent film association Independent Spirit Award for Best Director the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay the International Press Academy Satellite Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay the Independent Filmmaker Project Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Performance the Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics Choice Movie Award for Best Cast and the Casting Society of America Artios Award for Best Casting for Feature Film Comedy its wins include the Yomiuri Shimbun film association Hochi Film Award 2007 for Best Foreign Film 51 In addition Meryl Streep was nominated for an International Press Academy Satellite Awards for Best Supporting Actress Motion Picture verification needed and won the National Society of Film Critics Awards for the same category verification needed 51 better source needed 52 Books EditLake Wobegon Days 1985 Viking Press ISBN 978 0 67080 514 3 A Prairie Home Companion Pretty Good Joke Book 2015 6th ed HighBridge ISBN 978 1 62231 863 6LP CD releases EditA Prairie Home Album LP Minnesota Educational Radio Tourists LP 1983 PHC Pretty Good Jokes 2 CD 2000 HighBridge Audio Garrison Keillor and the Hopeful Gospel Quartet 1992 Sony Prairie Home Comedy Radio Songs amp Sketches by Garrison Keillor 1988 HighBridge Company Lake Wobegon Loyalty Days 1993 EMI Garrison Keillor s Comedy Theater More Songs and Sketches from A Prairie Home Companion 3 CD 1996 HighBridge Company Horrors A Scary Home Companion 2 CD 1996 HighBridge Company A Prairie Home Companion Anniversary Album 2 LP 1980 Minnesota Public Radio Inc Shaking The Blues Away Rob Fisher and The Coffee Club Orchestra with Garrison Keillor 1992 Angel Records in association with EMI Records Ltd Pretty Good Bits From a Prairie Home Companion 2003 A Prairie Home Companion English Majors A Comedy Collection for the Highly Literate 2 CD 2008 HighBridge Company Church People The Lutherans of Lake Wobegon 2009 Stories from Lake Wobegon Edit Gospel Birds and Other Stories of Lake Wobegon 1985 Includes the stories Pastor Ingqvist s Trip to Orlando Mammoth Concert Tickets Bruno the Fishing Dog Gospel Birds Meeting Donny Hart at the Bus Stop A Day at the Circus with Mazumbo The Tolleruds Korean Baby Sylvester Krueger s Desk and Babe Ruth visits Lake Wobegon News from Lake Wobegon April 1990 Includes the stories Me and Choir A Day in the Life of Clarence Bunsen Letter from Jim Fiction The Living Flag The Tollefson Boy Goes to College Tomato Butt Chamber of Commerce Dog Days of August Mrs Berge and the Schubert Carillon Piano Giant Decoys Darryl Tollerud s Long Day Hog Slaughter Thanksgiving The Royal Family Guys on Ice James Lundeen s Christmas The Christmas Story Retold New Year s from New York and Storm Home More News from Lake Wobegon April 1990 Includes the stories Rotten Apples O Death The Wise Men A Trip to Grand Rapids Truck Stop Smokes The Perils of Spring Let Us Pray Alaska Uncle Al s Gift Skinny Dip Homecoming Pontoon Boat Author Freedom of the Press and Vick s Lake Wobegon USA September 1993 Includes the stories The Krebsbachs Vacation Prophet The Six Labors of Father Wilmer Fertility Aunt Ellie Duke s 25th Job Hunting You re Not the Only One Blue Devils Nostalgia O Christmas Tree Pageant Messy Shoes Rhubarb Sweet Corn The Sun s Gonna Shine Someday and Yellow Ribbon Summer May 1997 Includes stories from disc 2 of News from Lake Wobegon Fall October 1997 Includes stories from disc 3 of News from Lake Wobegon Winter December 1997 Includes stories from disc 4 of News from Lake Wobegon Spring April 1998 Includes stories from disc 1 of News from Lake Wobegon Life These Days October 1998 Includes the stories Gladys Hits A Raccoon The World s Largest Pile My Cousin Rose The Risk Takers Pastor Ingqvist at the Mall Hunting Stories Sorrows of January Clarence Cleans His Roof Miracle of the Pastor s Dog War of the Krebsbachs Graduation and Spring printed insert Mother Father Uncle Aunt May 1998 Includes the stories Ball Jars Love While you Dare To Saturday Morning in The Bon Marche Family Trip to Yellowstone The Flood Bob Anderson s Last Dance Children Will Break Your Heart Ronnie and The Winnebago Carl s Christmas Pageant and The Tombstone Humor October 1998 Includes the stories Skinny Dip Homecoming The Freedom of the Press and Vick s from More News from Lake Wobegon Love February 1999 Includes the stories Truck Stop Uncle Al s Gift Rotten Apples and The Wise Men from More News from Lake Wobegon Home on the Prairie July 2003 Never Better 2007 Faith April 2008 Includes stories from disc 1 of More News from Lake Wobegon Hope April 2008 Includes stories from disc 2 of More News from Lake Wobegon References Edit What s next after end of decades long Keillor MPR relationship Twin Cities December 6 2017 Retrieved December 8 2017 PHC 25th anniversary website prairiehome publicradio org Archived from the original on July 4 2010 Retrieved December 15 2009 About A Prairie Home Companion A Brief History A Prairie Home Companion Minnesota Public Radio Retrieved November 4 2019 a b c Ydstie John 2010 A Prairie Home Companion Goes National But Not on NPR This Is NPR The First Forty Years San Francisco Chronicle Books p 102 ISBN 9780811872539 PRI Fact Sheet The World from PRX The World from PRX Retrieved June 19 2020 Bowermaster Jon December 13 1987 Fresh Voices Hope to Be Far From Wobegon The New York Times Songer Marcia 2000 Garrison Keillor A Critical Companion Greenwood Publishing Group pp 9 10 ISBN 0 313 30230 8 Listening Information A Prairie Home Companion www prairiehome org Archived from the original on December 2 2016 Retrieved December 2 2016 The news from Lake Wobegon more guest hosts likely State of the Arts Minnesota Public Radio News January 15 2011 Retrieved October 9 2013 Kaufmann Carol 2011 03 16 Garrison Keillor Announces Retirement AARP Bulletin Retrieved March 18 2011 Cobb Mark Hughes 2011 09 09 Prairie Home Companion tour comes to the Amp The Tuscaloosa News Page 5 of 5 Retrieved September 9 2011 Seel Steve February 7 2015 Musician Chris Thile subs for Keillor on APHC Minnesota Public Radio News Retrieved February 9 2015 Garrison Keillor hosts final A Prairie Home Companion episode The Guardian London Associated Press July 2 2016 Retrieved January 8 2017 Charlton Lauretta A Prairie Home Companion Gets a New Host and Maybe a Future Vulture June 30 2015 Retrieved July 1 2015 Matthews Cameron July 21 2015 It s Official Chris Thile to Become Full Time Host of A Prairie Home Companion thebluegrasssituation com Retrieved July 21 2015 a b c AP Staff July 2 2016 Garrison Keillor Hosts Final A Prairie Home Companion Episode The Guardian Retrieved November 30 2016 via Associated Press AP Beyette Beverly September 18 1985 Fishing for Meaning in Lake Wobegon Waters Garrison Keillor Reflects on the Success of His Semi Autobiographical Best Seller Los Angeles Times Retrieved November 30 2016 APM Staff July 2 2016 Sumus Quod Sumus PrairieHome org Archived from the original on January 2 2017 Retrieved December 1 2016 Quote hosted by Garrison Keillor Show 1557 July 1 2016 Rebroadcast from July 2 2016 Keillor Garrison et al July 2 2016 Script The Lives of the Cowboys July 2 2016 PrairieHome org Archived from the original on January 2 2017 Retrieved December 1 2016 APM Staff September 2 2016 The Minnesota Show PrairieHome org Retrieved June 20 2021 Minnesota Public Radio Minnesota Public Radio Retrieved December 4 2017 Justin Neal November 29 2017 Garrison Keillor reportedly fired for improper behavior Minneapolis Star Tribune Baenen Jeff November 29 2017 Garrison Keillor fired over alleged improper behavior News and Record Greensboro NC Associated Press Retrieved November 29 2017 Salam Maya November 29 2017 Minnesota Public Radio Fires Garrison Keillor Over Allegations of Improper Conduct The New York Times Live from Here A Brief History Retrieved December 16 2017 Statement from Minnesota Public Radio Regarding Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion Press release Minnesota Public Radio Retrieved November 29 2017 Staff MPR News Keillor s conduct What we know and don t know Retrieved December 4 2017 Ross Jenna June 29 2019 It s just kind of sad Minnesota pride takes a hit as our radio shows move to New York Star Tribune Retrieved September 20 2019 Wyllie Julian APM MPR eliminates 28 positions ends Live From Here Current Retrieved June 16 2020 MPR Reaches Agreement with Garrison Keillor to Restore Public Access to Online Archives Minnesota Public Radio retrieved April 13 2018 Sawyer Bobbie Jean September 12 2016 The Country Roots of A Prairie Home Companion Wide Open Country Retrieved December 2 2016 1 Justin Neal Daher Natalie Chris Thile addresses scandal around his Prairie Home predecessor Garrison Keillor Associated Press News online December 2 2017 Barton Chris Garrison Keillor brings A Prairie Home Companion to a close at the Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles Times Retrieved December 2 2016 A Prairie Home Companion Pretty Good Joke Book 2015 6th ed HighBridge ISBN 978 1 62231 863 6 A Prairie Home Companion Pretty Good Jokes Live Audio CD Audiobook HighBridge Lee Judith Yaross 1991 Garrison Keillor A Voice of America Studies in Popular Culture Jackson MS University Press of Mississippi pp 35 85 ISBN 978 1617033995 Retrieved November 30 2016 a b Keillor Garrison Tim Russell Sue Scott amp Fred Newman February 14 2004 Rhubarb Segment A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor transcript Saint Paul MN American Public Media Retrieved November 30 2016 Contributing performer writer names for this program were inferred by a Wikipedia editor from initials appearing in this source based on regular cast information appearing elsewhere Keillor Garrison Russell Tim Scott Sue amp Dworsky Rich February 4 2012 Catchup Segment A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor streaming video Saint Paul MN American Public Media Retrieved November 30 2016 Keillor Garrison Russell Tim April 28 2012 Cafe Boeuf Segment A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor transcript Saint Paul MN American Public Media Retrieved November 30 2016 Contributing performer writer names for this program were inferred by a Wikipedia editor from initials appearing in this source based on regular cast information appearing elsewhere a b c 25 Years of Pretty Good Radio Timeline Saint Paul MN American Public Media 2000 Retrieved December 13 2016 Kimble Lindsay February 3 2016 Comedian Bob Elliott Father of Actor Chris Elliott and Grandfather to SNL Alumna Abby Elliot Dies at 92 People Retrieved December 13 2016 Best Direction of a Musical Walter Bobbie Playbill June 1 1997 Retrieved December 13 2016 Walter Bobbie Credits AllMusic December 13 2016 Retrieved December 13 2016 Slotnik Daniel E November 1 2011 Tom Keith Creator of Radio Soundscapes Dies at 64 The New York Times Retrieved December 2 2016 Boeni Meg June 12 2013 Mouthing Off The Art of Prairie Home Companion s Fred Newman Mental Floss Retrieved December 2 2016 The Guy s All Star Shoe Band Regular Performers A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media prairiehome publicradio org American Public Media Archived from the original on April 19 2017 Retrieved April 19 2017 Collins Bob The man who put the swing in our prairie home NewsCut a b c d e Carr David July 23 2005 Lake Wobegon Goes Hollywood or Is It Vice Versa With a Pretty Good Cast The New York Times Retrieved December 8 2016 a b Kaufman Peter July 28 2005 Radio for the Eyes Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor Unlikely Prairie Film Companions The Washington Post Retrieved December 8 2016 A Prairie Home Companion 2006 Overview Digital Film Cloud Network December 8 2016 Archived from the original on December 20 2016 Retrieved December 8 2016 a b A Prairie Home Companion 2006 Accolades amp Awards Digital Film Cloud Network December 8 2016 Retrieved December 8 2016 The NSFC was awarded to Streep for her performances in this as well as in The Devil Wears Prada 2006 Further reading EditKaufman Peter July 28 2005 Radio for the Eyes Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor Unlikely Prairie Film Companions The Washington Post Retrieved December 8 2016 A rich source not yet fully tapped for the article Eugene Hernandez Brian Brooks February 13 2006 Daily Dispatch From Berlin Altman s Latest Prairie IndieWire com Archived from the original on June 11 2006 Retrieved December 8 2016 A rich source not yet fully tapped for the article A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor HollywoodBowl June 2 2006 Archived from the original on May 24 2006 Retrieved December 8 2016 Hollywood Bowl event site for the Friday June 2 2006 of APHC with Garrison Keillor hosting special guests Kevin Kline Virginia Madsen John C Reilly and Meryl Streep Radio s enduring appeal BBC News Magazine January 4 2007 Retrieved December 8 2016 Justin Neal June 19 2016 Sun Is Setting on Garrison Keillor s Time on Lake Wobegon Star Tribune Minneapolis MN Retrieved December 8 2016 External links EditOfficial website Brief History Podcast Archive of programs from 1996 2016 at PrairieHome org Full PHC shows from 1981 to 1995 Guide to episodes at the BBC Index to several scheduled Public Radio programs A Prairie Home Companion at IMDb Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title A Prairie Home Companion amp oldid 1148289850, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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