A Prairie Home Companion - 6/21

[Geoff_M]

If you heard tonights program, my wife and I were there! It was a blast and I highly encourage people to attend if the show comes to your town. It was funny seeing people with "I need two tickets" signs outside the university auditorium that usually hosts classical fare.

It was fun seeing how the show "happens". There's a 15 minute "pre-show" to warm up the audience. They do the show. And Garrison Keillor did about three curtain calls after they went off the air. He ended with a great rendition of "Tell Me Why" to the text of the standard airline safety speech!

 

[holycow]

Oh, how wonderful! We are usually faithful listeners every Saturday but tonight we were entertaining! Darn!
So glad you had a good time!
I hope someday we'll be able to get up there to visit!

Holycow

 

[jfranklyn]

I didn't hear the show tonight, because we were out. But we saw it live like you did last year in NYC. It was incredibly fun, wasn't it? And Garrison is even more fun "off mike" than he is on! Did he make an announcement that if you have to go to the bathroom, just go ahead and leave - not to worry about offending anyone or anything - but to hurry back so you don't miss much? That totally cracked me up. Like you, we saw in at Town Hall - which usually hosts only "upscale" stuff. I would love to do it again, but he didn't come to New York this year, for some reason.

 

[Pin Wizard]

You're in Wayne, NJ, jfranklyn? I grew up in Pompton Plains! Prarie Home Companion and Garrison Keillor....my dad used to listen ALL the time. He even got me hooked on it. I should really start listening to it again. When I think of PHC and GK, I seem to get a peaceful smile on my face because it makes me think of Dad.

 

[nativetxn]

I would <i>love</i> to attend one of those tapings. I just love Garrison Keillor.

 

[Geoff_M]

Tonight's show wasn't taped... it was live radio!

jfranklyn,

I didn't hear a bathroom annoucement, but he did make a number of other funny quips. I was also amazed that when he does "The News" he closes his eyes and concentrates at times but most of the time he makes eye contact with certain people and "talks to them" for a couple of minutes before shifting on to someone else. The two hours flew by.

 

[lil mermaid]

Just wanted to say.....I LOVE Garrison Keillor! I haven't heard him since I moved to California, I need to find him again.

 

[MerryPoppins]

We love him. I heard a little of it on the car radio, but we weren't home tonight.

 

[Tiggeroo]

I love this show, and GK's books. We don't get it live, it airs on Sundays. Even my kids love listening, mostly to the stories/sketches. Not the music so much.
Here on Sundays it is Car Talk, Prarie Home Companion, and What do you Know.

 

[Geoff_M]

Make sure you listen tomorrow (today?). The skit comparing teens of today versus "when I was a kid" is worth it alone!

 

[snuggles]

We love Garrison Keilor at our house, well dh and I do and the kids are too cool to admit that they do. How lucky you were to be able to go see it live! Was hearing the Lake Wobegon stories as good in person as they are on the radio?

 

[Geoff_M]

It was very cool. It was fun to watch him close his eyes when he was trying to visualize the next plot twist and then get eye contact with someone and then tell the story directly to that person for awhile. I also think they web-cast live video of the shows if you want a peek at what it's like. It was also fun to watch the other members of the radio troupe to the bits... particularly Fred Newman's sound effects.