A Few More Shows as I Approach 80

New Keillor & Company shows have been added to our EVENT schedule, including stops in Nashville, Indiana, Newark, Ohio, Ft. Lauderdale, Peekskill, New York, and Champaign, Illinois. Pianist Dan Chouinard and vocalist Prudence Johnson will join Garrison, and you can expect to hear sonnets, limericks, and musical jokes as the three wax eloquent about the “beauty of growing old.” Throw in a few stories and a sing-along and you have the ingredients for a fun-filled evening. 

Also on the EVENT schedule is the only reading from Boom Town in St. Paul, plus the full A Prairie Home Companion show from Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, a couple of Hopeful Gospel Quartet concerts, as well as a few solo dates. Something for everyone!

View all EVENTS or upcoming shows >>>

Calm down, people, it's going to be okay

To a Minnesotan, “polarization” simply means winter and it happens every year around Thanksgiving: you praise the Almighty for His bounty and in the morning the temperature drops thirty-five degrees and the water heater quits and the fuel oil bill arrives and your winter coat, thanks to the bounty, is two sizes too small. The current usage of “polarization” is way off the mark: we are one people and we are skeptical of raging idealism and wary of aggressive authority — in other words, conservative — and we come to the aid of the helpless and accept a high degree of personal liberty — in other words, liberal. Something like the Russian invasion of Ukraine unites us, tanks attacking apartment buildings: the reality of pure evil clarifies our own situation. Our problem isn’t polarization, it’s Twittification, which is undue attention paid to twits and the inherent decency of the vast majority who patiently listen to shouters and bemoaners and handwringers and weigh what they say even if it’s unintelligible.

Go to Garrison Keillor and Friends on Substack to read the rest of THE COLUMN >>>  

Become a member of THE BACK ROOM on our Substack page for exclusive access to News from Lake Wobegon stories (27 downloads now available and growing weekly), archived goodies, a serialized version of The Christmas Blizzard, previews of other works, a second weekly column, a few full-length video streams from 2015 to 2016 broadcast AND just released, the first 4 chapters from Boom Town: A Lake Wobegon Novel (to be published April 2022). Join our 3000 subscribers to help support our productions.

Subscribe to THE BACK ROOM>>>

This Week on A Prairie Home Companion

A classic show from 2005, featuring bluegrass rebel Sam Bush, cabaret star Maude Maggart, violinist Andy Stein, and vocalist Prudence Johnson. There is talk about Buddy Holly and Jimmie Rodgers, a bit of Yiddish, Garrison and Prudence crooning “Red River Valley” and “True Love Ways,” Sam picking away at “Memphis in the Meantime,” Maude’s “Forgotten Man,” Pat Donohue’s “Big City Bound,” plus Guy Noir, Coffee, Catchup, the Department of Folk Song, and the News from Lake Wobegon. It’s a jam-packed show where two hours will simply fly by — so, join us for a listen on Saturday night at 5 p.m. CT where the link will show up on our Facebook page for your enjoyment (or click the link below).

Listen to the Show >>>
Like our Facebook page >>>

The Joke Show:
April Fool’s Day is this Friday, thus a bonus feature of a Joke Show from 2014! Almost yearly since the mid-1990s, the A Prairie Home Companion staff scoured the internet in search of new jokes and fun bits to fill two hours of radio, and these shows became some of the most popular shows each season. Starting today for the next seven days, you can watch the most recent joke show as it was broadcast from the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2014. It’s a laugh a minute — though we warn you that a few jokes may not be suitable for all tastes. 

After watching the show, you may want to tell a few jokes of your own! If you need some fresh ones, our little joke book compiles all the jokes from the Joke Shows, plus a few bonus jokes that didn’t make it to air, into one little “pretty good” volume.

Watch the Joke Show >>>
Get the Pretty Good Joke Book >>>

New Mom and Duane Script:
The last Mom and Duane script was created during COVID and performed via Zoom. We anticipate Duane’s mom to insert herself into the A Prairie Home Companion American Revival show on May 2nd because what else would one expect from her? It severs as a great reminder that we should all love our moms! Here is our first Zoom sketch to tide you over until the full cast is together again onstage May 2nd!

Watch the Mom and Duane script >>>
Tickets for Red Rocks on May 2nd >>>

The Prairie Home Archive:
The www.prairiehome.org archive site contains audio streams of almost every A Prairie Home Companion show since 1991. Check it out if you haven’t already!

Also, the Garrison Keillor Facebook fan page is being updated on a daily basis with videos from the archive, plus new videos from artists and actors who have appeared on the show during its 43-year run. Most days we also have an update from Garrison himself called “The News from Manhattan.”

Check out the Prairie Home archive >>>
Follow our Facebook fan page >>>

Boom Town: A Lake Wobegon Novel

Have you been wondering what Boom Town is about? WBZ | CBS Boston Book Club just may have an answer. . . here is their podcast preview about the upcoming book Boom Town.  Boom Town: A Lake Wobegon Novel will be available wherever you get your books on April 11th (but available at many for pre-order).

Listen to the Show >>>
 

Garrison has signed 1200 autographed books for pre-order specifically for our online store. Order quickly, there are only a few remaining.

Get a signed book >>>

A Prairie Home Companion Scroll Shirt

Over 40 years ago, Garrison wrote a piece about the history of the Grand Ole Opry for The New Yorker magazine. The article triggered an idea for a Midwestern version of the show, featuring music, comedy, sketches, and storytelling — and thus began A Prairie Home Companion. For the 40th anniversary of the show, we looked at some Grand Ole Opry historic designs and we reimagined a scroll concept for this handsome shirt featuring the classic microphone logo.

Get the shirt >>>
Listen to the 40th Anniversary Show >>>