A Prairie Home Companion Commonplace Book: 25 Years on the Air with Garrison Keillor

by Garrison Keillor

On July 6, 1974, in a small concert hall at Macalester College, A Prairie Home Companion debuted as a live radio show in front of an auspicious audience of about twelve people. It "was about as awful as a show could possibly be, and we have the tapes to prove it," recalls host Garrison Keillor. Thankfully, the show improved considerably over the years and today over two-and-a-half million listeners tune in each week to hear that friendly, familiar mix of music, humor, and storytelling.

The dictionary defines a "commonplace book" as a notebook in which one records quotations, poems, extracts, and memorabilia. In A Prairie Home Companion 's 25th year, Keillor and friends compiled a commonplace book of amusing facts, recollections, scripts, behind-the-scenes photos, recipes, commercials—a whole alphabet of fun from "Autoharp" to "Zenith." Heavily illustrated with over 100 photos, plus new, previously unpublished material by Garrison Keillor, it all adds up to a complete picture of a much-loved part of popular culture and one of America's favorite radio programs.

Genres: Humor

160 pages, Hardcover

First published June 7, 1999

About the author

Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show A Prairie Home Companion (called Garrison Keillor's Radio Show in some international syndication), which he hosted from 1974 to 2016. Keillor created the fictional Minnesota town Lake Wobegon, the setting of many of his books, including Lake Wobegon Days and Leaving Home: A Collection of Lake Wobegon Stories. Other creations include Guy Noir, a detective voiced by Keillor who appeared in A Prairie Home Companion comic skits. Keillor is also the creator of the five-minute daily radio/podcast program The Writer's Almanac, which pairs poems of his choice with a script about important literary, historical, and scientific events that coincided with that date in history.
In November 2017, Minnesota Public Radio cut all business ties with Keillor after an allegation of inappropriate behavior with a freelance writer for A Prairie Home Companion. On April 13, 2018, MPR and Keillor announced a settlement that allows archives of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac to be publicly available again, and soon thereafter, Keillor began publishing new episodes of The Writer's Almanac on his website. He also continues to tour a stage version of A Prairie Home Companion, although these shows are not broadcast by MPR or American Public Media.

Reviews

[Mayda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of Garrison Keillor will enjoy this eclectic collection of mirth and music. No one tells a story quite like Keillor, and you will be highly entertained with tales from the Norwegian bachelor farmers, the Lutheran ministers, and the charismatic Lutheran church, just to mention a few. With a generous sprinkling of songs thrown in, this is one collection you'll listen to time and again.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally found a humorous audio book. I've been searching for comedy audio books and the others I listened to fell flat. The first story he told had me laughing and that is what I wanted. Not all of the content was funny, but the good stories had me giggling. My favorites were the truck stop, pontoon boat, and the junk yard. The fifth CD was just music.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

My old boss listened to this all the time. She got we hooked. I loved it!

[Willow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the book and Garrison Keillor knows how to weave an interesting story.