Thread: Garrison Keillor to sign off today

-You must be thinking, Hasn't "A Prairie Home Companion" with Garrison Keillor been around forever?

Well, even forever ends.

On Friday July 1, Keillor is hosting his final official "A Prairie Home Companion" night here at the Hollywood Bowl. After more than four decades, the radio icon and his idiosyncratic humor, eclectic flights of storytelling fancy, song parodies and old-timey musical tastes is heading off to work on some different things, including writing a column for the Washington Post, a book and a screenplay.

The Bowl concert will include musical guests, Christine DiGiallonardo, Sarah Jarosz, Heather Masse, Aoife O'Donovan, and Sara Watkins.

Singer-songwriter Jarosz says she's never sure what Keillor will ask her to do. Sometimes it's her own music, but then he might have her duet with him on a folk song, a standard, a rock oldie or some parody song he's written. "You have to constantly be on your toes to be on that show, because he'll throw something at you at any given moment," she says.

The Bowl concert is being taped for broadcast Saturday on more than 500 public radio affiliates around the country as Garrison Keillor's final show as host of "A Prairie Home Companion." You can hear it at 6 p.m. Saturday on KPCC (89.3 FM), and it will rebroadcast at noon on Sunday.

Over the years, "A Prairie Home Companion" has been criticized for being hokey and sentimental, but Keillor's homespun monologues often mask serious topics like war or gun control. A Civil War-era song can take on a contemporary reference simply in the way he presents it.

The first "APHC" aired on July 6, 1974, on a local Minnesota public radio station before an audience of 12. It began broadcasting nationally in 1980. Over the years, a number of stars have visited Keillor's fictional town of Lake Wobegon, based in part on his own hometown of Anoka, Minnesota.

Among them are James Earl Jones, Jack Lemmon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Martin Sheen, Fred Rogers, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, the Dixie Chicks, Wilco, Willie Nelson, Carole King, James Taylor, Emmylou Harris, Nick Lowe, Ira Glass, Elvis Costello...

http://www.sbsun.com/article/LG/2016...URES/160629411

I'll especially miss the "ketchup" skits:

Never heard of him.

Originally Posted by njtom

I'll especially miss the "ketchup" skits:

That was great Tom..."the world has gone digital and I'm just starting to figure out analog".

Watch the clip Fuego, it gives people who aren't familiar with Keillor a taste of the flavor of the show.

Another recurring skit: "Guy Noir"

And here's another good "ketchup" episode:

Cute. So the ketchup thing, is that a real sponsor or something they do just to be funny?

Originally Posted by fuego

Cute. So the ketchup thing, is that a real sponsor or something they do just to be funny?

It's not a real sponsor; the "ketchup advisory board" spots, advertising the "natural mellowing agents" of ketchup, is just one of several recurring skits that occurs on most of the weekly 2-hour radio shows.

The show has several recurring fictional "sponsors" such as the American Duct Tape Council, Bertha's Kitty Boutique, and the Professional Organization of English Majors (POEM). The humor, such as it is, is definitely not everyone's cup of tea.

crazy