A Prairie Home Companion

I'm sure I was the only girl in my Jr. High and High School to own a Garrison Keillor book. I don't remember how I discovered him, but I'm pretty sure it was not by listening to his radio show. I doubt I could tune that show in on my radio in my small Ohio hometown. All I know is that I got his humor and his sense of humanity...even though at that age I could never have articulated that deep of a connection. And it was reading his stories of Lake Wobegon that I probably had my first real thoughts of being a writer. Truman Capote had a similar effect on me. At any rate, whenever it was that I did first encounter "A Prairie Home Companion" it was instant love.

I confess that I don't remember to tune into it all that often. I suffer from that horrible affliction of "too busy" sickness. Although these days I can download the podcasts...and I still don't remember to do THAT even. And when I do catch the local broadcast of the show or download a podcast, it fills my heart with such joy and inspiration. The words genius, hilarious, and beautiful are commonly repeated aloud while listening. I do love the long-running favorites of Guy Noir, The News from Lake Wobegon (which has brought me to tears in every way possible), and The Catchup Advisory Board promos (a personal favorite). Recently I have heard him do a skit a few times involving a guy in his 40's named Duane and the phone calls he has with his parents. That skit is in the show this week. Way too funny! And the characters are stereotypical perfection.

Before I started writing this post, I visited the show's website for a little inspiration. There is a section called "Post to the Host" that features comments people have posted for Garrison and his responses to their questions or comments. I'm so glad I took a few minutes to read through those because it was an AHA! moment for me and how I'm wired. I will probably expand on that in a future post... but I might keep it to myself. There were a couple where Garrison responds by describing the rest of the picture as prompted by the initial post. His responses seem less about merely acknowledging the fan's post and more about enhancing the experience the fan mentions. I think that it's beautiful how he does that. Because that is so much like life. If we focus too much on one specific thing we noticed in the midst of a larger event we limit the fullness of the experience. My AHA! moment came while reading the follow-up comments made by other fans- too much to share here.

A few years ago I had the chance to see Garrison perform live here in Cincinnati. It was not a broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion." He was performing with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and he brought Robin & Linda Williams with him. I enjoyed it very much. AND, my favorite part of the experience was sitting next to an incarnation of my maternal grandparents. This couple I sat next to looked a lot like Naomi & Russ and behaved like them, too. Naomi had hearing aids she never wore so Russ had to repeat things to her regularly when she loudly complained she hadn't heard what was just said. This little old lady did exactly that! She opened her purse before the show started and looked at her hearing aids declaring "I don't want to fool with these tonight." Then had to ask her husband to repeat half of what Garrison was saying. I think they were lucky to be sitting next to me because most people would have been annoyed by this, but it tickled me pink! Furthermore, while speaking to them during intermission I found out the husband was a Methodist minister. Naomi's father was a Methodist minister. The show featured a couple of gospel songs and during the break the "Naomi clone" speculated loudly about whether the Jewish people in the audience were offended by the gospel music. It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud because that is EXACTLY what Naomi would have said!

The way Garrison tells a story makes me notice how the most seemingly trivial (some annoying) thing about a person's character can be the center of a climactic moment in a scene, whether it is joyful, beautiful, or heartbreaking. By portraying his characters with their complete truth he can create moments of solace in the midst of chaos. His stories set my thoughts about the people in my life, past (like Naomi & Russ) and present, in the context of grace.