# "A Prairie Home Companion"-This Show Stinks! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 21, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083 "2003-03-21T13:49:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/41 "2003-03-22T02:47:52Z")
Does he do those little “Musings”, like Peggy Hill on _King of the Hill_? Don’t forget, Minnesota also gave us the folks from MST3K. Mike Nelson is hysterical. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/42 "2003-03-22T03:25:12Z")
When you’re in the woods and its twenty five below zero, it gets so quiet you can almost hear Nature whisper…“Die!” - GK And besides, how the hell can he piss you off _twice_? You have to seek out his radio show, it ain’t exactly a media saturation. But what are you worried about? You still got the _Man Show_. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/43 "2003-03-22T03:26:37Z")
Oh, almost forgot, note to **Guin**. Screw Mike Nelson. Joel Hodgson was the Man. Period. End of discussion. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/44 "2003-03-22T03:31:23Z")
Goddamn it, it’s Lake Wobegon. Not Woebegone. Yes, it’s ha-ha funny that it sounds like woebegone, but it ain’t spelled the same way. I’m just sensitive because our fucking local paper spelled it that way on his last visit. For fucks’ sake, you’d think the editors would look up his fucking book or something. Do those guys READ? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/45 "2003-03-22T03:34:48Z")
You mean there really _isn’t_ a Lake Wobegon? I thought it was right there next to Fondle Lack. Or was that Sue Saint Mary? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/46 "2003-03-22T03:35:20Z")
**elucidator** , get yourself a copy of _Mike Nelson’s Movie Mega Cheese_!!! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/47 "2003-03-22T03:43:03Z")
Oh, I’m not saying the guy ain’t OK. In a white bread, cream cheese sort of way. But Joel Hodgson he ain’t. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/48 "2003-03-22T03:46:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Does he do those little “Musings”, like Peggy Hill on _King of the Hill_? > > Don’t forget, Minnesota also gave us the folks from MST3K. Mike Nelson is hysterical. \*\* Geeky nitpick: Actually Mike Nelson’s from [Wisconsin and Illinois](http://new.michaeljnelson.com/home/bio.aspx). Oh goody, a Mike vs. Joel debate. People! Can we at least agree that Kevin Murphy (who is also on NPR, Sunday Morning Edition) is a much better Servo than Josh Weinstein? Yes? Good. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/49 "2003-03-22T04:23:56Z")
I HATE TOM SERVO’S NEW VOICE!!! (If you read the MST3K Episode Guide, you laughed at that. Trust me and move on.) I grew up in SE Michigan with a mom who grew up in a small “folksy” town in S. Indiana. I guess my personal experience and her stories of small-town life combined to give me the type of background that finds PHC funny. I listen to News from Lake Wobegone and think, “Holy shit, I know these people. I think I’m related to a few of them!” ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/50 "2003-03-22T04:35:22Z")
I have grown to become fond of “_A Prairie Home Companion_”. The show doesn’t stink, you may just be catching a whiff of the Lutefisk. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/51 "2003-03-22T05:55:21Z")
Personally, while PHC can have some good material (such as their parodies of OTR), they probably stretch it thin by airing it weekly. It would work better as a monthly. And, to deal with two statements above: 1. Mr. Keillor is very pompous indeed, especially in print (he’s written articles for “time”), and, 2. You do know that Mike Nelson was the head writer during the Joel perod, correct? ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/52 "2003-03-22T08:37:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CanvasShoes \* > In other words those that don’t like “down home,” reasonably clean humor seem to, many times, only find the “gross out” sophmoric humor of people like Jim Carey funny. Actually, far from being “opposites”, I find both Keillor’s and Carey’s humor equally banal. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/53 "2003-03-22T13:09:30Z")
Visions of _A Prairie Home Mystery Science Theater_ are dancing in my head. Now THAT would be worth listening to! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/54 "2003-03-22T20:09:02Z")
I know Mike’s not from Minnesota originally, but my point still stands. What kind of humor IS PHC? What kind of things does he talk about? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/55 "2003-03-22T20:54:08Z")
Not so, **Guin**. One simply must be _from_ Minnesota to attain the essential mildness of character that makes Clark Kent look as though he brims over with charisma. I’ve lived here over thirty years and I still haven’t got it. Not to mention the utterly wierd accent. They have an eerie calm that reminds of you Opie II, the quietly pleasant little tyke who recently moved into the neighborhood. And then pets start to disappear… ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/56 "2003-03-22T20:58:52Z")
Oops, that was your dog? Heckuvadeal. I’ll give him back, then. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/57 "2003-03-22T21:01:32Z")
Alive? ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/58 "2003-03-22T21:08:45Z")
Hey, they’ve moved PHC over to the classical music station today…so that they can give us more news about the war in Iraq…[sub]yay.[/sub] :dubious: There are a lot of jokes about being Lutheran and Scandinavian, of which I am neither (my father’s Minnesota family is German and Methodist) and perhaps that contributes to my inability to appreciate PHC. Then again, my uncle is the master of the “Ole and Lena” joke, and most of those are pretty funny. If Keillor told those jokes, though, they’d probably fall flat. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/59 "2003-03-22T21:32:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > \*\*Alive? \*\* No promises. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083/60 "2003-03-22T22:57:59Z")
The first few times I heard it, I said, “What is this?” I mean combining bad puns, opera, stupid jokes, and ethnic music, silly skits and tall tales of a boring community, it can’t possibly stay on the air for more than a couple of weeks. Then I caught myself enjoying this or that and respecting things I wouldn’t usually like and then liking things I wouldn’t usually listen to. And now…hey, I’m a fan. In a world where Bill O’Rilley is a respected journalist, Jesse Ventura is a governor and we watch people being bombed and killed while we sit in our living rooms, having a laid-back radio program like PHK is a nice break. Hey, somebody pass me the ketchup for my powder-milk biscuits and rubbarb pie. TV [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prairie-home-companion-this-show-stinks/163083.md?page=4)