I rarely listen to the “live broadcast” of A Prairie Home Companion on the radio or even at its broadcast times on the internet. But I usually catch it sometime Monday or Tuesday after the streaming version is up at the website. A year or so ago I listened to every episode they had in archives at that point, so I managed to make up for a lot of lost ground then.
I have mixed feelings about my favorite segment Guy Noir in that I love the theme music and how it reminds me of the old detective shows I listened to on the radio as a kid. Things like:
Boston Blackie
Bulldog Drummond
Johnny Dollar
Richard Diamond
Mike Hammer
True Detective Mysteries
Gangbusters
The Shadow
Nick Carter
and dozens more until we eventually got a TV set before I got out of my teens.
But aside from those connections I wind up being pretty bored with the actual segment after the theme is over. Now and then it will be exciting or especially funny, but only now and then.
Anybody else make it a point of listening to this?
Any other bits in Keillor’s bag that you like better?
Anybody remember any other detective shows from the radio?
Wow! Thanks for the heads up, Sampiro! I think I may have heard (or read) something about this, but it had totally slipped my mind. Looks like great fun.
Like most of Keillor’s bits its pretty ho-hum. Occasionally it will be really funny, but its usually just sort of amusing. Also sometimes he lets the stories get little too free association for me.
That said, PHC is the best thing ever to have on long car trips. Each show is two hours, so it eats a lot of time, and its something thats interesting and amusing without having to pay to much attention to it. And the music is always good.
That’s about the only time I’ll make a point of listening to the radio broadcast. We have a set of CD’s that feature the “News from Lake Wobegon” that make for similar drive-time distraction. Got them for Christmas a year or two ago. They’re exceptional choices from another segment that has its ups and downs. Even at their worst I can’t imagine trying to adlib that sort of thing for 20 minutes or so.
Keillor is virtually alone in his ability to spellbind an audience with nothing but the spoken word. Only thing I can think of that compares is Hal Holbrook’s An Evening With Mark Twain.
I LOVE that part!
It seems to me that I haven’t heard any of the teme song in the last few years. I was wondering if they had deleted that part.
It has lost some of it’s kick, tho.
hh
Yes. And the taglines that (I believe) Richard Dworsky sings are the icing on the cake. You can usually make a decent guess as to what’s coming after “ketchup on…” but as often as not it’s a real surprise.
Another bit I have enjoyed (and haven’t heard in a good while) is the “Bob: The Story of a Young Artist” sketches. That dog Rex and the old guy always crack me up.
That sums it up pretty well for me too. Actually, that works for his entire show too. I listen occasionally (usually only if I’m in the car when it is on) but I don’t find him entertaining enough to tune in regularly.
I find the broadcast hours inconvenient. Our PBS station has him on at 5 on Saturday and a rebroadcast at 1 PM on Sunday. I rarely listen to radio as such at home so making time for radio at those hours is just something I forget to do. Especially when I can get the rewind/replay function or the skip ahead one on Real Audio online.
One thing that keeps me going back is the occasional discovery of some musical talent I doubt I’d hear of elsewhere. There have been some real jewels in that category.
I love Lake Woebegone every week, because even when it’s not terribly good, it’s just like mainlining pure 100% concentraged Midwest, all the stuff I missed since moving away.
The best Woebegone stories make me want to get on I90 and not stop until I hit the Mississippi.
Dad used to (still might) record PHC every week. It was a good choice for family car trips. I still listen to it when I think about it, but it’s not appointment listening for me. Now, if I could buy the entire show (the whole 2 hours) for a buck off iTunes or Audible or something I’d listen to it a lot more often.
Since no one else has said it, here’s my take. I enjoy the Guy Noir stories, but I’ve found consistently that the skits tend to end about a minute too late. It’s like they were going too fast when they hit the punchline and continued drifting on meaninglessly for a while. For me, it really tends to deflate the whole sketch.
I like Guy Noir, and haven’t noticed a delayed ending problem.
But the Ketchup series still wins.
The news from Lake Woebegone used to really annoy me with its odd combination of free association and odd ending points. But then I grew to like both aspects.
To go against the tide, I usually don’t like the musical guests.
As a general statement I’m not a big fan of 50-70% of the musical guests. It’s about the only program I listen to with any regularity that features as much Gospel, Bluegrass, Polka, Zydeco, and other genres that I wouldn’t make it a point of hearing.
It’s been since I was a little kid that I heard The Grand Ole Opry even though I live close enough to make any show I would like to. It’s just not my kind of music. Keillor borrows quite heavily from the Nashville crowd, and some of them are impressively good. So there’s one category I do hear on APHC that I wouldn’t get otherwise.
The talent that I hear there and (except for Austin City Limits) hardly anywhere else are the Celtic performers, jazz artists and specialty acts he showcases at times. Some of those have been exceptional.
“Her jeans were so tight I could count the change in her pockets.”
I love Garrison. Like Podkayne said, it’s like mainlining my hometown. Without actually having to live in rural Minnesota, of course. But he’s also got this dirty old man side that I find (inexplicably) irresistable. Needless to say, I listen religiously.
I find the Noir bits to be my least favorites, though they have their moments. I really dislike the Reference Librarian bits that have sprouted lately. I like Dusty & Lefty, I love the English major bits, and the monologues have a pacing to them that sounds just like my Dad’s sermons (I think it’s convergent evolution though, Dad never cared much for PHC). The music, for me, is like being in church. Again, though, without actually having to be in church.
Yeah, I’m a little obsessed. My sister (lucky girl) is taking a class from him at the U of M right now! She calls every week to tell me about it.
i’ve listened to PHC ever since my parents would tune it in during long car trips when I was a kid. Lake Wobegon is good (got even better when I found it out was improvised) and I always liked Guy Noir. Last weekend’s Guy Noir (the Broadway Tourette’s) fell a little flat, however.
My favorite, though, has always been Café Boeuf. Comedy gold.
