# Garrison Keillor--get off the goddamn radio! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 17, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091 "2005-12-17T20:03:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/61 "2005-12-19T18:36:34Z")
> [@JonScribe](#): > > I repeat: If you don’t like it, don’t frickin’ listen. I don’t frickin’ do. Keep in mind that the main thrust of the OP is to decry Keillor’s getting in my face via Writer’s Almanac and his articles on Salon. I don’t listen to NPR on the weekends, so it’s out of sight, out of mind at that time. [quote] Especially in regard to writer’s almanac, it’s a pendantic but fully intrusion during serious programming time. It really is an abomination, and I feel that that alone justifies my rancor. Your point is crap, however: People can rant about what they think is crap. I’m casting a loud and angry vote against Keillor here, and if others wish to cast theirs in favor of him, that’s fine too. Free speech ‘n’ all that. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/62 "2005-12-19T19:02:45Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > What I will say is that the OP doesn’t really invite difference of opinion, is itself arrogant, unnecessarily belittling and prompts a huge: What accomplishments have you? Non sequitur. Critics don’t have to be authors, and few are. And one doesn’t have to be board-certified critic in order to blast bullshit and incompetence. > [@](#): > > Keillor’s shtick has not aged particularly well… Overall, the show isn’t for me… OK, we’re same-paging here: Keillor sucks. > [@](#): > > , but his live performances sell out everywhere and if people enjoy him, what’s it to you? I hate to see suckage become popular. It’s an injustice. > [@](#): > > I’ve also read some of Keillor’s magazine articles (sorry, no cites) in years past and have been impressed at his prose–blows away anything I’ve ever found on this board. I think the problem is content and attitude, not basic writing competence. > [@](#): > > I don’t listen to Writer’s Almanac, but if you can do a better job, send a query to PBS. Actually, I didn’t say that the program needed improvement; it should be taken off the air completely or at least positioned among other fluff. > [@](#): > > I can think of many other media personalities I’d like off the air before Keillor, among them Howard Stern. Stern is garbage sold as garbage. Keillor is garbage sold as folksy wisdom and literary knowledge. The latter fucks with my listening pleasure, hence my complaint. But if you want to rip Stern from the airwaves, no argument from me; he is, after all, pure cretinous trash. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/63 "2005-12-19T19:05:08Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > Oh, wow, now I’m a demographic. Actually, I’m probably on the younger edge of the audience for NPR: Well-educated (and probably somewhat better off than average) people between 50 and 70. That’s not really Baby Boomers specifically. It’s more like people anywhere between the decade before the Baby Boom to somewhere in the middle of the Baby Boom. I suspect the younger Baby Boomers don’t listen to NPR much. I suspect I’m on the younger edge of the PHC demographic too, at 21. I like the show, I like his books (he’s written about 10 novels, the ones I’ve read are good). I saw him in person when he did a show at my college. Basically it was just him standing there for a couple hours rambling ( **Aeschines** ’s hell), but it was interesting hearing something new, hearing him react and respond to the audience. I got to talk with him for a minute after the show (he did a book signing) and he talked to me about college and encouraged me to keep up with the journalism (“It’ll never let you down,” he said, which I doubt, but we’ll see). I catch the show when I’m not busy, and it makes good background noise (they archive the complete shows on their Web site). The books are fun reads that make me feel like writing. That’s about as far as it goes. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/64 "2005-12-19T19:05:18Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > Oh, wow, now I’m a demographic. Actually, I’m probably on the younger edge of the audience for NPR: Well-educated (and probably somewhat better off than average) people between 50 and 70. That’s not really Baby Boomers specifically. It’s more like people anywhere between the decade before the Baby Boom to somewhere in the middle of the Baby Boom. I suspect the younger Baby Boomers don’t listen to NPR much. Well, FWIW, my friends in their 20s and 30s tend to listen to This American Life (a group went to see this show live), Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Only a Game, Car Talk, BBC News Hour (or whatever it’s called), and Morning Edition. We do agree that PHC and Whaddaya Know both need to be taken out and shot. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/65 "2005-12-19T19:06:00Z")
And a lone voice in the wilderness says, hey, I like PHC, where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average. ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/66 "2005-12-19T19:38:40Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Plus on Saturday evenings it leads into two back-to-back broadcasts of [_Says You!_](http://www.wgbh.org/radio/saysyou/index), and if the money Keillor brings in helps to keep that show on the air, it’s fine by me. AMEN! I got to go to a live taping of Says You! here in Seattle. I smiled for 2 hours straight. If you can ever, ever get to one, do go. The stuff that doesn’t make it to air is just priceless…naughty, but priceless. If I could get to Wait, Wait, then my life would be full. Ira Glass is coming in the Spring and I am hinting like hell for tickets. I have also seen PHC live as well, which was good, but there was wine involved. I could still hear his nose whistling though. 😃 Is it possible I am a slut for NPR? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/67 "2005-12-19T19:55:03Z")
> [@sj2](#): > > AMEN! I got to go to a live taping of Says You! here in Seattle. I smiled for 2 hours straight. If you can ever, ever get to one, do go. The stuff that doesn’t make it to air is just priceless…naughty, but priceless. Hey, was the show you went to broadcast recently? Loads of laughs! I always wonder how the audience can manage to restrain themselves sometimes (assuming they do). If I had a nickel for every time I’ve shouted an answer at the radio I could underwrite an episode or two myself. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/68 "2005-12-19T20:40:52Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Your point is crap, however: People can rant about what they think is crap. I’m casting a loud and angry vote against Keillor here, and if others wish to cast theirs in favor of him, that’s fine too. Free speech ‘n’ all that. I disagree with you on many points, but this is one you have spot on. People here often come into ranting threads to repeat the tired old, “If you don’t like it, don’t listen/read/watch it.” You still have a perfect right to rant about crap, and if you do it well then I like to read about it here. You also get extra bonus points for ranting about something that you feel brings down the overall quality of something you enjoy, NPR. I do, however, disagree with you about Keillor. He is getting old and much of his stuff is no longer so original, but I will specifically defend Writer’s Almanac. I think you are approaching it from the wrong direction. I have dated many a writer, and they invariably love the show. They call it a cure for writer’s block, and that is how I generally think of it. It is a collection of oddities to give you new and different ways of looking at things, real life excerpts from respected authors to make them seem more real and human, and a poem to cap it off. He seems to be saying, here are these wonderful things that were written by real people who had real problems, and you can do it too. I think you may just not be the intended audience. After all that, I have to agree that Whadda’ Ya Know and Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me suck ass. ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/69 "2005-12-19T20:43:58Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Hey, was the show you went to broadcast recently? Loads of laughs! I always wonder how the audience can manage to restrain themselves sometimes (assuming they do). If I had a nickel for every time I’ve shouted an answer at the radio I could underwrite an episode or two myself. 😃 Yes it was! They taped 4 episodes here in Seattle and they were so much fun. Lots of talking with the crowd and such and bawdy references which were cut out. The panel also did a good 1/2 hour question and answer session with the audience, which I thought was so nice of them to do. The taping for each was over an hour per episode so whomever edits those recordings is a genious! FYI: You can buy individual episodes at [audible.com](http://audible.com). Trivia I learned… Richard Sher, who my husband is convinced is Christopher Meloni dad :rolleyes: , does know the definitions of the mystery word…not just the panelist who gets the card. He chose Pipet and Finch (the “corporate name”) from a book of birds…literally, he flipped pages and pointed his finger. He and the majority of the panelists would play this game as a parlor activity well before the radio show. Imagine those nights. :jealous: ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/70 "2005-12-19T20:46:06Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > **Aeschines** , you seem to have an irrational personal resentment toward Keillor. It’s rational and based on his public performances. It’s directed toward his public presence. > [@](#): > > I haven’t re-read every one of your posts, but I don’t recall any reasoned critiques, especially of PHC. Please read the posts before commenting. I did give a “reasoned critique” of Writer’s Almanac and the Salon columns. I don’t listen to PHC. > [@](#): > > This dismissal of 25 years of original and creative work that has entertained millions, whether you personally like it or not, is childish and beneath contempt. Howard Stern has entertained millions for over a decade; would it be “childish” and “beneath contempt” to call him a worthless vulgarian? Hardly. > [@](#): > > And although you mention a few NPR shows you like (e.g. _Fresh Air_) you have offered no suggestions for what you’d rather see in place of PHC, _Whad’Ya Know_, and the other stuff you clearly don’t like. I’ve stated, numerous times now, that NPR does excellent news and shitty entertainment. My advice to them is to replace the entertainment with more newsy stuff. [quote] As I said in my last post, I won’t stand up and defend _The Writer’s Almanac_, but I get the sense that even if Keillor read the kind of poetry you like, you wouldn’t be satisfied. Something else seems to be going on here.\*\*Yes, something else is going on, and I wrote about it in a post up the thread. Feel free to read, then respond. > [@](#): > > Keillor may be an egomaniacal pompous ass. Many people in show business, and the real world, are. And they deserved to be slammed for it. But the deeper point is that Keillor’s pomposity and asininity comes through in his _work itself_; others here have gone on to confirm that he’s a dickhead IRL. > [@](#): > > I think he is intelligent and well-read and funny. I like at least one of his radio shows and listen whenever I can. Then your taste is showing. > [@](#): > > Sorry if you don’t feel the same way, **Aeschines**. Surely there are other things you can do on the weekends. No shit! Read again my critique of “Writer’s Almanac,” which invades my weekday mornings. ---
**Author:** ![JonScribe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3be4f8/32.png) [@JonScribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonScribe)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/71 "2005-12-20T01:23:03Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > … > > Keep in mind that the main thrust of the OP is to decry Keillor’s getting in my face via Writer’s Almanac and his articles on Salon. … What part of “Don’t listen,” are you failing to grasp here. Or has Keillor changed all the presets on your car radio and superglued the buttons. Keehrist. We get that you don’t like Keillor in any form. I’m taking my own advice now. There’s other stuff I can read. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/72 "2005-12-20T01:27:17Z")
Ira Glass. What is it I don’t get about Ira Glass and _This American Life_? Why does _everybody_ on the show talk in _exactly_ the same fast uninflected monotone, ie: Just Like Ira? Do they all hang out in the same clubs or something, or is Ira just coaching them to sound as blasé and worldly and hip as possible? Yes, I’ve listened to the show, and my interest has often been held by it. But the presentation just seems so…so _mannered._ ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/73 "2005-12-20T01:33:49Z")
> [@JonScribe](#): > > What part of “Don’t listen,” are you failing to grasp here. Or has Keillor changed all the presets on your car radio and superglued the buttons. Are _you_ listening, dipshit? The show is THRUST into the NEWS I LOVE like a HERPES-INFECTED COCK! And I DO TURN IT OFF! CAN YOU HEAR ME, MUTHAFUCKA?! > [@](#): > > I’m taking my own advice now. There’s other stuff I can read. Yes, cya. Thanks for commenting. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/74 "2005-12-20T03:59:37Z")
When Garrison Keillor is travelling around the country doing shows, he often travels with musicians and their spouses. When the group gathers at night to pass the time, Keillor is the quiet one. Mostly he just watches and absorbs. You would think he wasn’t paying that much attention, but at the next performances the bits and pieces of conversation and stories are transformed into funny commentary in his show. He is still amazingly gifted. > [@](#): > > **Aeschines** : It is like a worn-out pair of shoes that people keep putting on because they’ve done so before and it’s safe and comforting. You couldn’t have chosen a more appealing metaphor even though it’s not entirely appropriate. (I told my husband when we were newlyweds that I looked forward to being “old shoes” together.) Yes, the style of Keillor’s humor is very comfortable and dependable for me. But _A Prarie Home Companion_ still manages to introduce me to talent that I might not know otherwise. Just recently I heard Kaki King play the guitar for the first time because of his show and I am hooked! > [@](#): > > **Aeschines** : I know its some soporific bullshit about a small town, that’s about it. So your opinion of him as an “egotistical, self-centered asshole” is based on 1. the sound of his voice 2. a daily five minute radio Almanac and poetry reading 3. a popular advice column at Salon that ended a few years back …and is not based on the accomplishment for which he is most well-known and with which you are essentially unfamiliar? I suppose it’s possible that everything you say about Keillor is true, but how the hell would _you_ know? You haven’t scratched the surface. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/75 "2005-12-20T04:47:53Z")
It seems to me that critics of Keillor’s shows have to realize that there is a bunch of people out in the darkness who came of age in small farm towns in the happy days before John Kennedy’s head was blown off who really enjoy the man’s humor and low key wit. Admittedly we got the Hell out of those small farm towns just as fast as we could get ourselves into a cheap state university but the PHC show is a bit of a connection to our youth. Whenever he points out that in Lake Woebegone the Lutherans drive Fords and the Catholics drive Chevies (or vise-verse) we smile because that is the way it was in our hometown. When he does his detective bit we remember the radio private eyes of our childhood and we smile. Maybe you need some sort of cultural connection to a world that ended during the Johnson Administration to like the show. Maybe you have to think that Howard Stern is a boob and that humor based on language that some of us didn’t hear until we lived in a barracks is not all that amusing. Maybe not. The _Writer’s Almanac_ is broadcast around here at 5:30 in the morning. I don’t catch it very often. When I do hear it, it seems moderately entertaining and informative – like having an uncle who is a retired English professor at some freshwater college. It’s only five minutes and can’t be nearly as annoying as even five seconds of the blather that passes for entertainment on the drive-time radio shows. I suppose, **Aeschines** , that everyone is entitled to have an opinion on any subject but your’s is one I can’t agree with. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/76 "2005-12-20T12:53:12Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > Yeah, let’s just keep Stern off PBS. Considering that Stern is no longer on any kind of terrestrial medium, I’d say we don’t have to worry about that. What I meant was PHC appeals to people who don’t find Stern’s brand of humor funny. Robin ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/77 "2005-12-20T14:11:20Z")
I came in to agree that while I enjoyed Praire Home Companion back in the 1980’s. It has worn thin for me too. For those who deride Howard Stern (and I’m one of them) one of the reasons that I think Garrison is not as funny anymore is that it seems that after his divorce his writing got cruder and alot more sex andd bathroom jokes started to appear on the show. Nothing wrong with a good joke about anything but these days he just seems to sound like every sitcom on TV. Which I regret, I remember buying several of his albums and tapes and I miss the wholesome old-time radio humor that I enjoyed. What’s amusing is that I still love Car-Talk, Whad’ya Know and most of the other shows mentioned. Frank DeFord I can do without however. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/78 "2005-12-20T15:12:22Z")
**Aeschines** : > [@aeschines](#): > > > [@commasense](#): > > > > I think he is intelligent and well-read and funny. I like at least one of his radio shows and listen whenever I can. > > Then your taste is showing. Ah, I see. _You’re_ the only one with good taste. :rolleyes: And you’re calling other people egomaniacal pompous asses? Too bad for you that you don’t live in [Kentucky](http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/12361462.htm). But then again, it looks like even Kentuckians [disagree with you.](http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/12374053.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/79 "2005-12-20T15:54:56Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > Ira Glass. What is it I don’t get about Ira Glass and _This American Life_? Why does _everybody_ on the show talk in _exactly_ the same fast uninflected monotone, ie: Just Like Ira? Do they all hang out in the same clubs or something, or is Ira just coaching them to sound as blasé and worldly and hip as possible? > > Yes, I’ve listened to the show, and my interest has often been held by it. But the presentation just seems so…so _mannered._ I guess what I was getting at here is…is Ira Glass trying to become _the anti-Garrison Keillor?_ ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091/80 "2005-12-20T19:29:58Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > . Anyway, why work up a sweat hatin’ the guy? Just don’t listen to him. Count me in the “can take him or leave him alone” crowd. Still I can definitely understand the ire of someone tuning into the local publicly supported classic music station, desiring and expecting, naturally enough to hear classical music, instead being offered two hours of homespun folksiness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garrison-keillor-get-off-the-goddamn-radio/336091.md?page=5)