This is very weird but I keep thinking I read articles about him retiring a couple decades ago.
He’s said he’s going to retire lots of times. More Garrison Keillor retirement talk: Is it real this time?
He even quit doing the show for a few years in the late 80s, but started it again.
Evidently I’m not the only one who thinks he’s about as funny as a train wreck:
Only occasionally knee-slapping, often just gentle and wry. One of his specialties seems to be people who, through good intentions and no fault of their own, end up in horrible situations. Then they eat a piece of rhubarb pie, which takes the taste of shame and humiliation out of your mouth.
If he really is quitting, I imagine it is the writing rather than the performing that is taking its toll (I’ve always assumed that he was the Sarah Bellum who gets primary writing credit). From what I’ve read, if he’s within a mile of a microphone and there’s music playing, he’s going to try to sing bass harmony to whatever anyone else is doing. Things have been a little repetitive lately, and maybe he sees that it’s time to hang up Dusty and Lefty, and Guy Noir, and Lake Wobegon, and maybe write things that might have a little more merit. I don’t think I’ll miss it too much.
I used to love the show. But I haven’t listened in 20 years now, basically when he did some interviews back in the day, it spoiled it. He seemed bitter and resentful that he was pigeonholed into being the folksy guy, when he really wanted to be seen as a sophisticated modern intellectual. He had always successfully given the impression that it was comedy done out of a love and appreciation at heart. But when it became clear it was just a job, and he was really mocking people, the whole thing got ruined.
Agree-all of the shows sound the same. Frankly, not funny and very boring to listen to.
Having been steeped in the Lake Wobegon mystique since the very early 80’s, I still like to listen to his Wobegon bit weekly. But it’s more for warm reminiscences about the townsfolk that I have grown accustomed to than an appreciation of his wit; he’s gotten pretty damn repetitive.
I stopped listening to the rest of his show long, long ago.
Yeah. I tried to like his show back in the nineties, and for a couple of years I could tolerate it. But good god, has he had a new joke in twenty years?
Actually, scratch that. I listen to his joke show when it comes on once a year, because readers send in new jokes, and while his delivery of the jokes drives me up the wall, I do like a good joke.
Man, without a Prairie Home Companion, what will Bodie listen to when he leaves Baltimore?
I like his whimsical humor, but his voice drives me bonkers. It always sounds like he is about an inch away from breaking down crying.
Liked the PHC early on, and still have a few News from Lake Wobegon tapes. But after the hiatus, the show never seemed as interesting and I eventually lost interest/forgot to tune it in. I’m actually a bit surprised to hear it’s still on the air.
Still, between the loss of PHC and Car Talk, public radio has taken some serious hits 
The show will go on, with hosting duties passing to Chris Thile, a virtuoso mandolin player and pretty songwriter. I have no idea how well he’ll do as radio personality.
We often joke that PHC is the Lutheran version of 60 Minutes ------- but we keep listening. So if its Garrison or who-ever someone is doing something right.
I only enjoy around 1/3 of the program, and which parts I enjoy are hit or miss (except I usually never like Dusty and Lefty). So perhaps what he needed is to do fewer shows and to get an unforgiving editor. When I flip to it on the radio, I turn it off unless I am enjoying the first random 10 seconds or he is reading the News From LW.
He sounds to me like someone who is in love with the sound of his own voice. Also that annoying little tooth-whistle he developed a few years ago drives me to distraction. I know he suffered a mild stroke a few years back and was out for a while, and I thought he should have retired (again) after that.
Car Talk is still going strong around here…though it seems that the callers these days seem to have a lot of really old cars for some reason 
I imagine that PHC could continue for quite some time airing ‘encore presentations’ as well, considering that its not terribly topical. But NPR is going to need to come up with some new programs soon; I can only listen to so many hours of Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me in a weekend…
Is your station playing Ask Me Another? It’s at least as good as WWDTM.
I followed PHC thru the early 80’s, then the dark Wobegon books & his politicizing the show turned me off. I did go out to see him in 2012 when he performed at my college, and it was a sentimental folksy performance with a few friendly political jibes. I was very glad I went but I didn’t immediately listen to the show again.
Yeah-one of the brothers is dead-and they have the 20 year old show still being played. People are talking about cars that have been junked for decades.
[quote=“terentii, post:3, topic:725753”]
Evidently I’m not the only one who thinks he’s about as funny as a train wreck:
[/QUOTE]I pulled him up on Youtube and had essentially the same reaction. “Wait…that was a joke?”