Prairie Home Companion

I am going to be in the audience with my bride come the end of March for a taped show. I have always enjoyed Garrison Keillor's sense of humor, and he is coming to Milwaukee to tape a show.

Yeah, I know, I don't get out much. Last time, it was to see Bill Maher.

Bill Maher and Garrison Keilor, that's an interesting combo!
Have fun!

I've tried to listen . . . but always end up with an uncontrollable urge to stab myself in the ear with a dull butter knife after listening for more than 10 minutes.

I mostly agree in terms of the repetitive sketches, still can listen to the monologue. As a former resident of rural MN, his representation of folks there is not far off the mark. Garrison has announced his retirement, it will be interesting to see if it has a life after him.

The show would be a fave of mine if he would stop singing

Jake, there are a few prerequisites to being able to see the infinite depth and breadth of A Prairie Home Companion. First and foremost, you need to see the movie Fargo at least once, and preferably several times to get a taste of who and what a typical Minnesotan is. People who are not from there and who are exposed to them want to put them in a wood chipper. The movie might be fictional, but the characterizations are unbelievably accurate. A drive across the state from either direction is also recommended in order to get a feel for what boring looks like. And lastly, you need to eat at least one meal at Nye's Polonaise Room, which is a Polish restuarant. Order the spare ribs and sauerkraut, with the potato dumplings. It is served on a large platter, and the quanties are measured in acreage, not volume, although that is equivalent to the typical barn loft. The most amazing thing about the meal is that everything on the platter tastes exactly the same as everything else, no matter what you might have expected. They make you take what you do not eat home with you, they do not want it and will not throw it away on the premises.

After that, as dry as Garrison Keillor's humor is, it is like a breath of fresh air in a pungent dungeon, a cold water spring in a blazing desert, or a powder milk biscuit and gravy by comparison to their normal existences.

Nye's also used to have a piano bar with a guy playing all the old standards. Loved the food, too. Not all MN is boring. There is an area west of Lacrosse that escaped the glaciers and was my old home for 15 years. Beautiful rolling country with exposed limestone here and there. Miss it, but not the weather. No more Alberta Clippers, thank you very much. Also miss my neighbors Jhalmer and Lucille. Most of the actual Norwegian culinary traditions I don't miss. Stinky fish, white food, and things made from potatoes. Nye's is Polish.

I came back in the house to delete some Youtube of Maher I had posted, which I realized was inappropriate. Uffda! Looks like a moderator beat me to it. I really posted to show how funny and smart Maher is, but realize it's a distinction without a difference.

We had an apprentice living at our place who had stayed up late working in the studio. He went to get the mail and Jhalmer and Lucille asked him in. The house was warm and the converstion MN minimal. He fell asleep on their couch (mid sentence, probably). Woke up several hours later, they had been to polite to disturb him.

A great area indeed Potter, and you are exactly right about the beauty of the land along the Mississippi, I once counted 14 eagles at one time out hunting at sunset. Making fun of Minnesotans is a sport here in Wisconsin, and they do the same thing to us, as they consider us to be somewhat backward by comparison. They are right about that especially after the last election. I went to college near the Twin Cities, but on the right side of the river.

I got to see the Maher clips, one more time, before they were gone. Wrong forum. LOL

All I know is that I don't even want to try Lutefisk! :lol:

Gary