Leaving Lake Wobegon

English: Mr. Garrison Keillor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In 1978, yours truly was a student at Normandale Community College outside the Twin Cities.  On a soft spring Saturday evening, I was among those who sat on the lawn next to the Fine Arts building, witnessing the live radio broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion", presided over by a man named Garrison Keillor.

I don't remember much about that show, except for the music playing and Keillor musing about a place somewhere in Minnesota called Lake Wobegon.  When the broadcast was over, we went inside to watch the school's production of (don't quote me) "Our Town".

In 2016, on another soft summer Saturday evening during the Fourth of July weekend, I listened to Keillor host his final broadcast of APHC on the radio.  It was recorded the previous evening at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, which is as far from Lake Wobegon as you could get.  After more than 40 years on the air, the program had attracted a worldwide following and became distributor American Public Media's meal ticket.

The show itself was not much different from the 1978 version, with its mix of music and comedy sketches.  At times, it sounded like an unofficial Democratic Party fundraiser with plugs for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.  There was even a separate segment where Keillor was chatting by phone with President Barack Obama.  I can understand why some folks are turned off by Keillor and the show, particularly those who don't share his political views, making fun of religion in his monologues, or saying other things that make them want to rescind their contributions to their local public radio station.

"A Prairie Home Companion" is not going off the air.  It will be a much different show come the fall with new host Chris Thile, and a music-intensive format designed to appeal not only to younger listeners but also to those who have been waiting for Keillor to retire for years.  Obviously, Thile and the new show will have a lot to live up to.

Keillor isn't going away, either.  Now 73, his plans are to executive-produce the new APHC, do some concerts, write a syndicated political column, and work on a screenplay for a film about Lake Wobegon.  Only where's he going to find someone like Robert Altman (now deceased), who directed the movie based on APHC?

It has been 38 years since that broadcast at Normandale.  Since then I have read some of his books, listened to the program off and on, and subscribed to the "News From Lake Wobegon" podcast.  As a native Minnesotan, I find Keillor's material to be amusing, charming and a bit risque, as he couldn't wait to get his naughty side on.  But nobody should mistake Minnesotans for being the stuffed shirts we're usually made out to be.  After all, we like to get our naughty sides on too.

So say goodbye to Lake Wobegon, Powdermilk Biscuits, Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility, Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery, the Chatterbox Cafe, and all the other things that this town so much a part of Myth America--like Mayberry, North Carolina ("The Andy Griffith Show") and Cicely, Alaska ("Northern Exposure").  No matter how much we want to visit those idyllic places, they're really just a state of mind.  Just like Garrison Keillor's, though he's been kind enough to share his with us for four decades.

UPDATE (11/30/17):  Apparently, Keillor's naughty side has gotten the best of him.  He's become the latest high profile white male, besides Matt Lauer, to lose his job and livelihood to a woman who claimed she was touched inappropriately.  Minnesota Public Radio has cut all ties with Keillor because of that.  They will no longer air reruns of APHC, syndicate "The Writer's Almanac", or have anything else to do with him.   Thile's show is getting a new name, since Keillor owns the APHC copyright.  It also wouldn't be a surprise if he lost his syndicated newspaper column, having written a defense of Senator Al Franken's problems of a similar nature.  Such a sad and surprising fall.  Keillor's become just another guy who couldn't keep his hands to himself.