by G.W. Mercure
Garrison Keillor, an icon in American radio and storytelling, will perform at the Payomet Performing Arts Center this Tuesday night. The event, Garrison Keillor Tonight, promises to be an evening of reflection, humor, and wisdom from a man whose career has spanned decades and whose influence on American culture is profound.
Keillor is best known for creating and hosting A Prairie Home Companion, a weekly radio variety show that aired from 1974 to 2016. The show, renowned for its musical guests, humorous sketches, and Keillor’s signature segment, News from Lake Wobegon, has left an indelible mark on the landscape of American entertainment. In our uncertain times, what is the value of Prairie Home Companion’s “down-home” wisdom and is any of it reanimated by Garrison Keillor Tonight?
“Expect me to come out and have a very complicated Lake Wobegon story. And I’m also going to do a political round saying how happy I am about Kamala Harris, and it will be delivered with passion. I think people need to hear that. Not often we have happy Democrats. So that’ll be a phenomenon.”
Keillor’s reflections extend beyond the stage. At 82, he brings a unique perspective on aging and creativity. “I think being in one’s 60s and 70s can be really rough, but the 80s are really, really wonderful,” he says. This sentiment underscores his performance, where he plans to discuss the advantages of growing old and the contentment that comes with it. “Your mistakes and big ambitions are behind you, nothing left to prove, and small things give you great pleasure because that’s what’s left.”
Keillor never set out to be a radio icon. He transitioned from an English major to a radio performer. “I’m an English major. I’m a failed English major, and so I sit down and write. Radio was simply a way to earn a living. And it also was a way to get into comedy. Radio comedy is much easier than literary. You stand up in front of some audience and some of them are going through a hard time and you’re going all out to amuse.”
For Keillor, amusing people meant mostly one thing: telling stories. On this subject, he is insightful and generous. The digital age has not changed the value of storytelling, even if it has changed its nature. “Storytelling is how people come to understand each other,” he says. “It’s the best way we can reach each other. Other people are able to understand and we bond on this basis, much more so than on the basis of shared political ideas or more cultural values.” Keillor expressed hope that younger generations will continue to value close, long-term friendships despite the prevalence of digital communication.
Keillor, who describes himself as “an old Democrat,” continues to be unafraid to express strong opinions about politics, though the politics of A Prairie Home Companion was for the most part tempered (although never in much doubt). Instead of radio programs that rib rural America out of affection and a keen knowledge of its value, we now encounter leaders who are both uninformed and opportunistic about small-town culture. “They have one leader and he knows less about rural America,” he says. “The guy really is completely in the dark. And they love that. They love the fact that he is unscripted.”
For Keillor, digital communication and social media have impacted the ways we know each other and communicate with each other. “I could sit down in a bar with a Republican.” he says, “and if we didn’t talk about Joe Biden, if instead we talked about their life, I would come to understand them better.” He adds, “That is the most profound thing of our conversation.”
Keillor’s performance at the Payomet Performing Arts Center will feature a blend of storytelling, political commentary both direct and indirect, and reflections on aging. He will share a new tale set in Lake Wobegon, a fictional Minnesota town that has been the backdrop for many of his stories. This particular story will involve Marcel Duchamp, dadaism, and a poignant encounter with a high school crush at a friend’s funeral. The objective, of course, is to amuse people. “Which was not what I intended to do when I was in college,” he says. “I intended to make people miserable, to write stories of existential dread. But I was married and had a small child and I had to earn money. And people don’t have money for existential dread. And so I had to go to work.”
In addition to his storytelling, Keillor will engage the audience with sung sonnets, limericks, and musical jokes. The evening will also include an a cappella sing-along, featuring an eclectic mix of patriotic songs, pop standards, and hymns, culminating with the national anthem. It’s not enough for Keillor to connect with the audience. He learned to do that generations ago. The objective – and the result that helped make A Prairie Home Companion so successful for so long – is to inspire the audience to connect with each other.
“You know, once ‘friend’ became a verb and we began to ‘friend’ other people, something artificial was introduced. The great enemy today in this country is isolation. And this is damaging our society. Somehow, I believe that we will recover. But for all of the advantages of digital electronics—and I use them every single day and I am grateful for it—there’s nothing like sitting and talking and living nearby. So, somehow we have to have young people learn the values of close, long-term friendship.”
Garrison Keillor Tonight will be performed at Payomet Performering Arts Center, 29 Old Dewline Rd., North Truro, on Tuesday, August 6, 7 p.m. For tickets ($35 – $70) and information call 508.349.2929 or visit payomet.org. NOTE: Tickets may be available at the door at a higher price.
