Garrison Keillor is considered one of our nation’s favorite radio hosts. An American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality, Keillor hosts the popular “A Prairie Home Companion,” which is heard weekly by more than four million listeners on over 600 stations worldwide.Keillor is bringing his A Prairie Home Companion show to Wolf Trap for two shows, 8 p.m., Friday, May 22 and 5:45 p.m., Saturday, May 23, with special guests Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan.
I recently had the chance to ask the man behind the signature monologue, “The News from Lake Wobegon,” some questions about his show.
KL: What can those coming to Wolf Trap expect to see on the night?GK: A fine women’s trio, Sara & Sarah & Aoife, just back from a European tour, and a crack U.S. Navy Ceremonial Band and then the rest of us in the clown car, and the host lumbering on and off stage.
KL: What is it about the Wolf Trap audience and the venue that keeps you coming back year after year?
GK: The Washington audience is fond of Wolf Trap and endures nightmare traffic jams to get there, they love sitting on the grassy hill where the sound is extraordinarily good, and they love singing. And I guess they like our show. Before the show, or during intermission, I climb up to the top of the hill and sing with them and they’re all nestled into their campsites, tarps, coolers, some lawn chairs, interesting beverages, and it makes me wish I could join them and have someone else do the show.
KL: What do your guests—Fred Newman, Tim Russell, and Sue Scott add to the show?
GK: They’re the actors who make it possible to do radio comedy, a lost art that we’re recovering, so we can have demented dolphins commandeer a Navy sub and shoot down incoming meteorites, that sort of thing. The sky’s the limit with radio.
KL: What is your favorite thing about doing your show live on stage?GK: I love that people at home are listening as we do it—there’s no editing, no post-production, it simply is what it is, and you don’t get much of that in today’s processed world.
KL: For those unfamiliar with your radio show, briefly describe what the show is all about?
GK: It’s about America, the country that we all love and have in common, not the brushfires of politics.
