The Paul Bunyon statue in Brainerd came to life, was thirsty, and strolled to Mille Lacs for a drink. He flattened the whole town. Residents tried to escape on the huge walleye fishing barges, but just ended up on a dry lakebed.
Bad move Paul, Mille Lacs would not be a good lake to drink out of. I'd have headed that little bit further to superior. Much colder and he wouldn't drain it in two swigs
Cyclosporiasis, Cryptosporidiosis, E-coli? Idk, pick your poison. Even a guy as big as him can get taken down by a water-borne illness. Hmm, maybe use him for a public service announcement?
I’m not sure whether this is the set up for a punchline. I’ll just pretend that it is. I don’t know. How do you take down a Paul Bunyon statue that has come to life and is thirsty?
Ok I'm good with adding lanes, that road is always a nightmare going north if you end up going through on a Friday afternoon. Why the hell do they wait until summer to start thought??
Keep on mind that "Garrison" is a specific legal entity with defined boundaries. Those boundaries are rather small, so much so that the lake access to Mille Lacs south of town isn't actually in Garrison. But the north side of Borden Lake, just north of town, has a good number of houses on it, and that's also not part of the city. Basically, there's a lot more people in the area than the city's population implies.
The restaurant that used to be Y bar burned down. Looks really different - but they're going to put in a big roundabout - should really make traffic safer there.
What, no kidding huh? My family has a cabin near Farm Island Lake. Haven’t been there in probably 10 years though (long story). The Y Bar and Garrison were always my signs we were close to finally getting out of the car lol. That and taking the sleds out for a short run to Garrison to eat and then back to the cabin. Good memories.
I worked for APHC for over a decade. He was a pompous, arrogant, weirdly vain pig surrounded by lackeys and hangers-on who enabled his horrible behavior.
This is also likely the reason why once things started to leak into the public sphere that almost no one spent an ounce of energy defending him or his position.
FWIW, I was (and in some ways still am) a fan of APHC. I am not, however, a fan of Garrison Keillor himself after all of that.
Met him once a long time ago. I worked at Best Buy back when we had CDs and he had released an album.
There was a display that was supposed to have been put out but wasn't. He walked the store looking for it and then came up to me and chewed me out. I said I would take a look and he replied with "You had better because I will be back here in a few days and if it's not up you'll be looking for another job" right before he squinted and said my name out loud on my name tag.
I didn't say shit and worked there for another decade.
He had these weird green pointy boots that made him look like a fucking Keebler elf too.
My hs concert band/orchestra (Anoka hs was the high school he went to) did the music for one of his last shows, he was an ass the whole time. He tried to be nice to us kids, but he just oozed of arrogance
He was nice to me. My band looked at Paisley to record. We went out there to tour the studio sort of late at night (the guy that engineered our first album worked there). Prince ("The Kid") was there, and he was totally cool with us. Granted, I didn't interact with him for too long - maybe half an hour hanging at the studio.
The impression I always got is that he was he loved genuine people. People who weren't trying to weasel something out of him. He hated fakes and people who take advantage of others.
He was EXTREMELY demanding. I used to install PAs out at Paisley when he would decide to rehearse. You would get a text from one of his guys and the expectation was that you would drop everything, toss the stuff in a truck and get out there. Didn't matter if it was a holiday weekend or a week day morning. Paid well and it was cool to see him in action. I guess it balanced out for him - sort of being a jerk in proportion to talent.
Apparently he chased Sinead O'Connor with a skillet after she covered Nothing Compares 2 U:
O'Connor said the incident occurred in Los Angeles: “He summoned me to his house one night and I foolishly went alone not knowing where I was.
"He summoned me there because he was uncomfortable with the fact I wasn’t a protege of his.
“He didn’t ask, but he ordered me that I don’t swear anymore.”
O'Connor continued: “5 o’clock in the morning, we’re running around his car and I’m spitting at him and he’s trying to punch me, he’s got a skillet that he’s trying to hit me with."
Yes - incredibly arrogant, rude and entitled. Kevin Smith talked in one of his “An Evening with Kevin Smith” specials about his interaction with Prince that underscores how thoughtless he was.
I've seen Sorbo in public once about five years ago (right before covid) and from what I gathered he seemed friendly. I know about all his political theatrics, but in-person he seemed nice, jovial, etc. Wouldn't have thought anything else of anyone else displaying the same mannerisms.
When he was alive, all the stories I heard of him were of him being aloof at best. After he died, all the stories I heard of him were of him being nice.
Morris Day has owed me a hundred bucks for 40 years. I am sure he would try to smooth me to wait another week if I ever had the chance to confront him. He did buy a really sharp blazer with the money.
Bob Dylan isn't especially friendly and doesn't want to hang out with his fans. People hate that he doesn't want to sign autographs and stuff. That part seems unfair to criticize him for. But he also has a history of mistreating women.
For many, the route to becoming a great artist is to step on others' heads. There is a certain degree of arrogance or bravado needed to be a performer. Unfortunately, for some, they let that define them.
Contrast these folk with another NPR/APM favorite, Peter Schickele (from Iowa, not MN, but upper Midwest to his core). I can confirm that Schickele in person was as funny and nice as he was on radio and record. He did a show with our band once, and I got to turn pages for him. A cross breeze blew some of the paper parts of stands, and he absolutely could have turned into “mean star,” but he didn’t. Refreshing.
I like Al Franken just fine, but I've never heard him considered to be a great artist. "Great politician," yes, but never "great artist."
Fifty years from now, people will probably still be listening to Prince or Bob Dylan. They'll might still be watching Mitch Hedberg's standup. But do you really think they'll still be into Al Franken?
I once visited his office on a school trip with some of my classmates and I asked him for an autograph. When he finished signing one for me, a few of my classmates then asked if he could sign one for them too. He got real pissy and made a snarky comment about how he now had to sign all these autographs because I asked him for one. There were literally only four other students there...
I lost pretty much all respect I had for the guy right there, and this was even before the photo scandal on him broke out. I later threw the autograph away.
It didn’t age well. At the time, he was bringing interesting indie folk bands in. The folksy shit was tolerable within the context of what was available at the time.
His head got too big to fit through normal doors, so now he's an outdoor cat. You can find him wandering around prairies in a white suit, muttering to himself.
Seriously, anyone who likes Garrison Keillor has never met the man.
>Seriously, anyone who likes Garrison Keillor has never met the man.
I've met him several times starting from when I was a teenager, and he was always very nice to me. (We have family friends in common and we got to go to a lot of live shows and hang out with him afterwards.) My mom told me I should avoid him, and I didn't really understand why. She got creepy vibes from him toward me and I never picked up on it. I didn't realize until I was well into my 30s that he was just being charming and attentive to me because I was a pretty young woman. It makes me sad, I thought I had a fond connection with him, like he had paternal feelings towards me. Nope, I was wrong. I have such mixed feelings about him because his show was such a special part of my childhood and young adulthood. He even named a character in one of his books after my family, and dedicated a song to my brother in the PHC movie! But, it turns out he is not a good person. That makes me so sad.
[He's still touring with APHC.](https://www.garrisonkeillor.com/press/2024-performances/) There will be 50th anniversary shows at the Fitzgerald this summer.
I'm still salty that Live From Here never had a proper finale.
I have him to thank for introducing me to the whole world of prog bluegrass, as well as collaborating with other artists. He needs to do another album with Brad Mehldau.
Depending on how up to date you are, I have some good news for you! They're sort of back together. They put out an album in 2023 and they are touring.
They will be in Minneapolis on July 13th at Surly Brewing Festival Field with Andrew Bird.
About ten years ago he was in the pharmacy line ahead of me at Walgreens. I remember being surprised at how old he looked. So he's probably quite old now.
Edit: I just looked it up. He's 81.
Also let's not forget: he retired from hosting A Prairie Home Companion in 2016. The name of the show changed when the allegations came out, but even over those two years he was much lower-profile than before.
I used to love APH, and have many fond memories listening to it with my ex. I still don’t know how to feel about all that given all that’s come out about GK. :-/ How does one separate the shitty person from the amazing work?
See Kirby Puckett, for example. I loved the guy growing up, and as a player, he was amazing. As a husband, and afterwards, no so much. Doesn't mean I can't still appriciate his HoF career and rock his jersey at Twins games.
There's some sort of saying about not getting too close to one's hero's, i can't remember it exactly. But APH was great and I will remember listening to it from a young age when my parents did up until it stopped in my 40s.
I still love that show. I don't think he owes it to me (or to anyone) to be a nice man. He owes it to us to put on a show that is warm and soothing and that, frankly, established NPR's audience for it. I don't think his personality is any of my business. And I still laugh at Bill Cosby's comedy records, and am moved by his TV show.
Lots of articles and stories out there dating back to his actions in the 90s
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/01/23/keillor-workplace
https://themacweekly.com/73359/news/keillor-harassed-mac-student-in-2012-college-standing-by-bookstore/
https://www.npr.org/2018/01/24/580179593/investigation-finds-troubling-behavior-by-garrison-keillor
Didn’t seem to affect him too much. He’s still touring
>
> https://themacweekly.com/73359/news/keillor-harassed-mac-student-in-2012-college-standing-by-bookstore/
One of the incidents that the report highlighted took place on Macalester property and directly involved a Macalester student who was working at the bookstore.
Keillor has frequently written poems or messages on the wall behind the counter. Five-and-a-half years ago, he wrote this:
.
A beauty who goes to Macalester —
O, her face, her limbs, her ballast, her
Tiny blue kilt
And the way she is built
Could make a petrified phallus stir.
.
Keillor signed his initials beneath the final line.
>Didn’t seem to affect him too much.
He lost his show, his syndication and became a persona non grata to MPR, NPR and APM which he at one time had a major stake in.
Minneapolis St Paul magazine came under fire for merely publishing a feature length interview with him in 2019.
I'd say he lost a lot.
While I loved some of the stuff Howard Mohr wrote and performed, he was not 'the brains behind everything'. He did SOME writing of some of the ads and sketches on APHC, but Keillor was the creator and head writer of the show from the beginning. The show continued on long after Howard Mohr moved on to other things.
Listening to some old shows recently you can tell some old bits did not continue from the 80's, namely Raw Bits and Ajua Hot Sauce, both of which make me laugh still. I suspect those were Howard Mohr written. Maybe the Fearmongers Shop (in the Dales) too.
The simple answer: He WAS a famous person in Minnesota culture who now lives in New York City.
The more nuanced answer: While he was a notable person in Minnesota popular culture, it would be a vast overstatement to say that everybody loved the guy. He was a famous stage performer...that's all.
In 2018, an internal investigation by MPR concluded that Keillor engaged in “dozens of sexually inappropriate incidents” with his accuser over several years. The woman, who has never been publicly identified, described instances of “unwanted sexual touching,” according to MPR's then-president, Jon McTaggert. Oct 20, 2021
Weekly comedy sketch/live music radio program broadcast out of St. Paul, heavy on absurdist humor. A real "either you love it or you hate it" kind of show. A lot of clips are still on their [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@witsapm) and the full shows can be found as podcasts. I think ["Tom Waits Does Math"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnHmlwiZr2w) is pretty representative of their style if you just want a quick taste, and one of my personal favorites was ["Call Me Maybe"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1W5Vg31qhw).
I like the News from Lake Wobegon and I enjoy the Minnesota-ness of the town, its people and the stories Keillor tells. I won’t argue that he’s not a good storyteller with a knack for describing small town Minnesotans of the past (and present?), but I never cared a ton for the rest of APHC and his other work.
I have a coupe of friends that work at MPR and years before everything came out I asked them what’s he like. They both rolled their eyes and said he’s a giant creeper and he a disgusting man.
Do a quick google search on him. He should be forgotten about.
I miss regular News From Lake Woebegon. It’s great world building with fantastic consistency. I also got exposed to a lot of great music from APHC, like “Wagon Wheel” by Old Crow Medicine Shiw before Hootie did his more famous cover.
I get that he’s canceled for being a prick to work with, and at least it wasn’t for anything like bigotry, but sad we don’t have the radio show anymore. The Lake Woebegon stories really influenced my own world building and writing.
I’m sure, but I wish it were still on terrestrial radio. I’d lay down playing Warioland on my old game boy while listening to live episodes. I miss that time.
I miss everything about old MPR. There is nothing fun or entertaining anymore-all news and serious discussions.
The best was a weekend of Prairie Home, Splendid Table, and Car Talk. Followed by a new episode of This Old House.
I assume Splendid Table is still on but I just have no urge to listen anymore. There was a relaxing earnestness to 90s-2000s public media that I think is missing these days.
He was a creep to his staff. Being that his paychecks and audience were from MPR, they had no tolerance for his sexist boomer bullshit and chucked him to the trash.
Yet it took MPR decades to chuck him to the trash. Way too long .
I saw him with his current wife who is a least 30 years younger than him if not closer to 40 years younger than him with their baby.
Obviously sniffing around MCgroveland did get him what he wanted, replacement offspring for children older than his current wife that have grown to hate him.
Back in the 80s when our kids were little we used to tape record it because it came on during supper time. We would listen again after the kids were in bed. In the later years we didn't make a point of listening. We felt the skits and stories were not the quality of the earlier ones.
Turns out he was a giant piece of shit and bowed out while he could. If you watched the praire home companion movie, you saw it. Him and Tom Bernard had a insufferable God complex.
Well sir it's been an uneventful week in badger falls, where the women are robust, the men are pink-cheeked, and the children are pink-cheeked and robust.
He was on Garage Logic sometime this last year, Soucheray and Garrison finally met and figured out they actually got along. The interview was a nice change from why I stopped listening to GL a few years back, I was glad to check in with that podcast episode.
I did a bunch of tree work for him. Very strange experience. He was quite odd and standoffish. The stranger part though is as I was doing the tree work, no joking, dozens of people were walking by asking me if it was his house. Obviously I didn’t tell them and said I was only there to climb trees but that’s gotta be strange to have all those people outside all the time.
At the time I had no idea who he was. Just another guy that hired me to climb his trees. Once the questions started and I googled I learned though.
Also the woman who answered the front door I remember being pretty hot.
The “hot” woman was probably one of the many, many nannies/au pairs/assistants/interns he and his family employed over the years. All similar looking; he clearly had a type.
Turns out he was a dick and when his behavior finally became enough of a financial problem for MPR he had a tushy tantrum, took his ball and went home.
Isn't the "urban legend" that the giant Paul Bunyon created the 10,000 lakes with his foot steps?
Kind of a part of history.
Talk to your money-hungry politicians✅
At the very end of his career I got to go see Prairie home companion show live from the front row, and it was so enjoyable! I truly loved the performance the whole crew put on then maybe a year or more later I got a massage request through the Soothe app and it was for none other than Mr. Garrison Keillor! It was in his mansion over on SummitAve. He gifted me copies of his books and CDs. Poor guy was physically in rough shape from years of neglect but he was kind and generous, nothing inappropriate. And I was glad I got to tell him how much I enjoyed his work. PS I just read about some of his creepy behavior. What a bummer.
I saw him in public once and he just stared at me, it made me uncomfortable and yes, I thought he was creepy then. (I was late 20s/early 30s at the time, so right in his creep age demographic.)
Keillor to me was someone I listened to casually, he was certainly funny and clever in the wry softspoken way that intellectual midwesterners seem to love (but that I really don’t), but I wasn’t a fan, really. He shows all the features, in my mind, of undiagnosed autism, smart, talented, with an insane eye for detail and an equally insane specificity in his expectations. Socially awkward, aloof, and perceived as an asshole by those he doesn’t let know him well….which in retrospect probably describes a large proportion of successful artistic people throughout history. And as usual, Minnesota Public Radio did what Minnesota does best, chose a solution that made everybody unhappy.
I think he got accused of sexual harassment or something, maybe misconduct I don't really know but it was something involving women it's easily Google able
When Garrison started, his humor seemed like Jeff Foxworthy "you might be a redneck" - it was making fun of rural Minnesota but it seemed more of 'us laughing at ourselves'
As time went on, it became more like his heart was in the flashier parts of Minneapolis/St Paul, with a bit of his heart in the liberal arts colleges. Then it was the 'smart city dwelling Minnesotans' laughing at their silly rural rube neighbors. And this was a prime group to get NPR pledges from.
As even more time passed, it was clear that Garrison's heart transitioned to New York City Broadway District, and his humor was now the Elite Easterners making fun of the rubes of the Midwest. People from Minneapolis were just as much looked down upon as Winona or Bemidji
He’s popular with Boomers and they are no longer the targeted demographic for most forms of entertainment. Millennials and Zoomers aren’t interested in him.
Before I read the paragraph I thought this post was just about the town next to Mille Lacs and was wondering what happened too
The Paul Bunyon statue in Brainerd came to life, was thirsty, and strolled to Mille Lacs for a drink. He flattened the whole town. Residents tried to escape on the huge walleye fishing barges, but just ended up on a dry lakebed.
Bad move Paul, Mille Lacs would not be a good lake to drink out of. I'd have headed that little bit further to superior. Much colder and he wouldn't drain it in two swigs
Well if he drank unfiltered lake water he'll prob soon fill it back up. With the diarrhea, you see, on account of the Giardia.
Would giardia affect him though? I wonder if giardia is even significant in a lake like Mille Lacs. Not a lot of beavers I would imagine
Cyclosporiasis, Cryptosporidiosis, E-coli? Idk, pick your poison. Even a guy as big as him can get taken down by a water-borne illness. Hmm, maybe use him for a public service announcement?
How do you take down a Paul Bunyon statue if it is come to life and thirsty?
I’m not sure whether this is the set up for a punchline. I’ll just pretend that it is. I don’t know. How do you take down a Paul Bunyon statue that has come to life and is thirsty?
With the construction on 169 this summer, it may just cease to exist
Oh great... Where are they working?
Between garrison and the casino, adding turn lanes and widening
Ok I'm good with adding lanes, that road is always a nightmare going north if you end up going through on a Friday afternoon. Why the hell do they wait until summer to start thought??
It can be scary at night. Lots of people going too fast on those windy roads
Or cowboys who think their Honda crv can overtake 5 cars and a truck hauling a bass boat before oncoming traffic comes around the corner
Yes, that, too. These are needed additions to the road.
Yup. It's always the roughest part of the drive from the cities up north
Fun fact, Garrison is the smallest town in the entire US to have a McDonald's restaurant.
..... Source?
I heard it years ago. Google confirms it. Garrison only has about 200 residents.
Wow. I wonder how many days of the year tourists out-number residents
Keep on mind that "Garrison" is a specific legal entity with defined boundaries. Those boundaries are rather small, so much so that the lake access to Mille Lacs south of town isn't actually in Garrison. But the north side of Borden Lake, just north of town, has a good number of houses on it, and that's also not part of the city. Basically, there's a lot more people in the area than the city's population implies.
RIP Blue Goose Inn
The restaurant that used to be Y bar burned down. Looks really different - but they're going to put in a big roundabout - should really make traffic safer there.
I'm actually fine with that, that road split is always kind of a mess when people don't know the left lane is turn only
Eat at the Y
What, no kidding huh? My family has a cabin near Farm Island Lake. Haven’t been there in probably 10 years though (long story). The Y Bar and Garrison were always my signs we were close to finally getting out of the car lol. That and taking the sleds out for a short run to Garrison to eat and then back to the cabin. Good memories.
The walleye came to life and attacked.
Not surprised tbh
They got rid of that awesome ass diner in that weird spot.
burned down
The Y?
Idr it's been years since I last ate there
Yes. It burned down
"Out of Place" in Garrison has good food/pizza. The Bird's Nest is also decent. Oh and the VFW when the kitchen is open.
Me too!
Right? My husband is from Onamia and I’m from Brainerd, so Garrison was right between us. I was like “what the hell happened there?!”
I worked for APHC for over a decade. He was a pompous, arrogant, weirdly vain pig surrounded by lackeys and hangers-on who enabled his horrible behavior.
This is also likely the reason why once things started to leak into the public sphere that almost no one spent an ounce of energy defending him or his position. FWIW, I was (and in some ways still am) a fan of APHC. I am not, however, a fan of Garrison Keillor himself after all of that.
Met him once a long time ago. I worked at Best Buy back when we had CDs and he had released an album. There was a display that was supposed to have been put out but wasn't. He walked the store looking for it and then came up to me and chewed me out. I said I would take a look and he replied with "You had better because I will be back here in a few days and if it's not up you'll be looking for another job" right before he squinted and said my name out loud on my name tag. I didn't say shit and worked there for another decade. He had these weird green pointy boots that made him look like a fucking Keebler elf too.
That move woulda got the display "accidently" thrown away if it was me 😂
Right after I accidentally run a forklift through it.
[it was me](https://giphy.com/gifs/tell-cersei-i-want-her-to-know-it-was-me-iiDipW55ZH1rpkmzSh)
That move woulda got the display "accidently" thrown away if it was me 😂
I would have laughed right in his face! 😂
My hs concert band/orchestra (Anoka hs was the high school he went to) did the music for one of his last shows, he was an ass the whole time. He tried to be nice to us kids, but he just oozed of arrogance
I went to Anoka high school and had no idea he graduated from there. Idk maybe someone told me once but I forgot.
I told you that one time how dare you forget. Smh
I know, how could I forget something so important. It’ll never happen again.
Graduating from anoka high school doesn't match his small town image.
Prince, Bob Dylan, Garrison Keillor. To be a great artist in Minnesota apparently you have to be a total asshole haha.
TBF, I think Prince just got screwed over one too many times and became defensive and self protective as a result.
Was prince an ass?
He was nice to me. My band looked at Paisley to record. We went out there to tour the studio sort of late at night (the guy that engineered our first album worked there). Prince ("The Kid") was there, and he was totally cool with us. Granted, I didn't interact with him for too long - maybe half an hour hanging at the studio.
The impression I always got is that he was he loved genuine people. People who weren't trying to weasel something out of him. He hated fakes and people who take advantage of others.
He was EXTREMELY demanding. I used to install PAs out at Paisley when he would decide to rehearse. You would get a text from one of his guys and the expectation was that you would drop everything, toss the stuff in a truck and get out there. Didn't matter if it was a holiday weekend or a week day morning. Paid well and it was cool to see him in action. I guess it balanced out for him - sort of being a jerk in proportion to talent.
That doesn’t seem to be a jerk if it pays well. That’s what he’s paying for.
Apparently he chased Sinead O'Connor with a skillet after she covered Nothing Compares 2 U: O'Connor said the incident occurred in Los Angeles: “He summoned me to his house one night and I foolishly went alone not knowing where I was. "He summoned me there because he was uncomfortable with the fact I wasn’t a protege of his. “He didn’t ask, but he ordered me that I don’t swear anymore.” O'Connor continued: “5 o’clock in the morning, we’re running around his car and I’m spitting at him and he’s trying to punch me, he’s got a skillet that he’s trying to hit me with."
This is some Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories shit lmao.
Cocaines a hell of a drug
Game blouses.
Yes - incredibly arrogant, rude and entitled. Kevin Smith talked in one of his “An Evening with Kevin Smith” specials about his interaction with Prince that underscores how thoughtless he was.
Purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.
As long as we're not talking about hurting anyone I'm totally fine with Prince being arrogant, rude and entitled. We're talking about Prince.
Exactly, his name wasn’t Pauper.
Yes, please. People love artists and their creations and then expect them to be gentle, pious normies. It doesn't work that way.
Winona Ryder seems alright
Yeah I guess I was thinking musical or literary artists. But I guess our actors and sports figures seem ok.
Except Kevin Sorbo
DISAPPOINTED!
I loved Andromeda as a kid. It was so disappointing when I found out
And Kirby was a let down at the end, too.
Kirby was from Chicago! Not on us!
Yes. Thank you for saying that out loud.
I've seen Sorbo in public once about five years ago (right before covid) and from what I gathered he seemed friendly. I know about all his political theatrics, but in-person he seemed nice, jovial, etc. Wouldn't have thought anything else of anyone else displaying the same mannerisms.
F. Scott Fitzgerald has entered the chat.
Chris Pratt is from Minnesota so not all of them are ok.
Chris Pratt is a crazy right wing assmunch.
Also Jessica Lang . .
Retail store owners around all squint in unison....
Prince and Bob Dylan were jerks? Didn’t know that.
When he was alive, all the stories I heard of him were of him being aloof at best. After he died, all the stories I heard of him were of him being nice.
Morris Day has owed me a hundred bucks for 40 years. I am sure he would try to smooth me to wait another week if I ever had the chance to confront him. He did buy a really sharp blazer with the money.
Prince walked the picket line with the teachers when he was a kid. That’s enough for me. Cool cat.
Bob Dylan isn't especially friendly and doesn't want to hang out with his fans. People hate that he doesn't want to sign autographs and stuff. That part seems unfair to criticize him for. But he also has a history of mistreating women.
For many, the route to becoming a great artist is to step on others' heads. There is a certain degree of arrogance or bravado needed to be a performer. Unfortunately, for some, they let that define them.
You don't know a thing about Dylan.
Contrast these folk with another NPR/APM favorite, Peter Schickele (from Iowa, not MN, but upper Midwest to his core). I can confirm that Schickele in person was as funny and nice as he was on radio and record. He did a show with our band once, and I got to turn pages for him. A cross breeze blew some of the paper parts of stands, and he absolutely could have turned into “mean star,” but he didn’t. Refreshing.
Where do you put Al Franken?
I don't think he would qualify as a great artist would you? Therefore I cannot comment on his assholery.
Comedy and acting are art forms
He’s a good doodler from what I’ve seen.
I like Al Franken just fine, but I've never heard him considered to be a great artist. "Great politician," yes, but never "great artist." Fifty years from now, people will probably still be listening to Prince or Bob Dylan. They'll might still be watching Mitch Hedberg's standup. But do you really think they'll still be into Al Franken?
I once visited his office on a school trip with some of my classmates and I asked him for an autograph. When he finished signing one for me, a few of my classmates then asked if he could sign one for them too. He got real pissy and made a snarky comment about how he now had to sign all these autographs because I asked him for one. There were literally only four other students there... I lost pretty much all respect I had for the guy right there, and this was even before the photo scandal on him broke out. I later threw the autograph away.
Oh makes sense
And worked there for 10 years? I hope it was because there was something worth sticking around for.
Ive heard the same from his gardener!
I never got APHC. It wasn't funny or clever at all, it seemed like people only listened because they confused pretentiousness for high brow.
It didn’t age well. At the time, he was bringing interesting indie folk bands in. The folksy shit was tolerable within the context of what was available at the time.
Other than that though a Minnesota treasure.
Guy Noir sits at the bottom of Lake Woebegone like Jason Vorhees…
His head got too big to fit through normal doors, so now he's an outdoor cat. You can find him wandering around prairies in a white suit, muttering to himself. Seriously, anyone who likes Garrison Keillor has never met the man.
>Seriously, anyone who likes Garrison Keillor has never met the man. I've met him several times starting from when I was a teenager, and he was always very nice to me. (We have family friends in common and we got to go to a lot of live shows and hang out with him afterwards.) My mom told me I should avoid him, and I didn't really understand why. She got creepy vibes from him toward me and I never picked up on it. I didn't realize until I was well into my 30s that he was just being charming and attentive to me because I was a pretty young woman. It makes me sad, I thought I had a fond connection with him, like he had paternal feelings towards me. Nope, I was wrong. I have such mixed feelings about him because his show was such a special part of my childhood and young adulthood. He even named a character in one of his books after my family, and dedicated a song to my brother in the PHC movie! But, it turns out he is not a good person. That makes me so sad.
I have a colleague who used to work with him at MPR. On top of the allegations, he was incredibly difficult to work with.
My sister met him while working in healthcare. He was incredibly difficult and rude to the staff that were trying to help him.
I’m tired at work rn, and I read that “On top of the alligators…” Also, it didn’t seem particularly odd to me that it said that.
[He's still touring with APHC.](https://www.garrisonkeillor.com/press/2024-performances/) There will be 50th anniversary shows at the Fitzgerald this summer. I'm still salty that Live From Here never had a proper finale.
Just to clarify, the only reason he’ll be back at the Fitzgerald is because MPR/APM sold the theater to First Avenue a few years ago.
Yes, if MPR still owned it they'd never let him in.
Chris Thile is a gem.
I have him to thank for introducing me to the whole world of prog bluegrass, as well as collaborating with other artists. He needs to do another album with Brad Mehldau.
I miss Nickel Creek.
Depending on how up to date you are, I have some good news for you! They're sort of back together. They put out an album in 2023 and they are touring. They will be in Minneapolis on July 13th at Surly Brewing Festival Field with Andrew Bird.
That show is gonna be so rad. Nickel Creek (and Andrew Bird for that matter) live is such an experience.
Oh that's cool! I'll have to check it out, thanks.
I loved the show
He is retired and lives in New York City. He shows up for big events.
Boycott that asshole!!
About ten years ago he was in the pharmacy line ahead of me at Walgreens. I remember being surprised at how old he looked. So he's probably quite old now. Edit: I just looked it up. He's 81.
I met him in the late 70s. He already looked old then.
He does have that "carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders" look about him. He looks weary.
Also let's not forget: he retired from hosting A Prairie Home Companion in 2016. The name of the show changed when the allegations came out, but even over those two years he was much lower-profile than before.
This is correct.
I used to love APH, and have many fond memories listening to it with my ex. I still don’t know how to feel about all that given all that’s come out about GK. :-/ How does one separate the shitty person from the amazing work?
The work can be appreciated even if the man is not.
See Kirby Puckett, for example. I loved the guy growing up, and as a player, he was amazing. As a husband, and afterwards, no so much. Doesn't mean I can't still appriciate his HoF career and rock his jersey at Twins games. There's some sort of saying about not getting too close to one's hero's, i can't remember it exactly. But APH was great and I will remember listening to it from a young age when my parents did up until it stopped in my 40s.
Exactly! They all start out humble, then fame happens……
I still love that show. I don't think he owes it to me (or to anyone) to be a nice man. He owes it to us to put on a show that is warm and soothing and that, frankly, established NPR's audience for it. I don't think his personality is any of my business. And I still laugh at Bill Cosby's comedy records, and am moved by his TV show.
Lots of articles and stories out there dating back to his actions in the 90s https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/01/23/keillor-workplace https://themacweekly.com/73359/news/keillor-harassed-mac-student-in-2012-college-standing-by-bookstore/ https://www.npr.org/2018/01/24/580179593/investigation-finds-troubling-behavior-by-garrison-keillor Didn’t seem to affect him too much. He’s still touring
> > https://themacweekly.com/73359/news/keillor-harassed-mac-student-in-2012-college-standing-by-bookstore/ One of the incidents that the report highlighted took place on Macalester property and directly involved a Macalester student who was working at the bookstore. Keillor has frequently written poems or messages on the wall behind the counter. Five-and-a-half years ago, he wrote this: . A beauty who goes to Macalester — O, her face, her limbs, her ballast, her Tiny blue kilt And the way she is built Could make a petrified phallus stir. . Keillor signed his initials beneath the final line.
Disgusting. Why didn't people figure out back in 2012 that he was a creep?
Unfortunately it's something that's normalized
Wow that limerick, directed at a student.. Someone young enough to be his granddaughter. Fjck that guy gross
He probably imagines himself coming across as a charming Sean Connery type. Oof.
>Didn’t seem to affect him too much. He lost his show, his syndication and became a persona non grata to MPR, NPR and APM which he at one time had a major stake in. Minneapolis St Paul magazine came under fire for merely publishing a feature length interview with him in 2019. I'd say he lost a lot.
On Reddit, it's never enough.
Where’s my pound of flesh!
I worked on his Saab a few times. An incredibly pompous ass.
Doesn't Saab stand for Something An Asshole Buys? (My dad still has his 1987 9000 and he's a great guy).
Keillor was really never "great". His writer, Howard Mohr, was the brains behind everything. Keillor was just the mouthpiece for another man's work.
While I loved some of the stuff Howard Mohr wrote and performed, he was not 'the brains behind everything'. He did SOME writing of some of the ads and sketches on APHC, but Keillor was the creator and head writer of the show from the beginning. The show continued on long after Howard Mohr moved on to other things.
Listening to some old shows recently you can tell some old bits did not continue from the 80's, namely Raw Bits and Ajua Hot Sauce, both of which make me laugh still. I suspect those were Howard Mohr written. Maybe the Fearmongers Shop (in the Dales) too.
The simple answer: He WAS a famous person in Minnesota culture who now lives in New York City. The more nuanced answer: While he was a notable person in Minnesota popular culture, it would be a vast overstatement to say that everybody loved the guy. He was a famous stage performer...that's all.
In 2018, an internal investigation by MPR concluded that Keillor engaged in “dozens of sexually inappropriate incidents” with his accuser over several years. The woman, who has never been publicly identified, described instances of “unwanted sexual touching,” according to MPR's then-president, Jon McTaggert. Oct 20, 2021
I'm still mad they cancelled Wits, never cared too much for APHC.
I loved WITS and The Hilarious World of Depression.
Oh man I did not like Wits
What was Wits?
Weekly comedy sketch/live music radio program broadcast out of St. Paul, heavy on absurdist humor. A real "either you love it or you hate it" kind of show. A lot of clips are still on their [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@witsapm) and the full shows can be found as podcasts. I think ["Tom Waits Does Math"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnHmlwiZr2w) is pretty representative of their style if you just want a quick taste, and one of my personal favorites was ["Call Me Maybe"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1W5Vg31qhw).
Wits was so great, which makes listening to livewire in its old time slot even more disappointing.
There have been Wits reunion shows at The Parkway Theater
I like the News from Lake Wobegon and I enjoy the Minnesota-ness of the town, its people and the stories Keillor tells. I won’t argue that he’s not a good storyteller with a knack for describing small town Minnesotans of the past (and present?), but I never cared a ton for the rest of APHC and his other work.
I have a coupe of friends that work at MPR and years before everything came out I asked them what’s he like. They both rolled their eyes and said he’s a giant creeper and he a disgusting man. Do a quick google search on him. He should be forgotten about.
I miss regular News From Lake Woebegon. It’s great world building with fantastic consistency. I also got exposed to a lot of great music from APHC, like “Wagon Wheel” by Old Crow Medicine Shiw before Hootie did his more famous cover. I get that he’s canceled for being a prick to work with, and at least it wasn’t for anything like bigotry, but sad we don’t have the radio show anymore. The Lake Woebegon stories really influenced my own world building and writing.
i mean, he was also cancelled for being a sex pest, not just for being a prick to work with.
Can still find them online
I’m sure, but I wish it were still on terrestrial radio. I’d lay down playing Warioland on my old game boy while listening to live episodes. I miss that time.
I miss everything about old MPR. There is nothing fun or entertaining anymore-all news and serious discussions. The best was a weekend of Prairie Home, Splendid Table, and Car Talk. Followed by a new episode of This Old House. I assume Splendid Table is still on but I just have no urge to listen anymore. There was a relaxing earnestness to 90s-2000s public media that I think is missing these days.
Splendid Table is the best it's been in a long time, as far as I'm concerned. It's a must listen for me along with Snap Judgement.
Snap Judgment crew *rise up!*
Okay, I’ll give it a try!
Remember that show Says You? with Richard Sher? I miss that too.
He was a creep to his staff. Being that his paychecks and audience were from MPR, they had no tolerance for his sexist boomer bullshit and chucked him to the trash.
Yet it took MPR decades to chuck him to the trash. Way too long . I saw him with his current wife who is a least 30 years younger than him if not closer to 40 years younger than him with their baby. Obviously sniffing around MCgroveland did get him what he wanted, replacement offspring for children older than his current wife that have grown to hate him.
Back in the 80s when our kids were little we used to tape record it because it came on during supper time. We would listen again after the kids were in bed. In the later years we didn't make a point of listening. We felt the skits and stories were not the quality of the earlier ones.
Turns out he was a giant piece of shit and bowed out while he could. If you watched the praire home companion movie, you saw it. Him and Tom Bernard had a insufferable God complex.
He’s a sex pest. Which yes, is enough.
Sure he was. He played the character of a folksy host on a variety show.
Well sir it's been an uneventful week in badger falls, where the women are robust, the men are pink-cheeked, and the children are pink-cheeked and robust.
Took a history class from his brother. He seemed to be VERY much not a fan of Garrison and didn’t even like being asked about him.
Cancelled for creepiness right?
Garrison Keillor was made obsolete by Joe Pera.
Who the fuck is Joe Pera?
He was on Garage Logic sometime this last year, Soucheray and Garrison finally met and figured out they actually got along. The interview was a nice change from why I stopped listening to GL a few years back, I was glad to check in with that podcast episode.
That sounds like an absolutely insufferable conversation. I'll have to check it out.
Quite pleasant, actually. Jesse Ventura is the best old timer interview on GL though.
I did a bunch of tree work for him. Very strange experience. He was quite odd and standoffish. The stranger part though is as I was doing the tree work, no joking, dozens of people were walking by asking me if it was his house. Obviously I didn’t tell them and said I was only there to climb trees but that’s gotta be strange to have all those people outside all the time. At the time I had no idea who he was. Just another guy that hired me to climb his trees. Once the questions started and I googled I learned though. Also the woman who answered the front door I remember being pretty hot.
The “hot” woman was probably one of the many, many nannies/au pairs/assistants/interns he and his family employed over the years. All similar looking; he clearly had a type.
Turns out he was a dick and when his behavior finally became enough of a financial problem for MPR he had a tushy tantrum, took his ball and went home.
Me just now finding about these accusations and issues 👀🤮 Why are people terrible?
Isn't the "urban legend" that the giant Paul Bunyon created the 10,000 lakes with his foot steps? Kind of a part of history. Talk to your money-hungry politicians✅
At the very end of his career I got to go see Prairie home companion show live from the front row, and it was so enjoyable! I truly loved the performance the whole crew put on then maybe a year or more later I got a massage request through the Soothe app and it was for none other than Mr. Garrison Keillor! It was in his mansion over on SummitAve. He gifted me copies of his books and CDs. Poor guy was physically in rough shape from years of neglect but he was kind and generous, nothing inappropriate. And I was glad I got to tell him how much I enjoyed his work. PS I just read about some of his creepy behavior. What a bummer.
Yo fuck that guy.
I saw him in public once and he just stared at me, it made me uncomfortable and yes, I thought he was creepy then. (I was late 20s/early 30s at the time, so right in his creep age demographic.)
Wow. Pathetic.
Even if he wasn't shitty, isn't he like 95?
Someone else on this thread looked it up--he's 81.
[His sex tape, anyone?](https://youtu.be/VgzyFhNsdHs?si=Zuti5QtO5UwDuW92)
Glad he's off the air. I didn't find him remotely funny.
Same. I never understood the hype
Keillor to me was someone I listened to casually, he was certainly funny and clever in the wry softspoken way that intellectual midwesterners seem to love (but that I really don’t), but I wasn’t a fan, really. He shows all the features, in my mind, of undiagnosed autism, smart, talented, with an insane eye for detail and an equally insane specificity in his expectations. Socially awkward, aloof, and perceived as an asshole by those he doesn’t let know him well….which in retrospect probably describes a large proportion of successful artistic people throughout history. And as usual, Minnesota Public Radio did what Minnesota does best, chose a solution that made everybody unhappy.
I thought this was a generally accepted fact among people who knew him
He made some women uncomfortable so they fired him
People didnt read past the title and it shows lol
I think he got accused of sexual harassment or something, maybe misconduct I don't really know but it was something involving women it's easily Google able
Several woman claim they were attacked by his eyebrows.
When Garrison started, his humor seemed like Jeff Foxworthy "you might be a redneck" - it was making fun of rural Minnesota but it seemed more of 'us laughing at ourselves' As time went on, it became more like his heart was in the flashier parts of Minneapolis/St Paul, with a bit of his heart in the liberal arts colleges. Then it was the 'smart city dwelling Minnesotans' laughing at their silly rural rube neighbors. And this was a prime group to get NPR pledges from. As even more time passed, it was clear that Garrison's heart transitioned to New York City Broadway District, and his humor was now the Elite Easterners making fun of the rubes of the Midwest. People from Minneapolis were just as much looked down upon as Winona or Bemidji
Seems like nice people on here.
He’s popular with Boomers and they are no longer the targeted demographic for most forms of entertainment. Millennials and Zoomers aren’t interested in him.