Minnesota-born author and public radio legend Garrison Keillor has spent nearly half a century building an image as the most laid-back man in America. His soft, lilting voice and ambling, aimless stories of quaint Midwestern life have been spoofed by comedians like Bill Hader, Harry Shearer, and Tom Scharpling over…
This week’s question comes from staff writer Alex McCown:
When Robert Altman directed his final film, 2006’s A Prairie Home Companion, he posited a bright, utopian world, one in which cornpone overlord Garrison Keillor finally stepped down from his dark, Powdermilk Biscuit-covered throne and relinquished his hold on America’s radio waves. Now, the light Altman hurled into…
Once a week, an audio program unpacks a strange, baffling sequence of events. While listeners are invited to piece together seemingly unrelated and unsettling scenarios, nothing ever quite adds up. Characters who start out charming quickly become grating and detestable. Episodes often end with more confusion than when…
In 2006, Robert Altman received a lifetime-achievement award from the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences, and when he took the stage at the Oscar ceremony, the audience members braced themselves, waiting for the often outspoken and curmudgeonly director to take a few shots at the Hollywood system or at George…
