An Evening with Garrison Keillor Featuring Special Guest Richard Dworsky

Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality whose career has spanned more than five decades. 📻✨

Keillor is best known as the creator and host of the iconic radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion (1974–2016). Broadcast live before audiences across the U.S. and internationally, the show combined music, comedy skits, spoof commercials, and storytelling. Its heart was always Keillor’s beloved “News from Lake Wobegon” monologue — tales of a fictional Minnesota town “…where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” 💫

The show introduced audiences to recurring characters like Guy Noir, Private Eye 🕵️‍♂️ and The Lives of the Cowboys 🤠, and became a cultural touchstone for its wit, warmth, and homespun satire.

Keillor turned the world of Lake Wobegon into bestselling books such as Lake Wobegon Days and Leaving Home, as well as essays, fiction, and poetry. His writing, often published in The New Yorker, reflects both the humor and poignancy of small-town American life. ✍️📖

He has also written a memoir, collections of limericks, and continues to explore new creative projects — including a musical and a Lake Wobegon screenplay. 🎶🎬

In addition to A Prairie Home Companion, Keillor created The Writer’s Almanac, a daily radio and podcast feature pairing poetry with historical and literary anniversaries. Even after his retirement from public radio, he continues publishing it online for a worldwide audience. 🌍📜

Keillor’s shows have toured across the U.S. and abroad — from the Hollywood Bowl to Edinburgh, Scotland — transforming audiences into an intimate, laughing community, no matter the size of the hall. His ability to make listeners feel “at home” is part of why critics have called him:

• “An expert at making you feel at home with his low-key, familiar style. Comfortable is his specialty.” – Omaha World-Herald
• “His shows can, for a couple of hours, transform an audience … into a small-town community with an intimacy only radio can achieve.” – LA Times

Keillor began in 1969 with Minnesota Public Radio (then Minnesota Educational Radio), hosting A Prairie Home Entertainment. His first New Yorker story appeared in 1970, and by 1974, A Prairie Home Companion launched before a small live audience in St. Paul.

From there, it grew into a national phenomenon carried by hundreds of stations for more than 40 years. Even President Barack Obama personally called Keillor after his farewell show in 2016 to congratulate him on his cultural impact. 🇺🇸📞

🏆 Awards & Honors
✨ Peabody Award (1980)
🎤 Medal for Spoken Language (1990)
📻 National Radio Hall of Fame (1994)
📚 National Humanities Medal (1999)
🎭 The Moth Award (2007)
✍️ John Steinbeck Award (2007)
💿 Grammy Award for Lake Wobegon Days (1988)
📖 Fitzgerald Award for Literature (2016)
📺 2 CableACE Awards + another Peabody Award

🌟 Today

Though officially “retired,” Keillor remains active and creative — writing, touring, and sharing new episodes of The Writer’s Almanac. He continues to embody the art of storytelling, reminding us of the beauty, absurdity, and humanity found in everyday life.

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