Garrison Keillor kicks off Drue Heinz Series

Since 1969, humorist and best-selling author Garrison Keillor has delighted millions of… Since 1969, humorist and best-selling author Garrison Keillor has delighted millions of public radio listeners with his radio show A Prairie Home Companion. He has also written several critically acclaimed works of fiction including “Lake Wobegon Days” and his latest, “Love Me.”

Tonight he will open the 2003-2004 Drue Heinz Lecture Series with his unique blend of storytelling and humor

The best known component of “A Prairie Home Companion” is “News From Lake Wobegon” – “Where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are above average” – in which Keillor keeps listeners up to date with the goings on of his fictional hometown. The show also features commercials for fictitious products. Quo Vadis Pharmaceuticals, a company that manufactures drugs for imaginary problems – such as being vaguely worried – and Powdermilk Biscuits – “Heavens, they’re tasty” – are perennial audience favorites.

What makes the stories Keillor tells unique is that he doesn’t go for big laughs; his goal is not to have his audience rolling on the floor gasping for breath – although this occasionally happens – from punchline after punchline, and he never resorts to telling jokes merely for shock value. He instead aims for the warm smile of recognition or the knowing chuckle, and doesn’t shy away from inside jokes that will be funniest to his fellow Midwesterners. His husky and strangely melodic voice draws the audience into his world and forces them to slow down to his measured, reflective storytelling pace, echoing the slower speed of life where he grew up.Keillor’s humor is sharp, but never caustic or cruel. Though we may laugh at the antics of these small town Midwesterners, it is clear that Keillor has a great respect for the nobility of these people that might seem simple to frenzied city folk like us. Not many comedians can both delight you with a beautiful description of a winter Minnesota morning and make you laugh by describing the pastor’s wife on this morning as looking like a snowdrift as she gently snores beneath her comforter. Keillor can because he is more than a comedian; he is an artist preserving a style of entertaining that is fast disappearing.

Monday’s lecture should bring some of Keillor’s trademark storytelling and comedy and, of course, that one-of-a-kind voice.

To keep up with the news from Lake Wobegon, tune in to “A Prairie Home Companion” on WQED FM 89.3 at 6 p.m. on Saturdays.

Garrison Keillor will speak at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland tonight at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased by calling (412) 622-8866.