Humorist GARRISON KEILLOR Brings His Unique Wisdom and Whimsy to The McCallum Theatre

The McCallum Theatre presents Garrison Keillor on Friday, January 27, at 8:00pm. True to his radio form, the humorist shares hilarious anecdotes about growing up in the American Midwest, the people of Lake Wobegon, and "late-life fatherhood." With a wonderful, dry sense of humor, he captivates audiences and delivers with class, charisma, and wisdom.

One of the most prolific American storytellers of all time, Garrison Keillor is a best-selling author and humorist known for his popular live radio variety show, "A Prairie Home Companion," which attracts more than 4 million listeners on more than 600 public radio stations each week.

Garrison was born in Anoka, Minnesota, and began his radio career as a freshman at the University of Minnesota, from which he graduated in 1966 with a Bachelor's Degree in English. He went to work for Minnesota Public Radio in 1969, and on July 6, 1974, he hosted the first broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion" at the Janet Wallace Auditorium at Macalester College in St. Paul before an audience of 12.

Garrison and the team went on to produce close to 500 live shows in the first ten years alone. The show ended in 1987, resumed in 1989 in New York as "The American Radio Company of the Air," returned to Minnesota, and in 1993, returned to the name "A Prairie Home Companion." Today, the broadcast is heard abroad on America One and the Armed Forces Network in Europe and the Far East, and has been broadcast from Canada, Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, Iceland and almost every one of the 50 states. He is now the Producer and Host Emeritus of "A Prairie Home Companion" and also the host of the daily radio and online program, "The Writers Almanac."

Garrison played himself in the critically acclaimed movie adaptation of his show A Prairie Home Companion in 2006. It featured Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin as the singing Johnson sisters, Lindsay Lohan as Streep's daughter, Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly as singing cowboys Lefty and Dusty, and Tommy Lee Jones as the Axeman, who is dispatched by the radio station's new corporate owners in Texas to shut down the show.

Garrison is also the author of more than two dozen books, including Lake Wobegon Days (1985); The Book of Guys (1993); The Old Man Who Loved Cheese (1996); Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America (2004); Liberty: A Lake Wobegon Novel (2008); Pilgrims: A Wobegon Romance (2009);and, in 2012, Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny. In 2013, he released his first book of poetry called O, What a Luxury: Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic & Profound, written with his characteristic combination of humor and insights into love, politics, nostalgia and other facets of daily life. His other anthologies of poetry include the recent Good Poems: American Places.

Garrison Keillor has received numerous awards, including a Grammy Award for his recording of Lake Wobegon Days. He has received two Cable ACE Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recently was presented with a National Humanities Medal by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 1994, he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame at Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications.

With Philip Brunelle, he has performed with many orchestras, including the Chicago, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Dallas, and National symphonies. He has appeared at Wolf Trap, Carnegie Hall, and other major concert halls as a member of The Hopeful Gospel Quartet, and he has performed on his own in one-man shows across the country and on tour broadcasts of "A Prairie Home Companion."

Tickets for this performance of Garrison Keillor are priced at $97, $77, $67 and $47. Tickets are available at the Theatre's website at www.mccallumtheatre.com or by calling the McCallum Theatre Box Office at (760) 340-ARTS.

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