Favorite Skits in "A Prairie Home Companion"

I have been listening to the Garrison Keillor show "A Prairie Home Companion" since I was a little girl. My dad listened to Minnesota Public Radio constantly and was proud to have grown up in one of the small towns in Central Minnesota that Lake Wobegon was based on. I quickly learned to love the old-timey feel of "A Prairie Home Companion" and the beautiful music they played on the show. But my favorite parts of "A Prairie Home Companion" by far were the hilarious skits. The following are my favorite skits on "A Prairie Home Companion." I firmly believe that these performances make the show worth listening to.

1. Guy Noir, Private Eye

Guy Noir is my favorite character on "A Prairie Home Companion." Guy Noir is a fictional detective is played by Garrison Keillor. It is assumed that Guy Noir lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, although the skit never tells us for sure. But the skit is introduced by "A Prairie Home Companion" radio actress Sue Scott, who tells us that Guy Noir is based on the 12^th floor of the Acme Building in "a city that knows how to keep its secrets."

Guy Noir, Private Eye serves as a parody of the noir genre that was popular in the radio shows of the 1940s and 1950s. The funny thing is, I had no idea what the term "noir" meant until I attended a lecture on film noir at the University of Minnesota. I still found the Guy Noir segments hilarious, despite my ignorance on the subject of noir.

2. The Lives of the Cowboys

The Lives of the Cowboys is another of my favorite skits featured on "A Prairie Home Companion." The setting of this skit is completely opposite to that of Guy Noir, Private Eye. In The Lives of the Cowboys, two cowboys named Dusty and Lefty travel the range and come face to face with such dangers as vampires, hangovers, pretty women and herds of free range chicken. Dusty, the stereotypical rugged cowboy is constantly at odds with his partner Lefty, who is uncharacteristically sensitive for a cowboy. Like Guy Noir, Private Eye, The Lives of the Cowboys parodies old time radio shows, but concentrates on the Western genre.

3. News From Lake Wobegon

Easily the best known segment of "A Prairie Home Companion," the News From Lake Wobegon tells of the happenings at the fictitious Minnesotan town known as "Lake Wobegon." Lake Wobegon is actually based on a town called Freeport, which is located in central Minnesota. This fictitious town is split into German Catholics and Scandinavian Lutherans who are constantly at odds. Other details about Lake Wobegon that have been shared on "A Prairie Home Companion" include:

-a statue of the "Unknown Norwegian" whose model left before the sculptor could learn his name

-Lake Wobegon was a secret dumping ground of nuclear waste in the 1950s

-The residents of Lake Wobegon subside on a diet of tuna hotdish and lutefisk

-Lake Wobegon is always introduced as the town where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average"