Chattanooga Times Free Press entertainment reporter Casey Phillips spoke with Garrison Keillor, the host and creator of the radio variety show “A Prairie Home Companion,” about what goes on during intermission, why he enjoys duets and his retirement plans.
CP: For the Summer Love Tour, the shows are not being taped. Does that affect your approach, as a host, or the content of the show?
GK: It does. It means that we’re free as birds. We do a lot of improvisation, and we don’t watch the clock as closely as a person has to in radio. On Saturdays, we have 1 hour 58 minutes and 40 seconds, exactly, and that’s all we have. On the road, we’ve been doing a longer show and sort of proceeding at a stately pace. It’s sort of a vacation show. It’s a vacation from the second hand of the clock.
CP: The show often stops at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, but you haven’t been to Chattanooga before. What, if anything, did you know about Chattanooga before we ended up on your tour schedule?
GK: I don’t know anything, and that’s why I want to go. Being on the road is educational. So you head out and see America. You discover that Kansas City has more fountains than Paris and broad boulevards and fabulous art museums. Everywhere you go, you learn something you didn’t know before.