Definitely Above Average: Stories & Comedy for You & Your Poor Old Parents

by Garrison Keillor

From live broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion.After the birth of Garrison Keillor's daughter, the stories, songs, and sketches on A Prairie Home Companion took on a distinctly parental bent. This new collection gathers the warmest, funniest, most affectionate examples: dance tunes and comedy with sound effects; songs featuring Chet Atkins, Leo Kottke, Beaussoleil, and other guests; Ian Frazier's much-requested "Lamentations of the Father"; and Garrison's version of "The Princess and the Pea." Garrison says, "I test-played this album for my daughter, who is three, and she jumped around a lot."Filled with stories, sketches, and songs recorded from live broadcasts, Definitely Above Average will delight parents and children everywhere.Contents: Oh BabyBananasChildren Go Where I Send TheeThe True Sad Story of Mr. FroggieBaby DanceKnock Knock Who's ThereEl HamboHush Little BabyThe Baby Says HaEstrellitaCount Your BlessingsBrownie and PeteThe Horses Stood Around/Powdermilk Biscuit ThemeTell My MaHappy One StepOh Susanna FantasyWheels On the BusSongs That I Love BestBaby BluesTell Me WhyThe Chord That Jack PlayedA Game of ChessThe Princess and the PeaThe Sound Effects Man Part OneThe Snow QueenThe Sound Effects Man Part Tw

150 pages, Audio CD

Published January 1, 2000

About the author

Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show A Prairie Home Companion (called Garrison Keillor's Radio Show in some international syndication), which he hosted from 1974 to 2016. Keillor created the fictional Minnesota town Lake Wobegon, the setting of many of his books, including Lake Wobegon Days and Leaving Home: A Collection of Lake Wobegon Stories. Other creations include Guy Noir, a detective voiced by Keillor who appeared in A Prairie Home Companion comic skits. Keillor is also the creator of the five-minute daily radio/podcast program The Writer's Almanac, which pairs poems of his choice with a script about important literary, historical, and scientific events that coincided with that date in history.
In November 2017, Minnesota Public Radio cut all business ties with Keillor after an allegation of inappropriate behavior with a freelance writer for A Prairie Home Companion. On April 13, 2018, MPR and Keillor announced a settlement that allows archives of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac to be publicly available again, and soon thereafter, Keillor began publishing new episodes of The Writer's Almanac on his website. He also continues to tour a stage version of A Prairie Home Companion, although these shows are not broadcast by MPR or American Public Media.

Reviews

[behsforensics]

Cutting is for A Game of Chess
By Garrison Keillor