The Wilson Center at Cape Fear Community College (CFCC) is excited to announce that The 50TH Anniversary Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor tour will make a Wilson Center debut on Sunday, March 24, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. A Prairie Home Companion was the creme de la creme of NPR’s Saturday evening programming for over forty years; its stop at the Wilson Center is part of a nationwide tour celebrating the show’s 50th anniversary.
The 140-minute celebration of the “Last Live Radio Variety Show” will open with a video explaining Prairie Home Companion’s origins in Minnesota, followed by Garrison Keillor’s stand-up routine on the beauty of being 80. Well-loved comedy sketches like Guy Noir, Private Eye; The Lives of the Cowboys; Duane’s Mom; and Ruth Harrison, Reference Librarian; will be performed by the Royal Academy of Radio Acting with sound-effects wizard Fred Newman.
An extended commercial for Powdermilk Biscuits on the subject: Cheerfulness Is A Choice, as well as a word or two from the American Duct Tape Council, Real Hot Coffee, Guy’s Shoes, and the Ketchup Advisory Board will round out the live event. Not to be outdone, the audience will participate in an intermission sing-along. Naturally, the show will also include the latest news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and the children are all above average.
Prairie Home Companion creator Garrison Keillor has written fiction and comedy, and retirement has kept him busy. Keillor has written a memoir and a book of limericks, is at work on a musical and a Lake Wobegon screenplay, and continues to do “The Writer’s Almanac,” a free daily missive sent to internet subscribers.
Tickets will be available online to Wilson Center Members beginning Wednesday, 10 a.m. on October 4, 2023, with tickets going on sale to the general public Friday, October 6, 2023, at 10 a.m. Tickets may be purchased online at WilsonCenterTickets.com or by contacting the Ticket Central box office. Ticket Central is open for telephone and in-person sales from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday only. Ticket Central may be reached by telephone at 910.362.7999; questions may also be directed to tickets@wilsoncentertickets.com.
Cape Fear Community College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, and genetic information, or age.
The views expressed in performances at the Humanities and Fine Arts Center do not necessarily represent the views of the Humanities and Fine Arts Center, and should not be attributed to the Humanities and Fine Arts Center, Cape Fear Stage, Cape Fear Community College, CFCC Board of Trustees, CFCC Foundation, or the Faculty and Staff of CFCC.
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