Garrison Keillor to preach gospel of cheerfulness in Wichita at Orpheum stop

Garrison Keillor has given up reading the front page of the newspaper.

“There are just many things that I don’t need to know. They don’t really add anything to my stock of knowledge,” the author, radio host, humorist — and newspaper columnist — said in a phone interview from his Minneapolis apartment. “I love journalism. I defend it. It’s crucial — but it can drain a person of the enthusiasm and the good humor that we need in our life.”

Keillor turned 80 in August.

“I have exceeded my expiration date,” he said, “and at this point in life I think enjoyment is the crucial thing.”

When he comes to the Orpheum Theatre in Wichita next weekend, Keillor will be talking about cheerfulness, an admittedly new topic for him.

“I discovered it in later years, but I told stories and now I’m preaching about cheerfulness,” said Keillor, in the midst of writing a book on the subject. “You can pretend to be cheerful for the sake of other people, and very quickly it will become genuine. I think it’s an important discovery. It begins from the realization that if you look around the world you are forced to conclude that we’re very lucky. That just is the case.”

In the “Keillor & Company” performance, he’s joined by singer Prudence Johnson, pianist Dan Chouinard and guitarist Dean Magraw.

For Keillor, one of the highlights of the show is singing harmony with Johnson, with five to eight songs together.

“You always know when you’re on the mark. It’s one of the few times in your work when perfection is possible,” he said. “That’s the pleasure of it.”

Another musical highlight of the show for him is when he leads the audience in singing — anything from patriotic songs to timeless folk tunes to hymns.

“They’re very moved by their own singing,” he said. “There are some audiences that are a little reluctant because – how shall I say – it’s not cool to sing patriotic songs.”

The singalongs came as a pleasant surprise to him when he would be on tour with his radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion,” and have live outdoor audiences of up to 5,000 people.

“I’ve discovered that people in my audience know the words,” Keillor said. “We learned them in school, before there was the cellphone with a Google. I always start them off, a capella, and I hum the note and they hum with me. I don’t know how they know how to do that.”

He lamented that a recent hockey game he attended had only a band playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and there was no chance for the audience to sing. Even more, he regretted that his 20-year-old grandson told him he didn’t know the words to the National Anthem.

Keillor said he’ll also try newer songs with the audience, with the Fab Four going over well.

“The Beatles created memorable songs and so if I sang ‘Well she was just 17/you know what I mean,’ they’re all there,” he said, adding with a laugh, “I tried doing ‘Purple Rain,’ (by Prince, a fellow contributor to Minnesota culture). They didn’t catch on.

“It is a communal experience and that is the point of it: we have more in common than we’re willing to admit,” Keillor added.

A night after his Wichita stop, “Keillor & Company” is scheduled to perform in Iola, whose Bowlus Fine Arts Center seats 700.

“I go where I’m invited. Iola is just fine by me,” he said. “You get to know the audience personally when there are that many people there. The singing is not as robust as it would be in Wichita, but either one is just fine by me.”

His stage show, he said, won’t include “Prairie Home” sketches such as “Guy Noir,” “Lives of the Cowboys” and “Ruth Harrison, Reference Librarian,” and is more of a variety show.

“I worked very hard doing ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ and I did not enjoy all of it,” he said. “Some of it is just hard work – writing comedy is hard work.”

Keillor premiered the national public radio version of “A Prairie Home Companion” in 1974, and it continued through 2017, including a two-year break and a short-lived name change.

The program concluded after Keillor faced allegations of sexually inappropriate incidents with someone who worked for him and Minnesota Public Radio discontinued its broadcasting relationship with him.

He said the change in his career gave him time to pause and reflect.

“I’ve gotten to know my wife much better, but that’s really due to the pandemic and isolation. I’ve come to appreciate her. She was raising a child early in the marriage and I was on the road. We spent a good deal of time on separate fields, but the last few years have been the most cheerful of my life,” Keillor said. “I don’t know if that’s due to the ‘ambush’ of 2017. I don’t really know. I don’t think about it.”

Keillor, proudly proclaiming he may be the only person he knows who has never been to a therapist, said his career has provided him with enjoyment.

“It just saves time to cut to the truth of the matter, which is that to have spent your entire adult life amusing yourself is an opportunity given to practically nobody,” he said. “Why be dramatic about it?”

‘KEILLOR & COMPANY’

When: 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10

Where: Orpheum Theatre, 200 N. Broadway

Tickets: $39-$79, from selectaseat.com or 755-7328

This story was originally published February 3, 2023 at 7:26 AM.