Watch PBS American Masters online: Episode 4 Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes

GARRISON KEILLOR: THE MAN ON THE RADIO IN THE RED SHOES 86 minutes. Americas foremost humorist and commentator, Garrison Keillor, takes his skits and jokes, music and monologues across the country in his traveling radio show, spinning his stories into American gold. This free form, intimate look at the private man in the public spotlight goes behind the scenes of Americas most popular radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, and inside the imagination of the man who created it. Over one year of filming has resulted in an unusual portrait that cannot be defined by the standard terms of chronological biography: the subject himself is an enigma, and the fictional world he has created has become a real place in America. The film follows the writerperformer as he mingles fact and fiction to create one of Americas favorite places, Lake Wobegon. Today, there is no one like him. His take on America is both pungent and poignant. In the best tradition of Will Rogers and Mark Twain, Keillor mixes story telling and humor to give us a light hearted but deeply felt reflection of ourselves. A prolific author with more than 20 books to his credit and a weekly column, he is also a highly sought after speaker and lecturer. He is credited with reviving the virtually lost art of live radio entertainment in America; his weekly radio show, started in 1974, has more than 4 million listeners and is broadcast on 558 stations. Keillor and his characters leapt onto the big screen and an even wider global audience in Robert Altmans film, A Prairie Home Companion. Keillor's down-home commentary and love of the authentically American, have made him into an everyman philosopher. His highly entertaining radio show with songs and stories is written with a poets heart. While comparisons will be made between him and America's great humorists and essayist from H. L. Mencken to Mark Twain, James Thurber, Robert Frost, and Will Rogers, Garrison Keillor is unique. In this untraditional biography, we begin to see how and why.

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