If by some odd chance you've never heard A Prairie Home Companion before, it's a cross between an old TV variety show, a classic radio drama, and a Broadway monologue show.  It is the brain child of Garrison Keillor, a weekly radio comedy/variety show that features musical guests, parody commercials, a house band, and comedy sketches.  The highlight of the program is Keillor's monologue, The News from Lake Woebegon.  This isn't the most original idea ever, but as Garrison says in on this disc, "you want to choose ideas that are old enough, everyone's forgotten them, so they seem like new ideas."  New or old idea, A Prairie Home Companion has been going strong for 30 years.  Every Saturday evening it is broadcast on 580 PBS radio stations to 4 million listeners.  To celebrate this event, they have released a DVD of their anniversary show.  Yes, a DVD of a radio show.

The program is broadcast live in front of a studio audience every week, and this show is no different.  The Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota which hosts the show is an old-time looking theater with a small number of seats and a large stage that is covered with area rugs and microphone cables.  It is the perfect showcase for this contemporary show that has the feel of a previous generation.  The band is set up on the left side of the stage, and the musical guests take over the right.  I the middle are microphones where Garrison and his talented staff of actors play out their two hour show.

The DVD kicks off with Garrison Keillor, dressed in a black suit with bright red tennis shoes, warming up the crowd a bit and then launches into the show.  This edition of the program includes the usual features that people have come to expect from the show over the years.  There's an adventure of Guy Noir, the detective who's more interested in philosophizing about life than solving crimes, and Lives of the Cowboys with Dusty and Lefty two rather unusual cowboys.  The show is sponsored, as usual by such organizations as the Ketchup Advisory Board, the American Duct Tape Council, and Powdermilk Biscuits "raised by Norweigen bachelor farmers so you know they're not only good for you, they're pure mostly.

The musical guests are jazz singer Inga Swearingen, country band BR549, singer Jearlyn Steele, and conductor Phillip Brunelle.

During his monologue, Garrison reminisces about his high school graduation and how things could have been different.

I really like this show and have been a fan for years.  I used to record the show on cassette tape and then play them back while commuting or going on road trips.  This show sparked my curiosity about old time radio shows, of which I have accumulated more than I care to admit.  It would be safe to say that this show had an effect on me.

Keillor, who writes a large portion of the shows, has a subtle home-spun sense of humor that really grows on you.  There's no swearing or bathroom humor, just good wholesome comedy.  This particular episode is about average for the show.  I was hoping that they would have selected one of their best shows to preserve on DVD, the annual joke shows are always a favorite, but I was content with this episode.

Highlights of this show include an add for a radio sound effects training school.   You can see, and hear,  the foley artists creating the sounds of such diverse things as a man playing the bagpipes under water while being attacked by a shark or a baby being rescued from the path of a speeding locomotive by a St. Bernard.

The best song that is preformed is an original a capella version of "Hush Little Baby" by Inga Swearingen.  She has a beautiful voice and her version of the song is pretty funny.  I enjoyed all the songs she sang, but this was the tops.

This particular episode has a bit of a mystery attached to it.  No where on the DVD case or in the credits could I find the broadcast date.  I looked the show up on the Prairie Home Companion web site, and found that it was broadcast on May 15, 2004.  The only thing is that some of the musical numbers and sketches are in a slightly different order than they appear here on this disc.  I am assuming that this is the Friday dress rehearsal that they do for the show, and that some things were rearranged for the actual broadcast.

Audio:

This show is presented in both a stereo and DD 5.1 mix.  The 5.1 is full and rich, but I preferred the stereo mix a little more.  I thought the multi-channel track had a little bit too much echo added in, and while it might reproduce the effect of seeing the show in person more accurately, I thought the stereo's more precise sound superior.  Both tracks were free of distortion and other audio defects.  There are no subtitles.

Video:

The widescreen anamorphic image was about average.  While there wasn't anything really wrong with it, some of the lines and details weren't as crisp as they could have been.  Garrison's bright red tie also shimmered a little during the closeups, but these were minor problems.  A standard looking disc.

Extras:

There are several extras included with this DVD, all of them seem to be segments cut from the show.  I'm not sure why they didn't just include these where they originally occured in the program, but it is not to have them in any case.  They include a couple of songs from BR549, one with Garrison and Jearlyn Steele, and a solo ballad that Garrison performs.  There's a comedy bit with the SFX guys, and a photo gallery.  Unfortunately there isn't a "play all" feature for these bits.

Final Thoughts:

A Prairie Home Companion is an entertaining two hours that I look forward to catching whenever I have the chance.  I'm glad that they have released this episode on DVD.  It is both humorous and entertaining, with some great music and funny skits.  I remember watching televised versions of this show on the Disney Chanel 15-20 years ago, and hope they consider releasing those on DVD too.  Fans of the show should be sure to check this out, and if you've never heard the program, be sure to rent this.  Recommended.