i was never that into Prairie Home Companion either

[ironymaiden]

sometimes, a friend with Asperger's will ask for explication of jokes on lj. today, i need some help.

Garrison Keillor has this piece in Salon. the first paragraph or so made sense to me, and then we were into some kind of twilight zone. (especially since the author is on his third marriage and is obviously not living the lifestyle he seems to be advocating.) is this supposed to be funny? or is it just as hateful as it seems? please explain.

Comments

[shadawyn.livejournal.com]

Wow. That read with the argumentative logic of the thirteen year olds on the Harry Potter forum I used to frequent in college. ("It doesn't matter that Sirius used to be a jerk, because he's HAWT, so it's okay!")

I can't tell if it's hateful, a bad attempt at humor, or supposed to prove something. I *think* the point is that children are important.

But that would be stating the obvious.

[mimerki.livejournal.com]

I think it's a spoken word funny piece that's failed to transition to text. I'm not a great fan of PHC either, but I recognize the humor style and... yeah, I think the funny might come out some if we were listening to it...

[spazzychic.livejournal.com]

It was meant to be funny, and it was meant to be read. Glaring logic errors out loud work better.

[mrdorbin.livejournal.com]

How much of him have you read? This strikes me as pretty standard Garrison Keillor schtick for his Salon column (which is my only experience with him); the 'I am just a regular old (wealthy straight white male) American and I grew up when everyone was (wealthy straight white male) American and we all bonded over baseball and it was so much easier then and now I'm old and the world is big and different and my daughter seems to be fine with it but boy is it odd' thing. He wrote this exact article like six months ago, but it was about seatbelts.

Keillor is why I'm always suspicious of nostalgia.

[ironymaiden]

i read one (or two?) of the Lake Wobegon books back in the day. otherwise i don't pay much attention. he has a voice that puts me right to sleep.
i just don't understand if he's poking fun at the schtick, like Stephen Colbert, or if he really means it, or something in between.

[mrdorbin.livejournal.com]

I can't tell either; if it is satire, it's murky satire. I finally had to stop reading him a while back because the risk of getting pissed off was too high.

[pixxelpuss.livejournal.com]

Ow. You two have made my brain hurt. I'm new to Keillor, and I love the voice and the music on APHC, but reading this is making reality bend in unpleasant ways.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

OMG, it's satire! Keillor is such a notorious liberal that it would take only unfamiliarity with his style and his politics to interpret it otherwise. His point with this piece is that children are the most important thing, regardless of their parents' genders. I can't believe you'd disagree with that idea.

[mrdorbin.livejournal.com]

I agree with the point, but he could have made it without offensive stereotypes (campy performers and tiny dogs) and covering demands (back off or you won't really be taken seriously as a parent). Even in jest, these aren't things I would be comfortable with a good friend saying around me, much less someone I've never even met.

[ironymaiden]

what he said.

i was getting a strong thread of enforcing conformity, and subsuming self completely to engage in parenting. i don't agree with that idea. i find it completely repellent.

and tone it down. i know who the guy is, and i was still confused, which is why i asked. i am reminded of this post about how satire requires signals to the reader. obviously i'm not receiving the ones Keillor is supposed to be sending.

[refractednotion.livejournal.com]

I pretty sure the message is less about enforcing conformity than about telling parents they need to set their own BS aside in deference to their children's BS.

[mysticalforest.livejournal.com]

I don't like PHC a'tall.

However, I listen to the Writer's Almanac every day, which he reads aloud and I listen to as a podcast. It's four minutes of the history of writers with zero commentary which is thoroughly enjoyable. He begins with a list of famous writers who were born today and what they did to contribute to literature, and anything interesting that happened in their lives. Pretty cool, actually.

I get the feeling that it's all prepared by a producer and he's just there to read it. That works. No "humor" or anything, just straight up.

His own writing though: Insane. I read Salon so I've read a few of his columns, and I have to tell you that he's clearly insane. I can't make heads or tails of it sometimes.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

This is most definitely intended as humor, the point being that it doesn't matter how many parents you had and whether or not they're the same gender, it's the kids that matter most. He takes a circuitous route to get there, no doubt, and the humor (and irony) of the piece would almost certainly be more obvious were it read aloud in his usual style. I'm virtually certain Keillor would stand up in defense of gay marriage if asked. The submessage is, as someone else said, "Gee, things were simpler when I was a kid."

[refractednotion.livejournal.com]

That's what I take away from it as well. I also think the style plays better for an older audience.

An aspie reader would probably see something vaguely critical of gay people and run with that, because aspies aren't good with vagueness. Of course, I can see how younger (under 40) non-aspies might get confused here as well.

[butterflydrming.livejournal.com]

It's so easy to get uppity serious when someone mentions of hetero v. homosexuality.

[butterflydrming.livejournal.com]

I find him funny in a bumbling hyperbole kind of way. It's, "I don't get it, but well, all right." There's almost a point that he starts in a sentence, then it spins off into silliness. That's how I always talk to little kids. Totally serious sounding, but saying ridiculous things just to see if they are thinking/listening.

It helped to read it thinking of how he would be saying those things aloud. He uses long, drifting off pauses, like he's lost his train of thought and then says something that just sort of comes out of his mouth. It won't work for someone who doesn't find a charming quality in that.

[buhrger]

i get a strong whiff of nostalgia off of it, but not so much the hate thing.

Dan Savage didn't get the funny either

[matt-ruff.livejournal.com]

http://www.thestranger.com/blog/2007/03/fuck_garrison_keillor

[samildanach.livejournal.com]

Posted without comment, Keillor's response (http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/posthost/2007/03/17/ordinarily_i_dont_like_to.php).