From 1999 to 2004-ish, I was one of the contributing writers for Garrison Keillor's renowned radio show "A Prairie Home Companion." I learned a lot of things there, mostly how to spell 'prairie." It was a solid gig and I'm proud of my work there. But, like any other job, there were...things...
There are a couple of odd sketches about to pop up. These are older sketches, going back to college. I was very much in my Monty Python phase when I wrote this originally. I had done a number of store-set sketches through the years, always with a slightly demented store-keeper at the helm. It's a premise that goes back to my first sketch ever, The Pet Store, and continued through my years of writing for "Big B's Traveling Sideshow" (which I'll get to some day--there's video) and the Plant Store sketch. When I decide to pitch them to PHC, I pulled out the Martin Storeman name of the shop owner. I must have been in a major valley, creative-wise, because there's no way Keillor would go for this bit, even reworking the set-up a smidge, to work in the word "Minnesota" and make a last ditch effort to make it a commercial. I wasn't wrong (he didn't). It's just an outright goofy sketch that reminded me of a younger, more free and innocent writer version of myself. It's a theme we'll visit in a few weeks. Until then, here's;
