From 1999 to 2004-ish, I was one of the contributing writers for Garrison Keillor's renowned radio show "A Prairie 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...
This bit I've posted before, as part of my usual countdown to Christmas (and beyond) but it's a very special bit. This would be the second week in a row that I got something on the air, so I was feeling pret-ty cocky. The show was still in New York and still open to Christmas bits so, I sent in "12 Days," which I nicked from my script "Christmas Carol," where some kids to a parody of the song during a pageant.
I was just floored when I heard it produced for the first time. Yes, GK rewrote some of it. And he certainly reworked the song performance, starting from 5 and working up from there. It saved some of the comedy surprises and, more impressively, got the whole audience to sing "Five Onion Rings" just the right number of times; not so many as to get bored, but enough that it grew and got louder as they reached the end. And the audience really sounded like they were having fun. Just wished I could have been there.
Another special thing about this one skit is that the online credit reads "(c) 1999 Dan Fiorella" I have full credit on it, even though he re-wrote some of it (mine was a lot more food oriented). The on air credit is ...fake names..."with some help from Dan Fiorella, Laura Levine and Laura Peterson..." which is nice, yet still demeaning. We helped some fake guys who everyone assumes is GK because he's too modest to take credit. Oh, well...
The thing of it is, the computer disc where I saved the first season of submissions to PHC got corrupted. I can't access it and I don't remember what else I submitted. And back then I was so paranoid about using up memory on my desktop, I always saved things to disc. So, that kinda backfired on me. Two PCs later, the emails didn't survive the transfers, so I don't have them to refer to either. And frankly, my record keeping was a bit spotty at the time. I thought I had the links to all the bits posted, but I can't find them. Even then, it would only be a research tool, as none of the original links are still up, but they would have given me dates on the shows. I just happened to find an old email with the old links to the first 4 bits but on that email, the next bit isn't until May, 2001. Though that long a gap seems possible, it seems long. But for now, on Dec. 18, 1999, Prairie Home Companion preformed my version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
I was just floored when I heard it produced for the first time. Yes, GK rewrote some of it. And he certainly reworked the song performance, starting from 5 and working up from there. It saved some of the comedy surprises and, more impressively, got the whole audience to sing "Five Onion Rings" just the right number of times; not so many as to get bored, but enough that it grew and got louder as they reached the end. And the audience really sounded like they were having fun. Just wished I could have been there.
Another special thing about this one skit is that the online credit reads "(c) 1999 Dan Fiorella" I have full credit on it, even though he re-wrote some of it (mine was a lot more food oriented). The on air credit is ...fake names..."with some help from Dan Fiorella, Laura Levine and Laura Peterson..." which is nice, yet still demeaning. We helped some fake guys who everyone assumes is GK because he's too modest to take credit. Oh, well...
The thing of it is, the computer disc where I saved the first season of submissions to PHC got corrupted. I can't access it and I don't remember what else I submitted. And back then I was so paranoid about using up memory on my desktop, I always saved things to disc. So, that kinda backfired on me. Two PCs later, the emails didn't survive the transfers, so I don't have them to refer to either. And frankly, my record keeping was a bit spotty at the time. I thought I had the links to all the bits posted, but I can't find them. Even then, it would only be a research tool, as none of the original links are still up, but they would have given me dates on the shows. I just happened to find an old email with the old links to the first 4 bits but on that email, the next bit isn't until May, 2001. Though that long a gap seems possible, it seems long. But for now, on Dec. 18, 1999, Prairie Home Companion preformed my version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
