All Categories - Dan Fiorella: Writer @ large

Dan Fiorella

Barely Home Companion - It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas (Dec. '06)

12/12/2025

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...

Actually, submitting this song parody in December would be late these days. Back then, this was the verge of all the radio stations starting to go to all-Christmas all-the-time mid-November. Still something that bugs me. Need to start working on Thanksgiving songs. Oh, and I ran the lyrics through AI and it spit out a version of the song, which is posted below, so now it exists somewhere...

It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas

Barely Home Companion - Abbott & Costello Meet Scrooge (Dec. '06)

12/5/2025

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...

Obviously, December rolled around and I must have felt compelled to do my first Christmas sketch. As I often did with PHC, I circled back to Abbott and Costello. I mean, is it a good idea? Maybe. But that I went right with a "Who's on First" parody about the names of the three ghosts to mimic the names of the three ball players seems weak. But it goes fast and I'm sure it would gets some laughs. I worked it into one of GK's patented "Tonight on most public radio stations" set-ups, and I assumed it stood a chance, but it got passed over, much like the other holiday.

Abbott & Costello Meet Scrooge

Hashtag, You're It! -#Horrific Holiday Sides

12/3/2025

Weekly Humorist, a humor magazine I often submit to and occasionally get in, runs these Hashtag Games on Twitter (X), where they name a topic and we submit humorous responses. These games play right into my gag reflex, so I always throw up something. I've taken to setting my calendar to get online every Wednesday to "play" (and by "play" I mean submit content to their website for free--I like to think of it as pun bono work). I always submit a bunch of them on X (Twitter) and some of them get selected for inclusion to their online site.

It's been a busy start to the holiday rocket sled ride. If WH did a hashtag game on 11/26, I missed it as I was elbow-deep in stuffing prep. Oh, a segue! Here's the game from 11/17 all about side dishes!

#HorrificHolidaySides

A.I.-Caramba! Clyde Wilson; Christmas Daredevil

11/30/2025

I've started pulling scripts out to run through AI. This script was originally written to submit for Prairie Home Companion many Christmases ago, but it struck me has something I could put together. I did the AI voice generator. I loaded into my editing software, added the music I had download from a PD site, adding sound effects and made this audio. I kept it audio because trying to turn it into video on AI is really tricky (as I learned with Tur Dunkin and Dyke, Van Dyke). It's up on Soundcloud now, in time for the holidays! It's the latest adventure of that crazy Christmas Evel Knievel, Clyde Wilson, Christmas Daredevil.

Dan Fiorella · Clyde Wilson-Christmas Daredevil

Barely Home Companion - That’s what I call Opera! (Nov. '06)

11/28/2025

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...

This is just a few moments of silliness, starting with a parody of "That's What I Call Music" and winding up with "That's What I Call Butter!" I can't believe I googled all those opera song titles for this bit. I imagine I thought I'd fake GK in with some classy opera chops, but it didn't work. And I like my tag. Unexpected.

That’s What I Call Opera!

A.I.-Caramba! Dyke, Van Dyke

11/25/2025

As Mr. Dick Van Dyke turns 100, his new book comes out. In that book he mentions that at the start of his movie career, he was offered the role of James Bond, of Her Majesty's Secret Service. Yelp, that called for a trip to the A.I. farm to find out more about that! And here's what we found:

Barely Home Companion - Post-holiday Depression (Nov. '06)

11/21/2025

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...

Yes, I'm running behind. I submitted a post-holiday depression sketch for a post-Christmas show in a previous season, so I guess I was due to do a post-Halloween depression sketch. I forgot about this one (even though I posted it before during a Halloweenies push) and was surprised it wasn't a ketchup-themed post. It's just an off-beat bit and I like the Election Day twist at the end. It all came together nicely and I felt it was in the PHC-universe. It didn't make the cut, however. So, now, very post-holiday, is:

Post-holiday Depression

Hashtag, You're It! -# #Winterize A Wine

11/19/2025

Weekly Humorist, a humor magazine I often submit to and occasionally get in, runs these Hashtag Games on Twitter (X), where they name a topic and we submit humorous responses. These games play right into my gag reflex, so I always throw up something. I've taken to setting my calendar to get online every Wednesday to "play" (and by "play" I mean submit content to their website for free--I like to think of it as pun bono work). I always submit a bunch of them on X (Twitter) and some of them get selected for inclusion to their online site.

I know I've been lax about the blog, but here I thought I had to post 2 hashtag games from Weekly Humorist, and it looks like they didn't feature the previous week's game, "Mock A Cocktail." Granted, it was nothing to write home about, but it's odd that WK decided it had enough content for the week that they didn't publish a best-of article. Oh, well. Anyhoo, they did a "Winterize A Wine" game the next week, and I remember thinking they were way too similar. Maybe that occurred to them, too. I managed a couple of decent entries here, but only got four in. It's always troubling when the WH humor team gets most of the slots on the list, as was the case here. We'll get 'em next time!

#WinterizeAWine

A.I-Caramba!: Turdunkin'

11/17/2025

generated by AI

I've reached the point in my life where I'm getting ideas for bits and skits, but I'm not really writing them out. It's not like I have an outlet. I mentioned elsewhere that I've been running some of my song parodies through an AI song creator. I get it, AI isn't a creative force, but it is a tool. But a stupid one. For instance, if I write lyrics to the tune of "Born to Run," there's no way to tell the AI thing that's what I need it to do. And, as a comic device, song parody is very much made funny by the fact that you're messing around with an actual song (check out Randy Rainbow). At least now I have something tangible to put on display.

Barely Home Companion - Let's Fence Me In (Oct. '06)

11/7/2025

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...

I have no idea what this is about. Did W start talking about walls back in 2006? I mean, it seems to be a cross between gated communities and a border wall. But basically, it is just as applicable now, right? It's a parody of "Don't Fence Me In," only in favor of being fenced in.

Let's Fence Me In

comedy, writer, Dan Fiorella, Daniel fiorella, screenplay, sketches,radio,computer games, television writer