
![]() 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 a quirky bit that I stole from myself. There's a scene in a screenplay I wrote, "The Importance of being Ernie" (or "I was a Teenage Screenplay writer"), that had this scene it it. It was a brazen attempt to update Abbott & Costello wordplay into the newer slang...well, the newer slang, circ. 2000s, which is really 1990s when I originally wrote the scene. It was a set piece which I could easily copy and paste elsewhere. Which is what I did, essentially. I don't recall where the premise set-up came from, if that was based on some real-life rumors that were floating around at the time or not. But it's a simple bit of silliness that didn't stand a chance at PHC. So, here it is, as seen in "The Importance of being Ernie," Translating Youth:
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![]() 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... Man, I have had no idea what generated this sketch idea. I mean, I reference something called "Words Can Heal" but where would have I heard about that? It sounds like it was some kind of "Be Best" thing of the 'naughts. Reading the sketch, most of it is still applicable. Oh, the hunter/gather bit? I had been working that gag into everything for a while. Finally got it into Cracked as a "Prehistoric Web Page" gag. I still use it ("Oh, he's a hunter, but he identifies as a gatherer." See, still works.) It didn't get picked, though. It's not a bad little bit, but it is very much of the PHC template, so there was never an attempt to re-purpose it elsewhere. GOSSIP![]() 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 here is pure silliness. I have a habit of occasionally dropping all pretense of sophisticated comedy and will write absolute goofball stuff. Things like Us Guys , Comic Con and this sketch. It was President's weekend coming which meant the Dayton 500 was happening. Now, is there an overlap between NPR listeners and NASCAR fans? I dunno. But once the idea of a goofy trio stepping in for a missing pit crew, it was a classic comedy premise along with topical humor, political jabs, silly names and, as mentioned earlier, goofiness. Unsurprisingly, it didn't make the cut. Maybe because of the goofiness. This is one of those bits I should be able to recycle somewhere. Maybe next year when sketch comedy makes a comeback post-COVID. PIT STOP![]() 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 was the second piece I submitted for their first week back in Feb. 2002. The Winter Olympics had been held, so it seemed like a perfect time to re-work and submit the winter version of the radio Olympics. The show often went off on nonsensical SFX adventures, just playing with the medium of radio, but I never got to a place where they would use one of my takes on it. I really tried to go beyond just a series of sound effects and give the bit some surreal basis to exist and then marry silly events to justify the various sound effects Tom Keith (the SFX guy) had in his repertoire. It's a fun, silly, quick-paced piece that didn't make the cut. Oh, well.. Radio Olympics![]() 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... The show was back from it's winter break and broadcasting again in February 2002. And there were gearing up for an anniversary. It seemed like a decent premise to base a skit on. The show had done "alternate histories" of itself over the years, and I thought it fit along with the various "later tonight on your local public radio" commercial bits the show. I had forgotten about this sketch and it's just a remarkable goofy routine. It parodies radio, it parodies the Today Show, it parodies the Tomorrow Show (which was a pretty obscure target even back in 2002), it parodies Rush Limbaugh (which I often tried to slip in) and then it falls into one of my signature bits, where many people have the same name. I like to think of it as Pythonesque, because it's a ridiculous conceit, but I'm all in and follow it to a logical conclusion. But the show didn't think so. And it's really a bit that I felt couldn't be reworked for one of my other outlets back then. Now, maybe I could salvage it for the stage troupe. Which reminds me, I have a gameshow with all Jacks sitting on my hard drive that needs to be finished. Until then, I present: The John Romain Show![]() 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... Leading up to Christmas time seems like a logical time to make fun of some of the Christmas gift commercials that actually get on the air. Except at PHC, where topical is atypical. The idea was silly and funny and I thought short enough to get too analyzed. But it relies way to heavily on pop culture and TV, always GK's blind spot. Needless to say, they didn't use it. HOUSE OF CHIAFrom 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 forget what triggered this skit, but I remember liking the idea right away. It was silly, but I thought it made a solid point about conservation and the Bush White House, where drilling was their solution to everything. People forgot, that things were always being referred to as crisis back then, to the point where the White House set up a color-coded chart that would inform us as to exactly how panicked we should be, especially around election time. So much foreshadowing back then to what the GOP was capable of and what it would evolve (devolve) into. It felt good to get silly again and start ramping up the brain again. But it didn't get picked. So, here we go: Digital ShortageFrom 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... ![]() Halloween was a big deal for PHC. Halloween was a big deal for me. I pulled out all the stops for October 2001, I created a couple of sketches that I kinda knew wouldn't work for them, but they were Halloween and where else was I going to place them? Then I came up with a anthrax-inspired horror movie parody (at the time the National Enquirer and NBC were receiving anthrax in the mail). Here's the thing; I posted these bits on the blog before, so, back when I was doing it all as Skit Happens for a big Halloween countdown to push my book, Halloweenies. I'm just going to link them below: 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... ![]() After the horrific terror attacks of 9/11/01, the entertainment industry kinda shut down. There was too much to process and too many to mourn to allow ourselves to simply slip back into day-to-day life. But, even in the darkest tragedies, people get antsy for something more. Our basic needs still exist, to eat, to drink, to be among others. And social interaction leads to other things; the need to enjoy. The need to laugh. In so many ways, all eyes were on New York City. Not just for what had happened, but for what and who we were. NYC is one of the broadcast centers of the nation. And, slowly, the media began to shake off the darkness. We all know how Letterman, John Steward, SNL and even Howard Stern started up their shows-both trying to acknowledge the change while conceding that some things, like the need to laugh, never change. Half way across the country, PHC had been on its hiatus with reruns for the summer. Their season opener was set for 10/10/01. Not for nothing, but by that time, my day job had been back up and running in Lower Manhattan for weeks. We were pressing forward, step by step, with the ashes and smoke still drifting out of Ground Zero. Work pushed us forward. But, on the freelancing front, try writing comedy. I tried. I alternated between bits that acknowledged the attack and others that didn't. It wouldn't be until the end of the month, with Halloween, that I went back to normal. Until then, it was working it out through the show's established characters. And a theme became the near-commercialization of the tragedy. Everyone and every business seemed to be jumping on the patriotic wagon, so that became a subject that I could poke fun of. As is a theme of these posts, this wasn't used. I thought it quite topical and whimsical, but it didn't make the cut. So, I've been trying to post these around the time they were created, (in lieu of the actual anniversary of 9/11), we present: Cafe BoeufFrom 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... ![]() It was the season finale so I decided to go all in and do a parody of season finales. Right off the bat, it was a tough sell, GK wasn't much of a TV guy, and that's what I was selling. I have vague recollections of using it for Style Without Substance. Which came first? I don't recall and I didn't make a note of it. It has a Style feel to it, using the whole cast, the silliness, the meta aspect. Obviously, it wasn't PHC enough, 'cause it didn't get picked. Season Finale! 7/7/01 |
Dan FiorellaFreelance writer, still hacking away. Archives
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