Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (/ˈkiːlər/; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality.

Keillor is also the creator of the five-minute daily radio/podcast program The Writer's Almanac, which pairs poems of his choice with a script about important literary, historical, and scientific events that coincided with that date in history.

In November 2017, Minnesota Public Radio cut all business ties with Keillor after an allegation of inappropriate behavior with a freelance writer for A Prairie Home Companion.

[13] During college, he began his broadcasting career on the student-operated radio station known today as Radio K. In his 2004 book Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America, Keillor mentions some of his noteworthy ancestors, including John Crandall,[14] who was an associate of Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island and the first American Baptist church; and Prudence Crandall, who founded the first African-American women's school in America.

[16] Keillor has attributed the idea for the live Saturday night radio program to his 1973 assignment to write about the Grand Ole Opry for The New Yorker, but he had already begun showcasing local musicians on the morning show, despite limited studio space.

The show was punctuated by spoof commercial spots for PHC fictitious sponsors such as Powdermilk Biscuits, the Ketchup Advisory Board, and the Professional Organization of English Majors (POEM);[18] it presented parodic serial melodramas, such as The Adventures of Guy Noir, Private Eye and The Lives of the Cowboys.

Keillor voiced Noir, the cowboy Lefty, and other recurring characters, and provided lead or backup vocals for some of the show's musical numbers.

After the show's intermission, Keillor read clever and often humorous greetings to friends and family at home submitted by members of the theater audience in exchange for an honorarium.

[19] Lake Wobegon is a quintessentially Minnesota small town characterized by the narrator as a place "... where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."

Keillor produced broadcast performances similar to PHC but without the "Prairie Home Companion" brand, as in his 2008 appearance at the Oregon Bach Festival.

On November 29, 2017, the Star Tribune reported that Minnesota Public Radio was terminating all business relationships with Keillor as a result of "allegations of his inappropriate behavior with an individual who worked with him."

In its statement of termination, MPR announced that Keillor would keep his executive credit for the show, but that since he owns the trademark for the phrase "prairie home companion", they would cease rebroadcasting episodes of A Prairie Home Companion featuring Keillor and remove the trademarked phrase from the radio show hosted by Chris Thile.

[28] Keillor received a letter from the MPR CEO, Jon McTaggart, dated April 5, 2018, confirming that both sides wanted archives of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac to be publicly available again.

in the Blair Arcade Building at the southwest corner of Selby and N. Western Avenues in the Cathedral Hill area in the Summit-University neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Some notable appearances include: In 2006, Keillor wrote and portrayed himself in the musical comedy film A Prairie Home Companion, directed by Robert Altman.

It features an ensemble cast including Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, and Lily Tomlin.

Anderson also noted that in 1985, when Time magazine called Keillor the funniest man in America, Bill Cosby said, "That's true if you're a pilgrim.

[58][59] in 1995, he married classical string player Jenny Lind Nilsson (born 1957), who is also from Keillor's home town of Anoka, Minnesota.

[62] In 2006, after a visit to a United Methodist church in Highland Park, Texas, Keillor created a local controversy with his remarks about the event,[63] including the rhetorical suggestion of a connection between event participants and supporters of torture and a statement creating an impression of political intimidation: "I walked in, was met by two burly security men ... and within 10 minutes was told by three people that this was the Bushes' church and that it would be better if I didn't talk about politics."

In addition, the coordinator said that Keillor arrived at the church, declined an introduction, and took the stage without an opportunity to mingle with the audience, so he did not know when these warnings might have been dispensed.

Asked to respond, Keillor stuck to his story, describing the people who advised him not to discuss politics and saying he had no security guards at other stops on the tour.

[65] In 2007, Keillor wrote a column that in part criticized "stereotypical" gay parents, whom he said were "sardonic fellows with fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofa and a small weird dog and who worship campy performers.

[67]In 2008, Keillor created a controversy in St. Paul when he filed a lawsuit against his neighbor's plan to build an addition on her home, citing his need for "light and air" and a view of "open space and beyond".

[69] In 2009, one of Keillor's "Old Scout" columns contained a reference to "lousy holiday songs by Jewish guys" and a complaint about "Silent Night" as rewritten by Unitarians, upsetting some readers.