A Classic Show from Town Hall 1996

This week, we revisit a classic show featuring Al Franken, Alice Playton, Jaki Byard, cast of Radio Gals

UPCOMING EVENTS

A Tour of Colorado - For Information

March 28 The Pace Center, Parker, CO

March 30 Vilar Performing Arts Center, Beaver Creek, CO

March 31 Avalon Theater, Grand Junction, CO

FEATURED SHOW — November 16, 1996

SHOW LINK

This week’s featured 1996 broadcast comes from The Town Hall in New York City where we get to experience the comedic timing of Al Franken, the glorious acting of Alice Playten, the multi-instrumentalist Jaki Byard, and the musical cast of Radio Gals. The Royal Academy of Actors are grateful to escape the blizzards of Minnesota, and Guy Noir is looking to cast a radio adaptation of Madame Bovary. Also Rich Dworsky and the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band and the News from Lake Wobegon.

Highlights include Al Franken sitting in with Guy Noir, the six-minute theater version of Oedipus, Jaki Byard’s take on “Autumn in New York,” a full cast version of “Goodnight, Irene,” and more. Join us on Facebook at 5:00 p.m. CT this Saturday. Or if you can’t wait, click this LINK now.

Al Franken

Minnesota native Al Franken was one of the original writers for — and longtime performer on — Saturday Night Live. His work on SNL earned him five Emmy Awards. His character New Age cable-TV host Stuart Smalley, with his self-confidence mantra — “You’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and doggone it, people like you” —provided the subject for Franken’s first book, his Grammy-nominated comedy album, and the 1995 movie Stuart Saves His Family. Al Franken moved into the political realm and became a senator from the state of Minnesota before returning to the lecture and stand-up world.

Jaki Byard

Born in Boston in 1922, jazz pianist Jaki Byard began taking formal piano lessons when he was eight years old. Two years later, the Great Depression hit. Almost overnight, young Jaki’s piano lessons became too much for his family to afford. So Byard experimented on the piano at home, learning tunes by ear and finding his musical inspiration at a local club called Dan Dundee’s Deck, where he listened to Count Basie, Joe Venuti, Fats Waller, and others. His performances are heard on dozens of jazz recordings.

Alice Playten

Alice Playten appeared on Broadway in Gypsy; Oliver; Hello, Dolly!; Henry, Sweet Henry; Rumors; Spoils of War; Seussical; and Caroline, or Change. Off-Broadway shows include The Mysteries and What’s So Funny, a collaboration by Red Grooms, David Gordon, and Philip Glass. She received an Obie Award for her performance as Mick Jagger in Lemmings and another Obie for her portrayal of Mamie Eisenhower in First Ladies Suite at the Public Theater. Alice made regular appearances on A Prairie Home Companion. Sadly, she passed away in 2011.

Radio Gals

The cast of Radio Gals, called “an impressive array of talent” by The New York Times, put on their first performance in fall of 1996 at New York’s John Houseman Theatre. The musical, set in the early days of radio, starred Carole Cook as Miss Hazel, a retired music teacher who runs a 500-watt radio station out of her parlor. She airs the music of her band, called the Hazelnuts, which consists of Miss Hazel and her friends: Gladys Fritts (Rosemary Loar), Rennabelle (Klea Blackhurst), America (Emily McKesell) — and the elderly Swindle Sisters, Miss Mabel (Michael Rice) and Miss Azilee (co-author Mike Craver). Since her station, WGAL, is not official, it hasn’t been assigned a frequency. This is not a problem for Miss Hazel: she simply adjusts her broadcasts to any wavelength that’s open. This aberrant use of the airwaves soon attracts the notice of a U.S. Government inspector (Matthew Bennett), and so the funny battle begins. Radio Gals was created by the late Mark Hardwick and by Mike Craver-who also appeared on A Prairie Home Companion with the Red Clay Ramblers.

Here is an old herding song that is featured in this week’s The Lives of the Cowboys sketch:

Herdin’ turkeys on the trail

Through the tall pine trees.

I hear their funny gobble

And I’m certain that this job’ll

Be a breeze.

Herdin’ turkeys on the trail

To this melody

’Cause turkeys ain’t that bright

So I know this job’s the right

One for me.

Never ever thought about the deeper things

Never had a nickel to my name

Never ever wondered what tomorrow brings

Turkeys are much the same.

Herding turkeys down the trail

Sing my serenade

Till the turkeys find their rest

In the plant where they’re processed,

And I’m paid.

Life These Days: Stories from Lake Wobegon - Click to here purchase

“Spring” from Life These Day

It’s almost 25 years since the release of the audio CD set Life These Days, a collection of News from Lake Wobegon monologues that was first issued in 1998. Below is an excerpt from the bonus story that is tucked into the packaging of this classic three-disc set:

This is what life should be like more often, this April day, lilacs in the air, the sun shining as it has all week, a glorious spring after a gentle winter. And if this were a reward for goodness, one might almost consider being good on a regular basis. It is Palm Sunday, and Carl Krebsbach comes chugging up the street on his John Deere tractor to plow up his garden and his sister Eloise’s and several of the neighbors’ gardens as well. A good day to be out on a tractor. His wife has not spoken to him for two days because of what he said to his daughter Carlene who is seventeen and a member of the Prom Committee that has been meeting all week planning the affair and trying to reach consensus on a band to hire, and everyone favors Eldon Miller and His Orchestra except Eric Hedlund, who is holding out for Big Pooty and the Snarks, because they are alternative rock and do all original material, unlike Eldon Miller who comes in a white tux and plays mostly Glenn Miller tunes. And last night Carlene came home in tears and said that she was so tired of the haggling that the Prom had lost all of its meaning for her, and Carl said, “Fine. Stay home. We’ll return the dress.” And the Duchess turned from kneading the bread dough and shot him a black look and hasn’t said a pleasant word to him since. Continue reading - click here.

English Majors - click here to purchase

Wishing Billy Collins a very happy 80th birthday on March 22nd. Collins reads a few of his poems in this collection and joins the full cast for a classic Guy Noir caper.

Scripts and bits from A Prairie Home Companion celebrate the secret society of people who possess excellent spelling and punctuation skills. (You know who you are.) Selections include “The Six-Minute Hamlet,” a tribute to Emily Dickinson, a Guy Noir adventure that exposes an MFA scam, a riveting “Lives of the English Majors” drama, and literary guests Billy Collins, Robert Bly, Roy Blount Jr., and Calvin Trillin. 2 1/2 hours on 2 discs.

The product page has a full content list and easy-to-use download links for Amazon and iTunes as part of our Download Project. Get the CDs here

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