Fans of public radio make their way inside Toms River, NJ’s Grunin Center for the Arts this Saturday, September 20, 2025 evening for a performance of songs and stories by author, singer, humorist, and radio personality Garrison Keillor.
The lights dim and Keillor, 83, takes the stage chanting in a sing-song voice, “You have come to see an historic man/From back before social media began.” After he asks audience members to join him in singing an a cappella rendition of “America,” fans vocalize, “My country, ’tis of thee/Sweet land of liberty,” while Keillor renders a countermelody.
“You sound so magnificent, I can’t let you go with just singing that one!” exclaims Keillor as he segues into “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” and audience members happily join in on the “I’ve been working on the railroad/All the live long day” lyric.
Going on to lament, “This song isn’t sung in schools anymore,” the crowd proudly croons, “O say can you see/By the dawn’s early light,” with Keillor on “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Keillor welcomes tonight’s crowd announcing, “It’s so good to be here at the Jersey Shore; I’ve been looking forward to this! ” After reminding fans that he hosted his NPR radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, for over 40 years, Keillor reveals, “People say they grew up on my stories and many approach me to tell me how I affected their lives.”
Now working as what he characterizes as “sort of a standup,” Keillor launches into an evening of jokes, songs, and stories, starting with a personal tale about a teacher who once helped him with his reading by having him read aloud to her, explaining, “This act of kindness was remedial reading, but it didn’t feel remedial,” prior to acknowledging, “I felt privileged — she gave me a gift.”
After singing snippets of several childhood song parodies including “Glory, Glory Hallelujah” and “On Top of Spaghetti,” Keillor talks about his “fundamentalist upbringing” being raised in an house north of Minneapolis with “a half-acre garden that fed six children” who, for amusement, had to come up with their own ways of entertaining themselves.
Insisting, “I’m here for a purpose,” Keillor reveals, “I’m here to get away from the news,” going on to observe, “We live in anxious times — every week, every day, we find new dangers.”
At 83, Keillor acknowledges, “I keep working because I enjoy it.” Warning, “Retirement is not good for people,” Keillor tells a story about a friend who took up birdwatching, to which he remarks, “I’m sorry, the birds know who they are. You can leave birdwatching to the birds.”
Expanding on what it feels like to be his age, Keillor suggests, “83 is a form of freedom. There’s no need for long-term planning and there’s no need to ‘find yourself’ — this is it; this is who you are.”
Going on to tell stories about his childhood, Keillor talks about washing dishes in the kitchen with his mother, recalling, “She washed. I dried. It was a chance to tell jokes,” and suggesting, “When your mother laughs at something you said, it’s a form of love.”
Over the course of the evening, Keillor covers a number of additional topics including “Haiku” and “baseball” before reciting several original poems including an erotic sonnet he wrote for his wife and a poem about fatherhood he created for his daughter.
Audience members are particularly interested in Keillor’s story regarding a novel he wrote about life in a small town in Minnesota called Lake Wobegon. Sadly, Keillor lost the novel when rushing to catch a train, but in hopes of informing the public about the missing manuscript, he started telling stories about Lake Wobegon on the radio — including one which he shares with the audience about “Bruno, the Fishing Dog” — with hopes that someone would find the novel, recognize it, and return it to him.
Although the novel was never recovered, Keillor’s News from Lake Wobegon segment went on to become his radio show’s best-known feature and its loss never dampened Keillor’s spirit. Explaining, “I am an optimist, and I believe that our country will recover from this horrible divisiveness we’re in now,” Keillor concludes his performance by telling the NJ audience, “When I am gone, you can remember that you saw me one night on the Jersey Shore. People will say, ‘How was it?’ and you can say, ‘Well, it had its moments.’”
After adding, “We have to end with you singing a song so I’ll have something to take home with me to remember you,” Keillor leads the crowd in a medley of tunes including, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” “Goodnight Ladies,” “Merrily We Roll Along,” “Amen Amen,” and “Glory, Glory Hallelujah.” Ending with, “Thank you, everybody, good night,” he receives a standing ovation from the crowd.
As audience members make their way out of the theater, several offer their opinions of tonight’s presentation. Remarks David from Little Egg Harbor, “Tonight’s program felt like it was reminiscent of Garrison Keillor’s radio shows; it sounded like they never ended, so it was amazing that it was as good as it was when I was listening to him as a kid.” Revealing, “I’m from Minnesota originally and I grew up listening to him,” David insists, “It was very sentimental being here tonight hearing him tell his stories, and singing the songs together was a nice touch, too.”
Ryan from Manchester concurs, noting, “It was a very good show! I found Garrison Keillor 15 or 20 years ago on National Public Radio. He’s always been such a good storyteller and seeing him here live at the Jersey Shore tonight was well worth it.”
Theresa from Holmdel insists, “It was an excellent performance! Garrison Keillor’s stories were great and I think his ending was perfect — the sing-along made the whole evening.” Theresa’s son, Ryan, agrees, maintaining, “It was fantastic — Garrison Keillor looked just like I imagined him on the radio!”
Lastly, Marshall from Toms River asserts, “Garrison Keillor was wonderful! People here knew him from his NPR radio show, and his live delivery was incredible — he got everyone into the show immediately and the ending was perfect,” prior to concluding, “He was fabulous tonight — unbelievable!”
To learn more about Garrison Keillor, please go to garrisonkeillor.com. For information on upcoming programs at Toms River’s Grunin Center for the Arts — including Chris Ruggiero and Clint Holmes on October 26, So Good: The Neil Diamond Experience on November 8, The Glenn Miller Orchestra on November 22, and Chris Botti on December 3 — please click on grunincenter.org.
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