I grew up listening to Garrison Keillor and stories from Lake Wobegon. Listening to it as an adult, I have to say, it's not very good quality. I guess it's impossible to keep up a high level of quality week after week for so many years. But when I listen to it I hear a man rambling almost incoherently. There's not even a reasonable arc most weeks, he just babbles until time is up and Garrison abruptly says ".. and that's the news from Lake Wobegon".
For me, that's almost part of the charm. Each show doesn't itself need to be a masterpiece in order to play a part in the overall narrative of Lake Wobegon and Keillor's psyche. The show gained narrative force through its many years of accrual.
Also, the stories and jokes _needed not_ be top-notch (even though the way GK brought them to life on the radio always was). They tell you about mediocre, often weird people quietly but merrily living their lives just the way they want to, thank you very much. Turns out surprisingly many listeners liked that. NFLW was a celebration of natural, unashamed, funny, sad, humane mediocrity. I only came to know the show about two years ago and will miss it for a long time to come.
My sister and I, long time listeners to PHC, had both noticed that the monologues had declined in recent years, but we felt that they had gotten a bit better in this last year. I think Keillor wanted to go out on a high note and do his best in these final shows.
