'Prairie Home Companion' sometimes goes off script

“A Prairie Home Companion” may be a well-oiled radio machine, but that doesn’t mean its actors are ever off their toes.

Garrison Keillor, the show’s star and driving force since its inception in 1974, is known to perfect the variety show’s script up until the day — or hour — it’s performed. Longtime guest, writer and humorist Roy Blount Jr. recalls a taping at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Conn., some years ago during which Keillor scribbled revisions as the actors were speaking their lines.

“Garrison will discard a sketch halfway through the show,” says Blount, a regular guest since the mid-1980s.

Adds “A Prairie Home” mainstay, actor Tim Russell: “Every once in awhile he’ll throw us a curve ball. All we have to do is listen and react.”

Blount, a native of Decatur, and Russell, of Minneapolis, are gearing up to perform in the American Public Media gem today when Keillor brings the crew to the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Atlanta public radio station WABE-FM (90.1) is sponsoring the sold-out event, which it will broadcast live. The performance will feature musical guest Caroline Herring, also of Decatur.

Russell, who joined the cast in 1994 and is known for such recurring roles as Dusty the Cowboy, credits the show’s widespread success to Keillor’s wit, storytelling skills and detail-filled memory.

“He’s kind of a writer who has never forgotten his childhood or upbringing. I couldn’t remember what I did yesterday,” Russell says. “I’m always envious that he has this facility to remember the most minute details he uses in his writing or in his books.”

Adds Blount: “There’s a lot of familiarity in ‘A Prairie Home Companion,’ and it’s hard to find familiarity in things anymore.”

Folk singer Herring is hoping the show will help her become familiar to its loyal fan base. Each week, some 4 million people tune in to hear Keillor’s Grand Ole Opry-style musical numbers and comedic sketches. Herring learned just over a week ago that she’d make her debut on the show, and at the Fox, and even sing duets with Keillor himself.

“I’m going to find something to focus on out in the audience and breathe and practice 500 more times before I get up there and do my thing,” she says. “You always want to be on any radio show; this is the apex.”

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“A Prairie Home Companion”