Keillor serves up bittersweet final 'Companion' in Hollywood
By MIKE CIDONI LENNOX - AP Entertainment Writer
Posted: July 2, 2016 - 5:34am
In this June 24, 2016, file photo, "A Prairie Home Companion" host Garrison Keillor rehearses with the band at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass. Some 18,000 fans at the Hollywood Bowl will be transported to Lake Wobegon, Minn., Friday night, July 1, as writer and humorist Keillor hosts his final episode of the old-style variety show “A Prairie Home Companion” after 42 years on public radio. (Stephanie Zollshan/The Berkshire Eagle via AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Writer and humorist Garrison Keillor served up a bittersweet farewell for some 18,000 fans at the Hollywood Bowl as he hosted his final episode of the old-style radio show, "A Prairie Home Companion."

Keillor's swan song Friday night wasn't markedly different from most of his nearly 42 years of "Companion" episodes, offering a rich mix of Americana music and folksy comedy. (U.S. President Barack Obama called in for a special segment recorded earlier Friday, but not even the Bowl audience will hear that until Saturday's broadcast.)

The "last-show" aspect of the doings was so subtle that, at one point, even Keillor's cast mates began to prod their boss, asking, "How do you feel (about leaving)?" 

Keillor reluctantly replied, "It feels like something ends and something else is about to happen."

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