[Ben Piecuch]

In the past year I've been to live tapings of both "A Prairie Home Companion "and "Wait, wait don't tell me..."

Though, am I an addict? Probably not...

Both were very interesting to watch, with "Wait Wait..." taking a strong lead in the live entertainment value. Seeing all the behind the scenes action, and catching all the live stuff that can get edited out of the final broadcast makes it all that much more exciting! The taping took 1.5 hours, to get just one hour of on-air stuff. You can just imagine the rest of the one-liners and puns that were flying across the stage...

The live recording of "Prairie Home Companion" was very close the final, broadcasted show. Unfortunately, I think I got more out of the radio show than the live taping. PHC tends to use a lot of imagery, and you rely on your sense of imagination to picture what's going on. While watching live, your imagination is stripped from you, as you can see what's going on. The only problem is, nothing is going on, seriously. The cast just stands around reading their lines. Most of the time I sat there with my eyes closed trying to recreate some sort of vision in my head.

I'd love to spend some more time with the Car talk guys. They have an answer for everything! Amazingly, I've been able to co-diagnose some of the problems along with them. But their knowledge far surpasses mine. Funny guys, funny show, with lots of useful stuff. Gotta love that.

BEN