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Dean of American storytellers and host of National Public Radio’s Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor many times refers to an imaginative sponsor of his radio program, The Ketchup Advisory Board. Every story line for The Ketchup Advisory Board features a dialog amidst husband and wife Jim and Barb in which they talk about the emptiness of their successful lives. In each vignette the key to spiritual gratification is found in ketchup, as in the following approximation of the introductory dialog:
Jim: All you genuinely need is ketchup. Ketchup fills that emptiness among the burger of our heart and the spiritual bun. It has natural mellowing agents that make you realize that, for humans in our situation, we’re doing gorgeous well. This is as good as it gets.
Barb: Oh, Jim!
Singer offstage: These are the good years so let us all give thanks.
We have a roof above our head, even even though it is the bank’s.
Life is flowing like ketchup on your franks.
Announcer: Ketchup. For the good times.
Singer: Ketchup! Ketchup!
After I had listened to Prairie Home Companion for a good deal of years, one day it occurred to me to exploration the question of whether ketchup in truth holds “natural mellowing agents” as Keillor’s comedy troupe alludes on their show.
I was shocked to learn that it does. In 2001, scientists at the Institut für Pharmazie und Lebensmittelchemie in Würzburg, Germany published a report on “carbohydrate-derived beta-carbolines in food.” Beta-carbolines increase the flow of tryptophan into the brain. The brain uses tryptophan to make serotonin, a mood chemical that relieves depression, energizing the brain to enable sensible selections in life. Beta-carbolines do not, however, cause the brain to make so much serotonin that mania results. The German scientists, perchance following the lead of Garrison Keillor, found that most eminent concentrations of beta-carbolines are provided by ketchup, soy sauce, and fermented fish.
Garrison Keillors American Radio Company
“New York is a hard place to visit, but a gorgeous good place to live,” says Garrison Keillor, and on this humorous and perceptive audio collection he explains why. This Grammy Award-nominated collection comprises 10 monologues in which Keillor reflects on New York City life through the eyes of a transplanted Minnesotan. These stories are amongst Keillor’s very best work.
ReviewLocal Man Moves to the City offers Keillor at his best – before a live audience – describing New York to New Yorkers. The applause and laughter, as well as Keillor’s reactions to his listeners, heighten the material. He sings and talks, separating the monologues with short piano pieces. Local Man will have to be heard again and again [brought to you by HighBridge Audio]. — Audiofile, April 1994
Grammy Award Nominee for Best Spoken Comedy of 1991 [brought to you by HighBridge Audio]. — NARAS
About the AuthorGARRISON KEILLOR is America’s favored storyteller. For more than 35 years as the host of A Prairie Home Companion, he has captivated millions of public radio listeners with his weekly “News from Lake Wobegon” monologues. Keillor is also the author of assorted books and a popular contributor to national publications including Time, The New Yorker, and National Geographic, in addition to writing his own syndicated column. He has been awarded a National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment of the Humanities.
GARRISON KEILLOR is America’s favored storyteller. For more than 30 years as the host of A Prairie Home Companion, he has captivated millions of public radio listeners with his weekly “News from Lake Wobegon” monologues. Keillor is likewise the author of assorted books and a general contributor to national publications including Time, The New Yorker, and National Geographic, in addition to writing his own syndicated column. He has been awarded a National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment of the Humanities.
From AudioFileThis is Keillor at his best–before a live audience–describing New York to New Yorkers. The applause and laughter, as well as Keillor’s reactions to his listeners, heighten the material. He sings and talks, separating the monologues with short piano pieces. Local Man must be heard again and again. E.S.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Garrison Keillors American Radio Company Photo
Garrison Keillors American Radio Company Picture
Garrison Keillors American Radio Company Picture
Garrison Keillors American Radio Company Photo
Most helpful client reviews
5 of 5 humans found the following review helpful.
 Moved to City Too!
By A
I’m a Midwest boy who moved to NYC and this is the sheer best description of how it is. I gave a copy to my Dad (still back in the Midwest) so he’d grasp what it’s like for me to live in Manhattan. Everyone who doesn’t live on the coasts will have to own a copy — it would fetch this country back together again!
3 of 3 persons found the following review helpful.
 Bloody hilarious
By A
What more to say? His analyses of the deviations amid life in the Midwest and life in New York are spot on.
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