The Flagpole Radio Cafe Returns With Holiday Show

The Flagpole Radio Café returns to the stage just in time for the holidays on

December 2 at 7pm at the Edmond Town Hall, in Newtown, CT with Emmy AwardWinning Fred Newman, who is famous for his 17 years of creating sounds and voices for
Garrison Keillor’s beloved radio show A Prairie Home Companion. The Flagpole Radio Café is an evening of engaging music and compelling comedy performed by an ensemble of local artists and changing guest artists. Tickets are now on saleat www.flagpoleproductions.org. All tickets are $45.

Producer Martin Blanco remarked, “In the early days of The Flagpole Radio Café, it
came to my attention that Fred Newman had seen and enjoyed our show. With no small amount
of chutzpah, Producer Barbara Gaines and I invited Fred to meet us for coffee. He was
gracious enough to accept and spent several hours offering encouragement and advice. Given
his vast experience in theatre and broadcasting, particularly with the venerable A Prairie Home
Companion, this was a generous gift that has paid dividends for over a decade. We hoped to
have him perform on our show one day, and that day has finally arrived.”


Fred Newman is an actor, writer, musician and performer. Garnering awards for his
appearances on the BBC, Public Television and National Public Radio, for 17 years, he created
voices and sounds on Garrison Keillor’s live, weekly radio broadcast A Prairie Home
Companion. This beloved show is known for its musical guests, especially folk and traditional
musicians, tongue-in-cheek radio drama, and warm humor. Keillor's wry storytelling segment,
"News from Lake Wobegon," was the show's best-known feature during his long tenure. Fred
will be participating in a 50th Anniversary show of A Prairie Home Companion at The Town
Hall in New York City on December 9.

Mr. Newman also created voices and sounds for dozens of movies, including Gremlins,
Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Harry & the Hendersons, Cocoon, Far & Away, Explorers, Bright
Lights, Big City, Practical Magic and many others. His character "Lurleen Cheatwood" -
the trailer-park-answer to Martha Stewart – was a regular on CBS Mornings. Fred can be heard
in dozens of commercials, as voices for parrots, squirrels, lawns, yodelers, old men, and babies.
Fred began his work in television as the host of Nickelodeon’s Peabody Award-winning show,
Livewire, a talk show for teenagers, and he went on to host six seasons of the Mickey Mouse
Club, The Disney Channel's top-rated comedy/variety show for teenagers, for which he won
Cable ACE Awards. As the Original Sound Designer and Music Composer for the hit animated
series DOUG with both Nickelodeon and Disney, he created the voice of “Skeeter,” “Pork
Chop,” “Mr. Dink” and others.

Fred has also written an award-winning book and recording for children entitled Zounds!,
and each spring, for more than a dozen years, he received a special performance grant to take his
stories, sounds and music, live, to thousands of rural Georgia & Alabama school children. Fred,
appearing solo, on-camera, wrote and improvised sketches for the award-winning television
series Between the Lions (WGBH/PBS), a phonics and reading show airing nearly a dozen years,
for which he was awarded multiple Emmy Awards. His work is now a part of PBS Kids online.
Fred ran for President of the United States – something he never thought he’d say – in the 2000
election (Bush v Gore) working with cartoonist Garry Trudeau (“Doonesbury”) - in the character
of “Duke.” A self-described “nerd in a basement,” Fred continues to write and create sounds for
radio, gaming, television, and film, as well as appearing live on stage with Garrison Keillor and,
separately, performing his own his own personal show of stories, sounds, and music that he
occasionally titles Growing Up Weird.