Neil Gaiman singing a song about Joan of Arc

Minnesota Public Radio wrapped up another fabulous season of WITS last Friday. Besides being the first thing I've ever bought season tickets for, WITS is best described as the very nerdy, slightly tipsy, younger cousin of A Prairie Home Companion. There are authors, there are musicians, there are the creators of MST3K heckling from a balcony seat. In other words, you'd love it.

This season wrapped up with Neil Gaiman, singer/songwriter/charmingimaginaryboyfriend Josh Ritter, and phone call-ins by special guests Wil Wheaton and Adam Savage. I thought you'd all get a kick out of this clip from the show, where Gaiman sings a song he wrote about Joan of Arc, accompanied by Ritter, a brass band, and the WITS house musicians.

If you aren't lucky enough to live in, or be visiting, the Twin Cities when WITS is recorded, don't despair. You can listen to the show, and watch clips, online.

VIDEO LINK

• John Hodgman, Neil Gaiman and OK Go's Damian Kulash sing "So Happy Together"

• [Aceofblue]

  The song, “That’s the Problem with Saints” is part of 8in8, which is a fantastic collaboration with Ben Folds, Amanda Palmer, Neil Gaiman, and Damian Kulash. They set out to write and record 8 songs in 8 hours, and managed to create 6 really awesome ones.

  You can hear them all/buy them here =D
  http://music.amandapalmer.net/album/nighty-night

• [mrgoldenbrown]

  Where’s the link to a mp3 or a podcast? It’s a show designed to be enjoyed on the radio, isn’t a podcast a no brainer?

• [THEnathan]

  It was Adam Savage, not Jamie Hyneman — and Adam was one of the highlights of the night, singing “I Will Survive” as Gollum. John Moe (the host) completely lost it before Adam even started in on the song.

  Great night … the only thing you guys miss from the video stream is the Brass Messengers playing 4-5 songs outside the Fitz after the show.

  • [Maggie Koerth-Baker]

    Fixed. Apparently, my memory is failing me. Or I’d had too many Tina Louise’s by that point in the evening.

    • [cinemajay]

      You’re not the only one. I totally wanted to go to this, and I totally forgot.

  • [Maggie Koerth-Baker]

    Also: Yes. LOVED the post-show impromptu street dance. Second-best part of the after-show, the (remarkably long) line of people waiting to pet Neil Gaiman’s dogs. It was much shorter than the line of people waiting to get books signed by Neil Gaiman, but it still amused me.

• [THEnathan]

  Oh, there’s also a lot of photos up on MPR’s flickr page

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/minnesota_public_radio/

• [Anonymous]

  why is there no podcast? They have all these twitter links and things, but no podcast?

• [facetedjewel]

  Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett were heckling from the balcony? What…no Mike Nelson? (speaking of secret loves…)

  This show looks like great fun!

• [yclept]

  Zowie! I’ll need to listen a couple more times before I can ingest properly, but I enjoyed the limerick scansion and the theme. Joan of Arc is not to be messed with.

  Loved the Brass Messengers. Is that a flugelhorn?

  I’ll be tuning in for more.

  • [THEnathan]

    http://www.brassmessengers.com/

    They’ve got a couple local gigs coming up. Definitely trying to make it to at least one of the two.

• [Anonymous]

  “The British will no longer rule the world”?

  Hey Joan, take it out on the English and Welsh and leave the Scots out of this. Under the Auld Alliance Scotland was on the side of France. See http://www.maidofheaven.com/joanofarc_scots.asp

  • [pupdog]

    As far as Joan knows, they still are. Part of the joke and all, ya know…

• [valis]

  I was there and it certainly was a blast!