Guy Noir is a

fictional Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a tradit ...

private detective A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...

regularly featured on the

public radio Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

show ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed '' Live from ...

''. Voiced by

Garrison Keillor Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radi ...

, the character parodies the conventions of hardboiled fiction and the

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...

genre. Guy Noir works on the twelfth floor of the Acme Building in a city that "knows how to keep its secrets",

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

Exploits

The first Guy Noir segments aired in 1995 and were heavy on tongue-twisters, alliteration and other wordplay. In early episodes of the series, Guy and his "friend" Pete ( Walter Bobbie) would often get into fights and end up shooting each other. Both died many times. However, following Bobbie's departure as a show regular, Pete appears to have died off for good. In later episodes, Noir is a down-on-his-luck detective, who ends up taking odd jobs to get by, such as finding missing poodles. Thrown in with these plots tend to be references to current events. For example, in November 2006, while waiting for a case, Noir contents himself by listening to parts of George W. Bush's post-mid-term election speech. Occasionally, political agents use him for hatchet work. For the portion of ''A Prairie Home Companions season that is performed outside of St. Paul, the setting of Noir's case usually involves the city that the program is visiting that week. In the same skit as the Bush reference, Noir is flown to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

to look for a missing Minnesotan. That week, the show was broadcast from Hawaii. Recurring characters in the skits include: Sugar ( Sue Scott), a romantic interest; Jimmy (

Tim Russell __NOTOC__ Tim Russell (born 1947) is an American radio announcer and voice actor (AFTRA/ SAG) in Minneapolis – Saint Paul. He is most widely known as one of the actors on the long-running radio show, ''A Prairie Home Companion'', and continue ...

), a bartender; and Wendell (

Tom Keith Thomas Alan Keith (December 21, 1946 – October 30, 2011) was a radio personality who worked for Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was the engineer for Garrison Keillor when the latter began his early morning radio show from t ...

), the boy who works at the deli around the corner. Wendell's nasal, pubescent voice and BLT sandwiches are always there for Noir, though his character is minor. Noir often runs into a beautiful, mysterious woman during the skits, part of the play on

movies. Jazzy saxophone music is played as Noir describes the beauty, sometimes to the point of absurdity. For example:

She was tall, blonde, in jeans that looked sprayed on and a T-shirt so tight I could study her bone structure. I could see she wasn't from
Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...
. There were no chinstrap marks on her neck, her hair hadn't been deformed by
stocking cap A knit cap is a piece of knitted headwear designed to provide warmth in cold weather. It usually has a simple tapered shape, although more elaborate variants exist. Historically made of wool, it is now often made of synthetic fibers. Found ...
s, she didn't have that roll of fat around her middle—her midriff was as tight as the cap on a pickle jar.

and

She was tall and long-legged and her blonde hair hung down sort of like what
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
had in mind when he wrote the
Moonlight Sonata The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked ''Quasi una fantasia'', Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. The popular name ''M ...
. She wore a knit sweater and jeans so tight it looked as if she'd been poured into them and forgot to say "When". When she moved, she seemed to undulate under her clothes in ways that took a man's mind off supply side economics.

and

She was tall and dark and so beautiful you wanted to just give her all your money right away and skip the preliminaries.

Noir is the protagonist of Keillor's book ''Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny'', where he falls in with Naomi Fallopian and her get-rich-quick diet pill scheme. The story has many of the hallmarks of the radio dramas.

In popular culture

A 2006 Guy Noir skit, in which some characters had a fictitious variation of

Tourette syndrome Tourette syndrome or Tourette's syndrome (abbreviated as TS or Tourette's) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) ...

called "Broadway Tourette's", drew criticism from the Tourette Syndrome Association. Noir is played in the 2006 film ''

'' by

Kevin Kline Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American actor. He is the recipient of an Academy Award and three Tony Awards. In addition, he has received nominations for two British Academy Film Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five ...

. In the film, Guy's detective career is faltering, and he works as a security guard at a radio show to pay the bills. It is strongly implied that he is taken by an angel of death named Asphodel at the end of the movie, though since she is played by

Virginia Madsen Virginia Gayle Madsen (born September 11, 1961) is an American actress and film producer. She made her film debut in ''Class'' (1983), which was filmed in her native Chicago. After she moved to Los Angeles, director David Lynch cast her as Pr ...

in a trench coat, this might be considered a relatively upbeat ending by Guy's standards. The late Minnesota Senator

Paul Wellstone Paul David Wellstone (July 21, 1944 – October 25, 2002) was an American academic, author, and politician who represented Minnesota in the United States Senate from 1991 until he was killed in a plane crash near Eveleth, Minnesota, in 2002. A ...

was a known fan of Noir; Noir was his favorite segment. Following his untimely 2002 death in a plane crash, the next ''APHC'' opened with a Noir segment, skipping even the show's theme song.

References

External links

Thrilling Detective: Guy Noir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noir, Guy Fictional private investigators Male characters in radio Radio characters introduced in 1995 Garrison Keillor Fictional characters from Minnesota