A Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor.  A Prairie Home Companion is known for its musical guests, especially folk and traditional musicians, as well as Keillor's comedic storytelling segment, "News from Lake Wobegon."

The radio program inspired a 2006 film of the same name, directed by Robert Altman and starring Keillor and Meryl Streep.

It is produced by Prairie Home Productions and distributed by American Public Media, and is most often heard on public radio stations in the United States. The show has a long history, existing in a similar form as far back as 1974, and borrowing the name from a radio program in existence in 1969. The program was named after the Prairie Home Cemetery in Moorhead, Minnesota, located next to Concordia College.

After researching the Grand Ole Opry for an article, Keillor became interested in doing a variety show on the radio. On July 6, 1974, the first live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion took place. That show was broadcast from St. Paul in the Janet Wallace Auditorium of Macalester College. Twelve audience members turned out, mostly children. The second episode featured the first performance on the show by Butch Thompson, who became house pianist. Thompson stayed with the program until 1986, and still frequently performs on the show.

In 1978, the show moved into the World Theater in St. Paul, which was renovated in 1986 and renamed the Fitzgerald Theater in 1994. This is the same location that the program uses today, although it is frequently taken on the road.

The show went off the air in 1987, and Keillor married and spent some time abroad during the following two years. He returned to radio from New York City in 1989 with The American Radio Company of the Air (renamed Garrison Keillor's American Radio Company in its second season). In 1993, this show moved to Minnesota and its name was returned to A Prairie Home Companion. While many of the episodes originate from St. Paul, the show often travels to other cities around the U.S. and overseas to do a live weekly broadcast. Among common road venues for the show are The Town Hall in New York City; Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts; Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia; and Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee and the State Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The show was originally distributed nationally by Minnesota Public Radio in association with Public Radio International. Its current distributor is MPR's distribution unit, American Public Media.