Garrison Keillor: What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

The question

What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

The night my daughter was born, New York, December 29, 1997. After she emerged and I held her in the palm of my hand, I walked around Manhattan in a stupor of happiness.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2009 source ↗

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Steve Pemberton British actor and comedian

Phoning my dad to tell him we’d won the Edinburgh Perrier award with The League Of Gentlemen in 1997.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 May 2019 source ↗

Edwina Currie Former British politician, broadcaster and writer

I am happy now.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 June 2017 source ↗

Camille Paglia American feminist academic and critic

Snorkelling for an hour with a comically disciplined and curiously attentive squadron of six, fat Caribbean reef squid off Mexico.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 April 2008 source ↗

Heston Blumenthal English chef

Professionally, it has to be when I got my third star.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 October 2011 source ↗

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Question What does happiness look like for you when life is going well? Identity & self

To be wildly, desperately, carelessly, nakedly in love, of course. Crazy, obsessive love: brooding, baying at the moon, writing daily missives to the adored. Who wouldn’t want this? Even though the crash is painful.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 1 September 2009 source ↗

Question Which trait in yourself do you like least? Identity & self

Self-denigration, an old strategy for extorting praise from people. (“I am a terrible person.” “No, you’re a wonderful person and we all love you.”)

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2009 source ↗

Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief

My president, a heroic figure—also good- humored, pretty smart, elegant; and if the rest of the world thinks he typifies America, I don’t mind at all.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2009 source ↗

Question What do you fear most? Identity & self

That this is all there is, and there is no more.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2009 source ↗

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