Corrected entry: Throughout the movie, GK is talking into the back of the microphone on the lectern. The mike, an RCA 77D, has a prominent screw hole on the back side, which allows the insertion of a screwdriver to change the pickup pattern. The front side, the side to the camera, is the side that would be used in this application; the back side would be dead.
A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
1 corrected entry
Directed by: Robert Altman
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, John C. Reilly, Lindsay Lohan, Lily Tomlin, L.Q. Jones, Marylouise Burke
Continuity mistake: When John C. Reilly is in the dressing room telling the airplane story, the time changes back and forth on the clock behind him.
Garrison Keillor: We come from people who brought us up to believe that life is a struggle, and if you should feel really happy, be patient: this will pass.
Trivia: Maya Rudolph, who plays the pregnant character Molly, was actually pregnant during the filming of the movie.
Correction: This is not a mistake; its a famous trick of us old hands in the business. I am an old radio engineer, and still proudly own one of these famous and classy microphones. The switch mentioned has a bi-directional "peanut pattern" position, where the 77D (or 77DX) can pick up equally well front and back; a useful trick for allowing two people to "work" a single microphone in a radio studio dramatic show, or "hiding" the switch on a live stage or televised show; also works for a movie. See pattern diagrams, below photo of switch, at http://www.coutant.org/3.html to verify.