Bachmann-Keillor's close encounter at 40,000 feet

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann reportedly had her friendliest disposition in the upright and locked position during a Delta flight last week on which a courtly Garrison Keillor was also traveling.

An e-mailer named Christian claims to have overheard some of the famous Minnesotans' conversation on a flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul to New York City. Bachmann's office confirmed that the possible presidential candidate and our most well-known humorist were on the same flight, but could not confirm the information Christian gave me. I assume Keillor will get around to returning my phone call if he wants to quibble with the accuracy of Christian's eavesdropping while the engines roared.

"They seemed a little surprised to see each other," wrote Christian. "He offered to help her put her bag in the overhead but she stuck it under her seat instead. They chatted in a friendly way until takeoff and then she went to work writing in pencil on a legal pad and he on his big silver Mac laptop."

Among the nuggets Christian claims to have overheard was an exchange prompted by Keillor telling Bachmann she shouldn't travel alone.

Is that because I'm a woman? Bachman reportedly asked.

No, it's because politics has gotten so angry and crazy, Keillor reportedly replied.

According to Christian, "She didn't say anything" in response. Christian also said Keillor remarked that he had recently been to Manchester, N.H., where the presidential primary is big business, and that the people there would be glad to see her. Keillor performed at the Palace Theater in Manchester on May 4, according to a website calendar.

The sight of Keillor should have brought this stinging sentence to the fore for Bachmann: "It's embarrassing to me and a great many Minnesotans that Michele Bachmann, a politician who is so busy grandstanding and giving interviews to Fox News that she doesn't have time to serve the people who elected her, represents the 6th District in Washington."

That's what Keillor wrote in a 2008 letter supporting Bachmann's opponent.

Based on Christian's version of the encounter, Keillor remained civil, embarrassed as he may be about his fictional Lake Wobegone being located in the reality of Bachmann's congressional district.

Really, Mayor?

Mayor R.T. Rybak looked like an insensitive twit in a post-tornado tweet Sunday that read: "There's a big rainbow over NMpls right now, literally.#signofhope #strongmpls."

Famous Dave's famous guests

Amy Mills, one of the judges on the Food Network's "Best in Smoke," attended reality show contestant Famous Dave's viewing party Sunday evening at his suburban Minneapolis home, where he celebrated making the cut for another week.

"I knew four of the contestants going into the show," Mills told me, as you can hear at startribune.com/video. "And Dave was one of them. I always liked him a whole lot, but I have come away with a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for him."

Mills, co-author of "Peace Love and Bar Be Cue" and heiress to 17th Street BBQ, operating in Illinois and Massachusetts, said she and other judges did not realize that Famous Dave had broken his leg before the competition began.

Wednesday being the date of the last "Oprah Winfrey Show" in syndication, Famous Dave recounted on video getting "punked" by Oprah's staff when her Angel Network honored his charity work with kids.

Sigourney Weaver and her spouse had breakfast last week with Guthrie artistic director Joe Dowling.

I'm told there might have been some conversation about the Queen of Science Fiction Movies doing something at the Guthrie that would presumably be non-Alien or Avatar-based.

The night before the breakfast, the very tall Weaver was observed slipping in late to see her NY-based acting chum Kristine Nielsen performing in the Guthrie's "Arsenic and Old Lace." Weaver arrived at the Guthrie after completing her "Smart Talk" speaking engagement at the Orpheum with MyTalk107.1's Margery Punnett.

Jim Simpson, artistic director of NYC's Flea Theater and Weaver's husband, who can hear her talk as much as he likes, took in the full performance of "Arsenic and Old Lace."