The well respected comedian and "A Prairie Home Companion" host Garrison Keillor has suffered a major stroke and was recovering at the Mayo Clinic facility, a spokesman commented on Wednesday.

Garrison Keillor on Sunday morning suffered the stroke and was admitted to Saint Marys Hospital at Mayo Clinic later that night, said Karl Oestreich, a Mayo spokesman who was reluctant to comment initially.

"He is up and moving around, speaking sensibly, working at a laptop, and it's expected he'll be released on Friday," Oestreich said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. "He plans to resume a normal schedule next week."

A representative for Garrison Keillor didn't immediately comment. This stroke occurs just days before the next season of his popular show was about to begin.

This accident was not without precedent as Garrison Keillor, 67, underwent surgery to repair a heart valve at the Mayo Clinic in 2001. Garrison Keillor has had a history of heart troubles.

He is scheduled to open the new season of "A Prairie Home Companion" on Sept. 26 from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.

Garrison Keillor celebrated "Prairie Home's" 35th anniversary with a Fourth of July performance before some 10,000 people in Avon, a central Minnesota town that helped inspire his fictional hometown of Lake Wobegon. Garrison Keillor performed last Friday night at the Minnesota State Fair.