It’s been a few months now since mandolinist Chris Thile stepped into the very big radio shoes of Garrison Keillor, the founding host of public radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” In that time, the musician has proved himself an enthusiastic and very likable presence, and the show remains what Thile said he wants it to be: “two hours of music and laughter on the regular every Saturday.”

We recently talked with the 35-year-old, best known as a member of the Americana bands Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers, about the adjustment to hosting and his coming move from Portland, Ore., back to New York City.

Thile on whether he will be renewed as host after the first year’s run of 13 shows: “It’s still up in the air as far as I know. I think we’re supposed to know soon. There is no end in sight as far as my enthusiasm for the gig. So it’s just a matter of whether public radio feels it’s the direction it wants to go. And I would strongly encourage it to go in this direction. I hate to toot our own horn, but I feel like this is nice and good and fun and we should just keep doing it now.”

On moving to New York and whether it signals a change in the show toward an “urban” sensibility: “That would certainly not be an indication that it’s a direction for the show. It’s also not not a direction indicator. It’s just completely unrelated. It’s my wife’s work (actress Claire Coffee). She’s on a television show (“Grimm”) that shoots out here, and they’re on their last season and wrapping up at the end of the month. And so we’re headed back after a really lovely four-year Portland sojourn. I love it here, but I definitely miss New York. I’ve got New York kind of deep into my system.”

On being a host: “Man, I’ve loved attention ever since I was 2 years old. But that’s something about myself I’m constantly trying to work on. The show has been amazing for that actually. Not for getting attention, but for realizing how important it is to spread it around. That’s kind of my job now, is sort of Attention Director. ‘Hey, check out this thing.’”

On the lesson of “PHC”: “It’s been a rough year, obviously. It’s easy to get dark. It’s easy to feel like, oh, man, we’re just sort of spiraling down into just a dog-eat-dog kind of a world. But it is not that. We’re still inclined to making bad decisions out of fear, but damned if there isn’t this wonderful other side to humanity. That inclination to making a beautiful thing and sharing it with other people is alive and well, and all of a sudden it’s sort of my job description to concern myself with that stuff.”

On the difference between playing music and steering a radio show: “I grew up listening to ‘Prairie Home Companion’ and actually patterned my onstage banter after Garrison — certainly higher-pitched, faster-paced, but Garrisonesque in many ways nonetheless. So hosting, that doesn’t feel different to me in many ways than putting on a show and being sort of the master of ceremonies of an evening of entertainment.”

On the role of “PHC”: “There’s this beauty in a routine, almost a churchlike routine, like, here we are on Saturdays from 5 to 7 Central. This is a place you can go to both break from the cares and woes of the week, but also to hold them out at arm’s length for examination. I use the show for that. I use art-slash-entertainment for that. And I think a lot of people do.”

On how the show has changed under his stewardship: “I’m certainly not going to begrudge somebody their impression that it’s like way more about music now, even if it feels to me, like, yeah, there is a little more music. I didn’t feel the need to radically break from Garrison’s format. In fact the form that he created I consider to be kind of perfect. To me it feels like writing for a group of instruments that are highly complementary, the way a string quartet is: two violins, viola and cello are just so lovely together. Same with two guitars, bass and drums. I feel like the show is that way: the music makes you laugh harder and the comedy makes you dive deeper into the music. Basically it all just propels itself forward until two hours is gone in a flash.”