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Al Franken
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Alan Stuart "Al" Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an Emmy Award–winning American comedian, actor, author, screenwriter, political commentator, radio host and, recently, politician. He is noted for his work on Saturday Night Live and his liberal political views. Franken grew up in St. Louis Park, MN where he attended SLP schools through 10th grade. He transferred to Blake School and graduated in 1969. His older brother Owen, is a St. Louis Park graduate. On February 14, 2007, Franken announced his candidacy for the 2008 United States Senate election in Minnesota as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which will select its candidate in the 2008 Minnesota Primary on September 9, 2008.
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Al Franken is an Emmy-winning comedy writer and actor who found new fame in the late 1990s as a left-leaning political satirist. He's the author of several books, including Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot and Other Observations (1996) and Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right (2003). After graduating from Harvard, Franken started his comedy career (with partner Tom Davis) in New York in the early 1970s. He was a writer and performer for the TV comedy show Saturday Night Live (1975-80, 1985-95), where he was best known for his character Stuart Smalley, a self-help expert whose signature line was "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!" Franken then worked for CNN, doing commentary for the 1988 Democratic National Convention. He teamed with columnist Arianna Huffington in 1992 and 1996 to cover the presidential elections for cable television's Comedy Central, and had great success with his 1996 book poking fun at conservatives, by way of radio host Limbaugh.
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A curly-haired comedy specialist, Al Franken has carved out an enviable career as a television sketch writer, screenwriter, producer, commentator, author and comic performer since the mid-1970s. Part of the original writing staff that created the groundbreaking late night show "Saturday Night Live," Franken remained with the original show until 1980 and then returned in 1985. He stayed for another ten years, leaving after the 1994-1995 season. He received four Emmys for his writing on "Saturday Night Live" and a fifth for producing.
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Al Franken has reason to smile these days. His second book, Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot (New York: Delacorte Press, 1996), shocked both Limbaugh and Franken by soaring to the top of bestseller lists. The book, a series of essays poking fun at Limbaugh and other like-minded conservatives, elegantly demonstrates just how effectively political satire can take the wind out of windbags.
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In the fourth quarter of 2004 Al Franken's ratings in New York were 44% of Rush Limbaugh's. In just 3 months that ratio rose to 60%; that is bad news, but not for Air America. In the same New York winter 2005 ratings, Air America's Randi Rhodes, on in the crucial afternoon drive-time, went up 33%, while the conservative talk shows in same time slot on WABC and WOR each went down 33%. Air America's evening show, The Majority Report starring Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder went up 100%; while the WOR show in that time slot was flat and the WABC show went down 33%. In total audience, The Majority Report was the number one talk show in New York City in its time slot.
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Minnesota native Al Franken grew up discussing politics at the dinner table with his family, so Political Science was a natural choice for a major upon entering Harvard. Discovered by Lorne Michaels while part of the comedy duo Franken and Davis, the satirist was hired as a writer for Saturday Night Live. Franken crept from behind the scenes into small "extra" parts, which allowed him to flesh out the sketches he wrote; eventually, he stepped into the SNL spotlight full stop. Franken's sharp wit and political savvy made him a hot, topical comedian who called politicians on their hypocrisy. Books, movies and his own sitcom (Lateline) were written and developed by Franken and the Emmys (five of them) and a Grammy (Best Spoken Comedy Album in 1997) followed. Given his satirical and political background, Franken was a natural fit for shows such as Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher, as well as election year specials such as and Comedy Central's Indecision '92.
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Al Franken