Al Franken

Al Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American satirist, comedian, bestselling author, and radio host. Franken was half of the comedy duo "Franken & Davis " which wrote for and performed for NBC’s Saturday Night Live.

He is currently the host of Air America Radio's flagship program, The Al Franken Show.

Personal life

Franken was born in New York City and grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. He graduated from The Blake School in 1969, and Harvard University in 1973. He and his wife, Franni Franken have a son, Joe, and daughter, Thomasin. They currently reside in New York City.

Al Franken is a distant cousin of CNN's Bob Franken .

Career

Franken was one of the original writers on Saturday Night Live, and was awarded three Emmy Awards and seven Emmy nominations for his television writing and production. He created characters such as self-help guru Stuart Smalley and schtick such as proclaiming the 1980s to be the "Al Franken Decade". Franken was associated with SNL for more than 15 years and in 2002 interviewed former Vice President Al Gore while in character as Smalley.

Franken's most notorious SNL sketch may have been "A Limo for the Lamo," a commentary delivered by Franken near the end of the 1979–80 season. Franken mocked the controversial president of NBC, Fred Silverman, describing him as "a total unequivocal failure" and displayed a chart showing the poor ratings of NBC programs. According to some associates of the show, Silverman's anger over the sketch prompted him to abandon negotiations with the show's creator Lorne Michaels and seek a different producer for the sixth season of SNL.

Besides having written numerous books (including Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations), Franken co-wrote (with his former partner Tom Davis) the screenplay for The Coneheads TV show. He also wrote the original screenplay and starred in the theatrical flop, Stuart Saves His Family. He co-created and co-starred in the NBC sitcom LateLine, but low ratings led to its cancellation halfway through the second season, with only twelve of the nineteen episodes airing.

A controversial figure

Franken has often been the subject of controversy for writing satirical books and editorial commentaries that convey his liberal political views.

In August 2003, Penguin Books published Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, subtitled A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Fox News sued, claiming that Franken violated the company's trademark rights to the phrase, "Fair and Balanced." A federal judge found the lawsuit to be "wholly without merit"; Fox then withdrew the suit. The lawsuit provided Franken's book with a great deal of media attention and greatly enhanced its sales. Reflecting later on the lawsuit during an interview on the National Public Radio program Fresh Air on September 3, 2003, Franken said that Fox's case against him was "literally laughed out of court."

See also: Great Liberal Backlash of 2003.

Radio show

On January 13, 2004, it was announced that Franken would enter the radio business. He signed a one-year contract to become a talk show host for Air America Radio's flagship program, The O'Franken Factor. The inaugural broadcast kicked off the network's launch at 12 Noon EST on March 31, 2004. On July 12, 2004, the program was renamed The Al Franken Show. Franken has said that he chose the title The O'Franken Factor in hopes that Bill O'Reilly, who hosts The O'Reilly Factor and The Radio Factor , would sue him, as such a move would garner publicity for Franken's show. When no lawsuit materialized, Franken renamed his program, while reserving the right to revert to the original title at any time. He co-hosts the show with Katherine Lanpher.

Political aspirations

Franken had been a strong supporter of Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone, who was dealing with a difficult re-election campaign in 2002 and died shortly before the election.

Franken announced in November 2003 that he was considering moving back to Minnesota, his home state, in order to run for the Senate seat held by Wellstone's successor, Republican Norm Coleman, in the 2008 election. He has also said that he'd take lessons from Democratic New York Senator Hillary Clinton on how to run for Senator.

Following Minnesota Senator Mark Dayton's announcement in February 2005 that he would not be seeking re-election in 2006, Franken's name was mentioned almost immediately as a possible candidate for the seat. He denied these rumors on his radio show, but did not rule out running for Coleman's seat in 2008, and has suggested on-air that he might move his radio show there before that.

In 2003, Franken served as a Fellow with Harvard's Kennedy School of Government at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy.

Books

• Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right (Dutton Books, 2003) ISBN 0525947647
• Oh, the Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or Failing That, Happiness (Plume Books, 2003) ISBN 0452284503
• Why Not Me? (Delacorte Press, 1999) a parody-journal of the “Franken campaign” for President ISBN 038531809X
• Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations (Delacorte Press, 1996) ISBN 0385314744
• by Al Franken, Stuart Smalley (Dell, 1992) ISBN 0440504708