Al Franken
From Wikinfo
Al Franken (born May 21, 1951) is a well-known comedian, writer, radio host, and lecturer who is perhaps best known for his performances on the NBC-TV variety program Saturday Night Live. He is also half of the comedy duo "Franken and Davis." Franken was born in New York City, grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, and graduated from The Blake School in 1969, and Harvard University in 1973. He is married to Franni Franken. The couple lives in New York City with their son, Joe, and daughter, Thomasin. Al Franken is a distant cousin of Bob Franken of CNN.
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Early history
Franken grew up in a small home in Minnesota. He went on to attend Harvard University.
Career
Franken was one of the original writers on Saturday Night Live, and received three Emmy Awards and seven Emmy nominations for television writing and producing for his work there. He created characters such as self-help guru Stuart Smalley and schtick such as 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), Franken wrote the original screenplay for the movie, Stuart Saves His Family and co-wrote (with Tom Davis) the screenplay for The Coneheads.
Franken has often been the subject of controversy for writing satirical works that convey his liberal political views.
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
In August 2003, Penguin Books published Franken's satirical book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, subtitled A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Fox News sued, claiming that Franken violated its alleged trademark rights in the phrase "Fair and Balanced." A Federal judge found the lawsuit to be "wholly without merit"; Fox then withdrew the suit. In an interview on the National Public Radio program Fresh Air on September 3, 2003, Al Franken noted that Fox's case against him was literally laughed out of court. In an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 2004, Franken joked that Fox was either claiming rights to the phrase "fair and balanced" itself, or to ironical usage of it.
The lawsuit provided Franken's book with a great deal of media attention and probably enhanced its sales.
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 show, The O'Franken Factor. The show kicked off the network's launch at 12 Noon EST on March 31, 2004. On July 12, 2004 the show was renamed The Al Franken Show. Al Franken has said that he reserves to change the name back at any time for any length of time in the future.
Political aspirations
Franken had been a strong supporter of Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone, who was dealing with a difficult re-election campaign in 2002. Wellstone's chief rival, Republican Norm Coleman, had been running a very negative campaign which ran many attack ads against Wellstone. When the Senator died on October 25th, less than two weeks before the polls opened, a tumultuous election followed and Coleman won.
Franken announced in November 2003 that he was considering moving back to Minnesota, the state in which he grew up, in order to run for Coleman's Senate seat, when Coleman runs for re-election in 2008. Now that his youngest daughter has left for college, such a move is more appealing to him. He has also said that he'd take lessons from Hillary Clinton on how to run for Senator.
Books
- Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right (August 29, 2003) (ISBN 0525947647)
- Oh, the Things I Know!: A Guide to Success, or Failing That, Happiness (ISBN 0452284503)
- Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations (ISBN 0788161857)
- When a Man Loves a Woman. (co-written)
- Why Not Me? (1999), a parody-journal of the “Franken campaign” for President (ISBN 0385334540)
- I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough and Doggone It, People Like Me
External links
- Al Franken's Official Website
- Al Franken's Fanpage
- Franken's Letters to John Ashcroft
- MoveLeft Media articles on Al Franken
- National Public Radio September 3, 2003 Fresh Air - Interview with Franken
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Al_Franken" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Franken, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
