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Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American politician, comedian, writer, actor, and media personality who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. Franken first gained fame as a writer and performer on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he worked for three stints. He first served as a writer and became a featured player for the show from 1975 to 1980, and returned from 1985 to 1995 as a writer and, briefly, a cast member. After decades as an entertainer, he became a prominent liberal political activist, hosting The Al Franken Show on Air America Radio.

Franken first achieved national prominence on Saturday Night Live as the writing and performing partner of Tom Davis, usually on the sketch, "Franken & Davis." His more recent career accomplishments are politically oriented, authoring books such as Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations and serving as host of the flagship program from the liberal Air America Radio network. He is a former United States Senator of Minnesota, and in 2005 he established Midwest Values PAC to lay the groundwork for that possible campaign.

He was the subject of a 2006 documentary film entitled Al Franken: God Spoke. It had its premiere in April of 2006 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City and was released nationally on September 13th.

Franken was elected to the United States Senate in 2008 as the nominee of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL, an affiliate of the Democratic Party), defeating incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman by 312 votes out of nearly three million cast (a margin of just over 0.01%). He won reelection in 2014 with 53.2% of the vote over Republican challenger Mike McFadden. Franken resigned on January 2, 2018, after several allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him. In September 2019, Franken announced he would be hosting The Al Franken Show Saturday mornings on SiriusXM radio. It covers topics such as global affairs, politics, the 2020 presidential election, and entertainment. In September 2021, Franken began a 15-city live tour, his first since semi-retiring from comedy during his time in the Senate.

Jeff Richards as Al Franken

Jeff Richards as Al Franken on the October 11, 2003 episode during The Barry Gibb Talk Show.

Characters/Impressions[]

Characters[]

Impressions[]

  • Al Goldstein
  • George Jessel
  • Henry Kissinger
  • Lyndon LaRouche
  • Pat Robertson
  • Paul Tsongas
  • Roone Arledge
  • Sen. Paul Simon

Gallery[]

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