Alan Stuart Franken was born on May 21,1951 and is an American politician, comedian, writer, actor, and media personality who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018.
57 Facts About Al Franken
2.
Al Franken first gained fame as a writer and performer on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he worked for three stints.
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Al Franken first served as a writer for the show from 1975 to 1980, and returned in his final stint from 1985 to 1995, Franken served as a writer and, briefly, a cast member.
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In September 2019, Franken announced he would be hosting The Al Franken Show on Saturday mornings on SiriusXM radio.
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In September 2021, Al Franken began a 15-city live tour, his first since semi-retiring from comedy during his time in the Senate.
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Al Franken's father opened a quilting factory, but it failed after two years.
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Al Franken graduated from The Blake School in 1969, where he was a member of the wrestling team.
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Al Franken says that he scored 800 on the math section of his SATs and 662 on the verbal section.
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Al Franken began performing in high school, where he and his longtime friend and writing partner Tom Davis were known for their comedy.
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Al Franken received 15 Emmy nominations and five awards for his television writing and producing while creating such characters as self-help guru Stuart Smalley.
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On Weekend Update near the end of Season 5, Al Franken delivered a commentary called "A Limo for a Lame-O".
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Al Franken mocked controversial NBC president Fred Silverman as "a total unequivocal failure" and displayed a chart showing the poor ratings of NBC programs.
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Al Franken returned to the show in 1985 as a writer and occasional performer.
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Al Franken has acknowledged using cocaine and other illegal drugs while working in television and stated that he stopped after John Belushi died of an overdose.
15.
In 1995, Al Franken left the show in protest over losing the role of Weekend Update anchor to Norm Macdonald.
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In 1995, Al Franken wrote and starred in the film Stuart Saves His Family which was based on his SNL character Stuart Smalley.
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The film was a critical and commercial failure and Al Franken later became depressed as a result.
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Al Franken is the author of four books that made The New York Times Best Seller list.
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Al Franken's 1996 book Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations topped the New York Times list; the audiobook, which was read by Franken, won a Grammy Award.
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The publicity resulting from the lawsuit propelled Al Franken's yet-to-be-released book to number 1 on Amazon.
21.
Al Franken signed a one-year contract in early 2004 to host a talk show for Air America Radio's flagship program with co-host Katherine Lanpher, who remained with the show until October 2005.
22.
Originally named The O'Franken Factor as a pun on right-wing talk show The O'Reilly Factor, but later renamed The Al Franken Show on July 12,2004, the show aired three hours a day, five days a week for three years.
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Al Franken co-wrote the film When a Man Loves a Woman, co-created and starred in the NBC sitcom LateLine, and appeared in the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate.
24.
In 2003, Al Franken served as a Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.
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Al Franken toured Iraq several times with the United Service Organizations.
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Al Franken had been a strong supporter of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone and was deeply affected by Wellstone's death in a plane crash shortly before the 2002 election.
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Wellstone was a mentor and political and personal role model for Al Franken, who stated his hopes of following in Wellstone's footsteps.
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Senator Norm Coleman's comment that he was a "99 percent improvement" over Wellstone was an impetus for Al Franken's run for the Senate.
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In November 2003 Al Franken talked about moving back to his home state of Minnesota to run for the Senate.
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At a 2004 Democratic presidential campaign event, Al Franken tackled a man who was allegedly threatening other attendees and heckling Governor Howard Dean.
31.
Al Franken initially supported the Iraq War, but opposed the 2007 troop surge.
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In 2004, Al Franken favored transitioning to a universal health care system, with the provision that every child in America would receive health care coverage immediately.
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Al Franken paid a $25,000 fine to the state of New York upon being advised his corporation was out of compliance with the state's workers' compensation laws.
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Al Franken subsequently paid $70,000 in back income taxes in 17 states dating back to 2003, mostly from his speeches and other paid appearances.
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Al Franken said he paid the income tax in his state of residence, and he would seek retroactive credit for paying the taxes in the wrong state.
36.
On January 29,2007, Al Franken announced his departure from Air America Radio, and on the day of his final show, February 14, he formally announced his candidacy for the United States Senate from Minnesota in 2008.
37.
On July 8,2007, Al Franken's campaign stated that it expected to announce that he had raised more money than his Republican opponent, Norm Coleman, during the second quarter of the year, taking in $1.9million to Coleman's $1.6million, although in early July 2007, Coleman's $3.8million cash on hand exceeded Al Franken's $2million.
38.
On June 30,2009, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously rejected Coleman's appeal and said that Al Franken was entitled to be certified as the winner.
39.
Al Franken was sworn into the Senate on July 7,2009,246 days after the election.
40.
Al Franken took the oath of office with the Bible of late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, whose old seat Senate leaders set aside for Franken.
41.
On September 30,2013, Al Franken voted to remove a provision that would repeal Obamacare's medical device tax from a government funding bill, saying that though he supported the provision, he disagreed with its being used as a condition for preventing the 2013 federal government shutdown.
42.
In May 2010 Al Franken proposed a financial-reform amendment that created a board to select which credit rating agency would evaluate a given security.
43.
In September 2016, in advance of UN Security Council resolution 2334 condemning Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, Al Franken signed an AIPAC-sponsored letter urging Obama to veto "one-sided" resolutions against Israel.
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Al Franken supported an Anti-Boycott Act, which would make it legal for US states to refuse to do business with contractors that engage in boycotts against Israel.
45.
In July 2017 Al Franken voted in favor of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act that placed sanctions on Iran, Russia, and North Korea.
46.
On November 16,2017, radio broadcaster and model Leeann Tweeden alleged in a blog post and an interview with her radio station, 790 KABC, that Al Franken kissed her on a 2006 USO tour during a rehearsal for a skit.
47.
Lindsay Menz accused Al Franken of touching her clothed "upper" buttocks while they posed for a photo at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010.
48.
Al Franken called some of the accusations "simply not true" and said he remembered others "very differently".
49.
Al Franken resigned on January 2,2018, and Minnesota governor Mark Dayton appointed the lieutenant governor, Tina Smith, to Al Franken's seat until a November 2018 special election, which Smith won.
50.
Al Franken had the right to be heard by an independent investigative body.
51.
In 2019, Al Franken said that he was sorry that he made some women feel uncomfortable, and that while he was still trying to understand what he did wrong, he felt that differentiating dissimilar kinds of behavior is important.
52.
In September 2019, a ninth accuser told New York magazine that in 2006 Al Franken touched her buttock in a photo line at an event for Patty Murray.
53.
Around the same time, Al Franken went on tour with a non-comedic show that he did from a podium and with notes.
54.
In March 2023, Al Franken guest-hosted The Daily Show after Trevor Noah's departure.
55.
Al Franken met his wife, Franni Bryson, during his first year at Harvard.
56.
Al Franken is a second cousin of the actor Steve Al Franken, known for his appearances in the television series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
57.
In 2013, Franken received the Stewart B McKinney Award for his work fighting homelessness.