Al Franken Biography

Date of Birth
21 May 1951, New York, New York, USA

Birth Name
Alan Stuart Franken

Height
5' 6" (1.68 m)

Mini Biography

Al Franken is best known for nearly two decades of work on "Saturday Night Live" (1975). During that time he wrote, performed in and produced hundreds of sketches, including "Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley" and "The Final Days," a piece about the last days of Richard M. Nixon's presidency. A noted political commentator and satirist, Franken also produced and starred in the NBC sitcom "LateLine" (1998) and wrote two books about politics, including "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot." A graduate of Harvard, Franken lives in Minnesota with his wife and two kids.
IMDb Mini Biography By: eric hananoki

Spouse
Franni Bryson (2 October 1975 - present) 2 children

Trivia

Left Saturday Night Live as a writer and featured cast member in 1995 after his request to be the Weekend Update news anchor was denied.

Grammy award, Best Spoken Comedy Album, "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot," 1997.

Was an improv comedy performer and sketch comedy writer at the Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis, MN, in the early 1970s.

Has two children, daughter Thomasin Franken and son Joe Franken.

Graduated from Harvard University.

When ex-President Bill Clinton was on book tour for his autobiography at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he saw Franken and said, "My hero's here." (reported in USA Today, July 21, 2004)

He received a perfect score (800) on the math section of the SAT.

His book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," provoked a lawsuit from Fox News claiming copyright infringement of the phrase "fair and balanced." It was quickly dismissed as being without merit and is credited with increasing sales of the book. In fact, the publisher moved up its release date to capitalize on the publicity the suit had brought.

He received the New York Festivals' 23rd Annual International Radio Programming and Promotions' "World Achievement Award For Breakthrough Radio" for his unique perspective and commentary on his daily radio show, The Al Franken Show, on June 27, 2005.

Announced his bid to run for U.S. Senate in 2008 representing the state of Minnesota.

Won the 2008 DFL endorsement for the Minnesota Senate seat against Norm Coleman. (June 7, 2008).

Personal Quotes

[At the Maine political delegation breakfast on July 26, 2004] John Cusack saw Franken in the audience and said, "I'm not going to try and be funny." Franken responded, "I'm not going to try and act."

"No, I grew up very middle class. My parents didn't make a lot of money. My dad was not a high school graduate - he didn't have a career as such, he was a printing salesman essentially for most of his working life." [interview with Jay MacDonald, in an article "Fame & Fortune: Comedian Al Franken." [February 2006]

"I'm part of the mushball middle. I consider 'confused' the majority position because, thankfully, most people would rather be uncertain some of the time than 100 percent positive all the time - even when they're wrong." [interview with Marla Williams, Seattle Times, March 11, 1996]

"The reason I chose Limbaugh [Rush Limbaugh] is, first of all, when I made the decision, it was late '94, right before the congressional elections. He was this huge power, he was being called the 'Majority Maker.' ... And I listened to him, I just listened to him. And I thought, how does this guy get away with this? ... Someone's got to do something that's funny. Someone's got to do something in his face." [interview with Mark Schapiro for Salon, February 1996, on-line].

"No one is more sensitive to the issue of overeating than the creator of Stuart Smalley."

Where Are They Now

(2004) Radio talk show host in New York City.

(May 2006) Radio talk show host in Minneapolis, syndicated nationally on Air America Radio.

(February 2008) Running for U.S. Senate seat from Minnesota (DFL) against incumbent Senator Norm Coleman (R).

Source: imdb.com