Al Franken Back on the Road with a Show at Pabst Theater

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Photo via Al Franken/Twitter

Al Franken

Pat Paulsen and Dick Gregory may have run for president, but in America no comedian climbed higher in politics than Al Franken. Winning the 2008 Minnesota Senate race by 312 votes, Franken became the smiling face of reason on Capitol Hill, one of the most articulate critics of Donald Trump and the rightward slouch of the GOP.

And then he was outed by rightwing talk show host Leenan Tweeden, who circulated a photo of Franken behaving inappropriately while they were together on a 2006 USO tour of Iraq. With the GOP suddenly taking up #MeToo as if they invented the movement, Franken resigned in 2018. Afterward, serious doubt was cast on the accusations and the media’s reaction.

Franken had a well-established career outside of politics, starting with his role as one of the original writers for “Saturday Night Live.” He’s a multiple Emmy winner and author of four number one titles on the New York Times Bestseller List. His “The Only Former U.S. Senator Currently on Tour Tour” will hit 15 cities this fall, including an 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 1 performance at the Pabst Theater.

Franken didn’t respond to my question about how his resignation impacted his career as a comedian and whether he reflects on that in his current material, but he answered all other queries.

Let’s talk about political satire in the era we’re in today. How can a comedian top the outrageous behavior of Trump and many GOP leaders? How do you make fun of behavior that’s already so absurd?

Actually, I find it very easy to make fun of Republicans. Particularly, my former colleagues. Because I know them. For instance, I’m the only one I know who does a Mitch McConnell impression, and it’s kinda dead on, if I do say so myself. And I know how he thinks. In Milwaukee, I’ll be talking about Ron Johnson. He is—how should I say this? Not smart. He touts himself as this guy who built a very successful business. Well, the two most important words Ron Johnson said in business were “I do.” I’ll explain at the Pabst Theatre.

And, of course, I’ll be taking on Trump, but less as a caricature, which is tempting, and more about how he happened and how the Republican Party can’t seem to move off this guy. I’m doing stand-up, but I do get into some very serious stuff—though primarily through scorn and ridicule.

Describe the presentation of your current tour? Is it just you, the microphone and the audience? Do you alter the material to fit the city you’re performing in? Do you encourage interaction with the audience?

It’s me and a mic. As for fitting the material to the city—did I mention Ron Johnson? And speaking of Johnson, I might be taking Charlie Sykes to task for hyping Johnson and Sheriff Clarke for all those years before the scales suddenly fell from his eyes. Also, I might get into the enormous strategic role that the American ambassador to Luxembourg traditionally plays in our nation’s security. I’m not a big “audience work” guy, but inevitably, yes, a show that works on all cylinders is always about your relationship with the folks who have come to see me.

At what point did you imagine making the leap from comedy to politics (or is it a leap?)? Were you surprised to be elected U.S. Senator?

I always had one foot in politics even when I was doing comedy. At SNL I wrote a lot of the political sketches—very often with Jim Downey, a conservative. We very deliberately were nonpartisan and didn’t feel that it was our job to do anything other than well-observed satire.

Now, of course, the Republican Party has gone so completely off the rails that it’s impossible to be even-handed. When I left the show, after 15 seasons, I did become an outspoken progressive. Right out of the gate, I wrote Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations and a few years later Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.

It never occurred to me to run for office until my friend Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash two weeks before the 2002 election. His opponent, Norm Coleman, won, and was in office a couple months when he told Roll Call, “I’m a 91 percent improvement over Paul Wellstone.” That’s when I decided to run. A lot of things surprised me about running in a campaign for U.S. Senator. But I wasn’t surprised I won because he was a slavish George W Bush acolyte.

As a senator—and a comedian?—how do you balance the seriousness of the issues at hand with the need for laughter?

That’s an excellent question. It’s something I’ve done throughout my career—less so, obviously, in the Senate. But that’s the job of a satirist. It’s tricky.

This tour is very much about getting laughs. I’ve been working out at the Comedy Cellar in New York, which is not called The Satire Cellar. People go there to see a lineup of stand-ups and laugh. I’ve got that covered. But folks coming to see me on this tour are also expecting something a little deeper, and I’ll deliver on that as well. I feel very strongly that we’re at a very dangerous time in this country.

Yet, as a senator, I travelled my state, and the people of Minnesota, by and large, are good, often inspiring people. Along with the deeply troubling stuff, I’ve seen a lot that makes me hopeful. My goal is to make all of this come across in the show. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll leave hopeful—or in deep despair—depending how I feel that night.