Al Franken Biography
Al Franken born Alan Stuart Franken is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author. From 2009 to 2018 he served as a United States Senator from Minnesota. He rose to fame in the 1970s and 1980s as a staff writer and performer on the television comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). After decades as a comedic actor and writer, Franken became a prominent liberal political activist, hosting The Al Franken Show on Air America Radio.In 2008 Franken was first elected to the United States Senate 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 less than 0.01%). Franken in 2014 he won reelection with 53.2% of the vote over Republican challenger Mike McFadden. On January 2, 2018 Franken resigned after several allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him.
Al Franken Age
Franken was born on May 21, 1951 in New York City. He is 68 years old as of 2019.
Al Franken Height
Franken stands at a height of 5′ 6″
Al Franken Young | Al Franken Parents
Franken was born in New York City. He is the son of Joseph Franken, a printing salesman, and Phoebe Franken (born Kunst), a real estate agent. Franken’s paternal grandparents emigrated from Germany. His maternal grandfather came from Grodno, Russian Empire; and his maternal grandmother’s parents were also from the Russian Empire. Phoebe was from Allentown, Pennsylvania.
His parents were Jews, and he was brought up in a Reform Jewish home. His family moved to Albert Lea, Minnesota, when he was four years old. Franken’s father opened a quilting factory, but after two years it failed. They then moved to St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.
Franken is a second cousin of the actor Steve Franken who is known for his appearances in the television series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Franken received the Stewart B. McKinney Award for his work fighting homelessness in 2013.
Al Franken Education
In 1969 Franken graduated from The Blake School where he was a member of the wrestling team. He went to Harvard College, where he majored in political science, graduating cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1973. He has an older brother Owen who is a photojournalist, and a cousin Bob who is a journalist for MSNBC.
Franken started performing in high school. In high school he and his longtime friend and writing partner Tom Davis were known for their comedy. The pair first performed on stage at Minneapolis’s Brave New Workshop theater, specializing in political satire. They both soon found themselves in what was described as “a life of near-total failure on the fringes of show business in Los Angeles.”
Al Franken Wife
During his first year at Harvard Franken met his wife, Franni Bryson. They moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2005 . The couple has two children. Their daughter, Thomasin, has degrees from Harvard and the French Culinary Institute. She is the director of extended learning at DC Prep, an organization in Washington, D.C., that manages charter schools. Their son, Joseph, works in the finance industry.
Al Franken Resign | Al Franken Resignation | Al Franken News
Franken announced his intention to resign his Senate seat on December 7, 2017. He called some of the accusations “simply not true” and said he remembered others “very differently.” In his resignation speech Franken made comparisons to Republican politicians, saying he was “aware of the irony” that President Trump remained in office despite the comments Trump made in the Access Hollywood tape released a month before his election, and that the Republican Party supported Roy Moore’s Senate campaign despite the many allegations of harassment and molestation against Moore.
On January 2, 2018 Franken resigned and Minnesota governor Mark Dayton appointed the lieutenant governor, Tina Smith, to Franken’s seat until a special election in November 2018, which Smith won.
Al Franken On Snl
From 1975 to 1980 and from 1985 to 1995 and Tom Davis were recruited as two of the original writers and occasional performers on Saturday Night Live (SNL). During SNL’s first season, the two apprentice writers shared a salary of $350 per week. Franken received seven Emmy nominations and three awards for his television writing and producing while creating such characters as self-help guru Stuart Smalley.
Another routine proclaimed the 1980s the Al Franken Decade. The two wrote the script of the 1986 comedy film One More Saturday Night, appearing in it as rock singers in a band called Bad Mouth. The pair also had minor roles in All You Need Is Cash and the film Trading Places, starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd .
Al Franken Net Worth
According to OpenSecrets.Org, Franken had an estimated net worth of between $4.3 million and $9.9 million with debts of between $300,000 and $600,000.
Al Franken Book
- Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations
- Why Not Me?: The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency
- Oh, the Things I Know!: A Guide to Success, or Failing That, Happiness
- Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
- The Truth (With Jokes) (Dutton Books, 2005)
- Al Franken, Giant of the Senate (Grand Central Publishing, 2017)
Al Franken Movies
2011 – Hot Coffee
2006 – Al Franken: God Spoke
2004–2007 – The Al Franken Show
2004 – Outfoxed
2004 – The Manchurian Candidate
2004 – Tanner on Tanner
2001 -Harvard Man
1998-1999 – LateLine
1998 – From the Earth to the Moon
1997 – 3rd Rock from the Sun
1997 – The Larry Sanders Show
1995 – Stuart Saves His Family
1994 – When a Man Loves a Woman
1988–1995 – Saturday Night Live
1986 – Saturday Night Live
1986 – One More Saturday Night
1984 – Franken and Davis at Stockton State
1984 – The New Show
1983 – Trading Places
1981 – Grateful Dead: Dead Ahead
1981 – Steve Martin’s Best Show Ever
1981 – Bob and Ray, Jane, Laraine and Gilda
1981 – The Coneheads
1978 – All You Need is Cash
1977–1980 – Saturday Night Live
1977 – The Paul Simon Special
1976 – Tunnel Vision
