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Al Franken

File:Al_Franken,_official_portrait,_114th_Congress_(cropped).jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Al Franken

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Also known as Alan Stuart Franken, Alan Stuart "Al" Franken

American comedian and politician (born 1951)

OverviewAI-generated

Alan Stuart Franken, known as Al Franken, is an American screenwriter, politician, radio personality, and television actor. Born on May 21, 1951, in Manhattan, New York, he attended Harvard College. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party and the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator, with his work location in Washington, D.C. He resides in New York City and Minneapolis.

Franken is recognized for works such as *Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations*, *Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them*, *The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005*, and *Oh, the Things I Know!*. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award. His native language is English, and he practices Judaism. He is listed in the Us Senators collection and maintains an official website.

Synthesized by Vinony from 33 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, TMDb, Firecrawl, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
May 21, 1951
Works
39

Top works

  • The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005
  • Oh, the Things I Know!
  • Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations
  • Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
  • Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

New York City, New York, USA

Alan Stuart Franken is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He became well known in the 1970s and 1980s as a staff writer and performer on the television comedy show Saturday Night Live.

Known for

  • Lorne — Self2026
  • Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music — Self - SNL Writer / Self - Cast Member / Self - Producer 1975 - 19952025
  • Downey Wrote That — Self2025
  • The Residence — Aaron Filkins2025
  • SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night — Self2025
  • Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue — Gramps (voice)2024
  • Chris Farley: Anything for a Laugh — Self2019
  • Biography: Comedy Icons — Self2019
  • Inside the Russian Info War Machine — Self2018
  • Minnesota Experience — Self (archive footage)2018

via TMDB

Key facts

Preceded by
Norm Coleman
Succeeded by
Tina Smith
Born
Alan Stuart Franken , ( 1951-05-21 ) May 21, 1951 (age 75) , New York City , New York , U.S.
Party
Democratic ( DFL )
Spouse
Franni Bryson ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1975 ) ​
Education
Harvard University ( BA )

via Wikipedia infobox

Official website

Home – AlFranken.com

Official Website of writer, comedian, and former US Senator Al Franken.

alfranken.com →

As far as I know, I’m the only U.S. Senator who was also one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live , where I worked for fifteen seasons. I’ve won five Emmys for writing and producing – even though Wikipedia says I won three. Wikipedia is wrong. I’m also the author of four 1 New York Times bestsellers, including Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations , Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them – A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, and Al Franken, Giant of the Senate. I also won two Grammys, which Wikipedia also doesn’t mention. But that’s okay. I served Minnesota in the Senate from 2009-2018, clobbering my first opponent Norm Coleman by a margin of 312 votes. My second time around I won by a larger margin that’s not worth mentioning. I served on the Judiciary, Energy, Indian Affairs, and HELP (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) Committees where I routinely embarrassed badly prepared witnesses and was a fierce opponent of media concentration, mandatory arbitration, and Betsy DeVos. I wrote a key provision of the Affordable Care Act – the Medical Loss Ratio, which requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% (85% for large group plans) of premiums on actual health care and not profits, administrative costs, executive salaries, and marketing. If they don’t, they must rebate the difference to policyholders. Millions of Americans, very likely including you, have received billions in rebates. You’re welcome. Franni and I have been married for 50 years, many of them happy. Our two kids, Thomasin and Joe, have each produced two grandchildren. All four are spectacular!

Read more on their site →

Excerpt from the official site · 4,930 chars · not written by Vinony

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Gender
male
Citizenship
United States
Place of birth
Manhattan
Languages spoken
English language
Native language
English language
Religion
Judaism
Official website
www.alfranken.com
Image
Al Franken - Peabody Awards.jpg
Work location
Washington, D.C.
Residence
Minneapolis
Show 11 more facts
Commons category
Al Franken
date of birth
1951-05-21
Commons Creator page
Al Franken
birth name
Alan Stuart Franken
Commons gallery
Al Franken
name in native language
Al Franken
topic's main category
Category:Al Franken
writing language
English language
social media followers
1183640
number of viewers/listeners
805468
Sources (10)

via Wikidata · CC0

~34 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American politician, comedian, screenwriter, and actor who served from 2009 until his resignation in 2018 as a United States senator from Minnesota. A member of the Democratic Party, he worked as an entertainer, appearing on television and in films, before entering politics.

Franken first gained fame as a writer and performer on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he worked three stints. He first served as a writer for the show from 1975 to 1980, and returned from 1985 to 1995 as a writer and, briefly, a cast member. After his career in the entertainment industry, Franken became a liberal political activist, hosting a radio show and writing satirical books scrutinizing the American right.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Al Franken” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (14)