Alan Stuart Franken Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American politician who is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota, where he has served since 2009. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, an affiliate of the Democratic Party, he narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman in 2008. Prior to serving in the Senate, he was a writer and performer for the television show Saturday Night Live (SNL) from its inception in 1975 to 1980 and from 1985 to 1995.After leaving SNL, he wrote and acted in movies and television shows. He also hosted a nationally syndicated, political radio talk show, The Al Franken Show, and authored six books, four of which are political satires critical of right-wing politics.Franken declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2007 and after a close race, he trailed Coleman by 215 votes. After a statewide manual recount, required because of the closeness of the election, Franken was declared the winner by a margin of 312 votes. After an election contest and subsequent lawsuit by Coleman, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously upheld Franken's victory on June 30, 2009 and Franken was sworn into the Senate on July 7, 2009.
Joseph, Thomasin Franken, Joseph Franken II, Thomasin
Parents
Phoebe G. Kunst, Joseph P. Franken
Siblings
Owen Franken
Awards
Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing - Variety Series, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy-Variety Or Music Program, Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy, Variety, or Music Special...
Nominations
WGA Award for Best Comedy/Variety - Music, Awards, Tributes - Specials - Television, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing - Comedy Or Comedy-Variety Or Music Series
Movies
Tunnel Vision, Trading Places, One More Saturday Night, When a Man Loves a Woman, Stuart Saves His Family, No Money Down, Al Franken: God Spoke, Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater, Manufacturing Dissent, The Internet Must Go, The First Amendment Project, George W. Bushisms
No one is more sensitive to the issue of overeating than the creator of Stuart Smalley.
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[2/96, interview with Mark Schapiro for "Salon"] The reason I chose [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.
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[interview with Marla Williams, Seattle Times, 3/11/96] 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% positive all the time - even when they're wrong."
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[2/06, in interview with Jay MacDonald entitled "Fame & Fortune: Comedian Al Franken"] 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."
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[at the Maine political delegation breakfast on July 26, 2004, replying to actor John Cusack, who saw Franken in the audience and said, "I'm not going to try and be funny"] I'm not going to try and act.
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Fact
1
His paternal grandparents were German Jewish immigrants, and his maternal grandfather was a Russian Jewish immigrant. His maternal grandmother was born in Pennsylvania, to Russian Jewish parents.
2
Radio talk show host in Minneapolis, syndicated nationally on Air America Radio. [May 2006]
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Radio talk show host in New York City. [2004]
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United States Senator from Minnesota [July 2009]
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He is mentioned in Alicyn Packard's song "The Pinky Song.".
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Father of daughter, Thomasin Davis Franken (born in 1981), and named after his comedy partner, Tom Davis, from Saturday Night Live. Father-in-law of Brody Konow Greenwald (born in 1980).
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Elected to the United States Senate on November 4, 2008. The election was so close that there was a subsequent recount and legal battles, and he was not officially sworn in as a Senator until July 7, 2009.
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Won the 2008 DFL endorsement for the Minnesota Senate seat against Norm Coleman. (June 7, 2008).
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Announced his bid to run for U.S. Senate in 2008 representing the state of Minnesota.
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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.
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His book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," provoked a lawsuit from Fox News--which was prominently featured in the book--alleging copyright infringement of its advertising slogan that claimed its news coverage was "fair and balanced." The suit was quickly thrown out of court 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.
12
He received a perfect score (800) on the math section of the SAT.
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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)
$500,000
