Why Senator Al Franken is Captivating Audiences:
Former Senator Al Franken delves into the critical issues of the 2024 election with humor and insight, emphasizing the need for collective action to safeguard the nation’s foundation. Through a blend of experience, satire, and sharp analysis, he urges all Americans to recognize their power for positive change. The message is clear: it’s time to speak up and shape the future of democracy.
As the only speaker on the lecture circuit who has won 5 Emmys (Wikipedia missed two for producing), written 4 New York Times #1 best-sellers, taken home 2 Grammys, and served as a United States Senator, Al Franken brings a unique voice to the stage. Whether discussing his career in comedy or in public service, Franken delivers a singular experience—leaving audiences thoroughly entertained, more knowledgeable, and either optimistic or extremely depressed about our nation’s future—depending on how he feels that day.
More About Senator Al Franken:
Franken is delighted to talk about his fifteen seasons at Saturday Night Live — with behind- the- scene stories about the show’s evolution from Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd to Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Chris Rock, and Chris Farley. Franken wrote a lion’s share of the show’s political satire with Jim Downey, a Republican. Downey and Franken felt it wasn’t SNL’s job to have a political bias, but rather to do well-observed political satire that made the audience laugh and had the virtue of not being stupid, rewarding viewers for knowing stuff about politics without punishing them for not.
Franken saved his political bias for his books. Immediately upon leaving SNL, Franken wrote Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations, the first of his four New York Times best-sellers, including Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balance Look at the Right. From 2004–2007, Franken was the #1 progressive radio talk show host in the country on Air America radio.
In 2008, he ran for the US Senate in Minnesota, clobbering incumbent Norm Coleman in the smallest clobbering ever—by 312 votes. Franken was reelected to the Senate in 2014 by a margin of over 200,000 votes. Franken gives another rare behind- the- scenes look at an even longer running institution—the United States Senate. What is Mitch McConnell like? Do you really want to know? Chuck Schumer? Lindsey Graham, Bernie Sanders? Deb Fischer? Who? She’s from Nebraska. In his 8 1/2 years representing Minnesota in the Senate, Franken led on health care and education reform, on privacy, mandatory arbitration, and the courts. His questioning during Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearings led to Sessions’ recusal from the Russia Investigation and Bob Mueller’s appointment to lead it.
As Franken said when he left the Senate, “I may be giving up my seat, but not my voice.” The eponymous Al Franken Podcast focuses on the most important issues facing our country on any given day. With guests like Dahlia Lithwick, Michael Lewis, Sarah Silverman, and Michelle Obama (not her, but guests like her), The Al Franken Podcast has been taking deep dives into the Supreme Court, the clowns populating Trump’s agencies, and climate change. Franken cuts through the conventional wisdom and tells you how it really is. For example, President Trump has a tendency to exaggerate or just flat out lie. Really.
About the Drew Forum:
For 30 years, the Drew Forum speaker series has welcomed world-renowned guests to Drew University and local communities. From past and future presidents and vice presidents, to leaders of state and policy, to Pulitzer Prize-winning historians and journalists, to comedians and astrophysicists, to newscasters and podcasters, each year the Drew Forum cedes the stage to unique perspectives, thought leaders, and changemakers.
This event is generously sponsored by the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.
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