Al Franken Net Worth

Al Franken's Quotes

• [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.
• [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."
• [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."
• [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.
• No one is more sensitive to the issue of overeating than the creator of Stuart Smalley.

Interesting Facts about Al Franken

1. Left Saturday Night Live (1975) as a writer and featured cast member in 1995 after his request to be the Weekend Update news anchor was denied. He has since admitted that Norm MacDonald was the better choice for the role, due to both MacDonald's deadpan delivery and apolitical comedy style, in contrast with Franken's partisan progressive stance.
2. Was an improv comedy performer and sketch comedy writer at the Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis, MN, in the early 1970s.
3. Has two children: daughter Thomasin Franken and son Joe Franken.
4. Graduated from Harvard University.
5. 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)
6. He received a perfect score (800) on the math section of the SAT.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Announced his bid to run for U.S. Senate in 2008 representing the state of Minnesota.
10. Won the 2008 DFL endorsement for the Minnesota Senate seat against Norm Coleman. (June 7, 2008).
11. 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.
12. 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).
13. He is mentioned in Alicyn Packard's song "The Pinky Song.".
14. United States Senator from Minnesota [July 2009]
15. Radio talk show host in New York City. [2004]
16. Radio talk show host in Minneapolis, syndicated nationally on Air America Radio. [May 2006]
17. 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.
18. Attended the Blake School in Hopkins, Minnesota with fellow Saturday Night Live writer-producer Tom Davis and Paul David Stark the co-founder of Twin/Tone Records.
19. In the opening pages of his 2003 book, "Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them", he quotes Joseph Welch's famous words to Senator Joseph McCarthy, "Have you no decency, sir?" then says "Unlike Senator McCarthy and his intellectual heirs, Ann Coulter and Howard Stern, I do have a sense of decency." When asked what he meant during interview with Stern, who loved the book but didn't understand the intention of that passage, Franken clarified that it was a joke in reference to Stern's notoriety for "indecent" humor.
20. Franken resigned Congress on January 2, 2018, after several allegations of groping were made against him.