Al Franken’s “The Only Former U.S. Senator Currently On Tour” tour arrives at Madison’s Barrymore Theatre on April 29. The Saturday Night Live alum, best-selling satirist, and Minnesota politician tells Isthmus it’s strictly a stand-up comedy show.
“It’s all about laughs,” says Franken in a phone interview. “Last January, about a year ago, I started going to the Comedy Cellar [in New York’s Greenwich Village] and working on my act.”
Franken and Tom Davis, two of the 11 original writers on SNL, did some stand-up as a team back in the day. But this is the first time Franken has been on tour performing comedy solo in front of audiences.
“It’s been fun. I’ve done about 20 cities so far. Looking forward to Madison. I love Madison. You know, it’s, eh….” Franken trails off before laughing. “Well, we all know what Madison is.”
Just a few minutes into our interview, mid-sentence, Franken says, “Oh shit. Cotton’s coming up.”
To the chagrin of his publicist who is also on the line, Franken asks to call this reporter back. Senators on the Judiciary Committee — which Franken once served on — are giving opening statements at U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing. He doesn’t want to miss Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Arkansas) initial foray.
“I swear it’ll be 10 minutes,” promises Franken.
True to his word, he calls back moments after Cotton finishes his nine-minute screed on the Biden administration “waging war on the rule of law and the separation of powers in the Constitution.”
“I’m so sorry, I just had to watch Cotton,” says Franken. “God, I hate Cotton…. He’s the guy that said slavery was a necessary evil.”
When asked what other senators on the Judiciary Committee he’s keeping an eye on, Franken responds, “I always want to see the worst of them” — referring to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
“Hawley really dialed it down in an odd way. But Cotton didn’t and neither did Cruz,” says Franken. “Cruz was the worst, of course.”
Whether he’s watching Jackson’s hearing for fodder to keep his act fresh or because he misses being one of the nation’s most high-profile Democrats, that question veers towards a topic Franken would rather not discuss. His staff told Isthmus via email before the interview, “We're not particularly keen on talking about the resignation as it took place four years ago and has been covered.”
Franken resigned in January 2018 in the face of multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. In 2019, The New Yorker published a lengthy look at the accusations and the aftermath. The story includes seven Democratic senators saying they were wrong to call for Franken’s resignation. Franken told reporter Jane Mayer he “absolutely” regrets resigning and wishes he could have countered the onslaught of negative press by appearing before the Senate Ethics Committee. Instead, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) informed him that if he didn’t resign immediately, he’d face a censure and be stripped of his committee assignments.
“I can’t go anywhere without people reminding me of this, usually with some version of ‘You shouldn’t have resigned,’” Franken told the New Yorker.
No reporter is keen on being told what questions are off-limits during an interview. But Franken’s staff isn’t wrong that his resignation has been thoroughly covered. It’s also not a subject he jokes about on stage. The former senator only hints at his fall from grace in his new comedy routine, according to the New York Times.
“A lot of my [act] focuses on my Senate experience but there is a lot about what’s happening right now,” says Franken, who adds he doesn’t shy away from poking fun at Democrats while offering political advice. “I do talk about messaging and how we [Democrats] are bad at it. All of our bumper stickers end with ‘continued on the next bumper sticker.’”
He thinks Senate Democrats would be wise to force votes on President Joe Biden’s stalled “Build Back Better package, item by item.
“Things like universal pre-K. People like that. It’s also crazy not to do it. Return on investment for pre-K has been shown over and over again,” says Franken. “Or child care subsidies, which every other country does. We should be doing that. Putting a cap on insulin prices, for goodness sake, and other prescription drugs. There is all kinds of good stuff in [Build Back Better] if we would just put it on the floor. Republicans would vote against it and people would see who they really are.”
What no other comedian can bring to the stage are personal stories about other senators. Franken says Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) is the Senate’s biggest cutup because “he always has jokes at-the-ready” and “all his jokes are about how cynical he is.”
For his Madison show, Franken promises to give special attention to Wisconsin’s senior senator, Republican Ron Johnson.
“I have some pretty funny stories about him and also a pretty good take on the guy…. The most important two words he ever said in business were, ‘I do,’” says Franken. “His wife is the daughter of this plastics billionaire who gave him a job and his business. Johnson goes out of his way to refer to himself as a self-made man but nothing could be further from the truth.”
Franken didn’t want to spoil his best material before the show, but he did offer this story about serving with Johnson in the Senate.
“Ron likes to say he’s a businessman. Business, business, business. One day — he proposed it on the floor — he wanted to do this weird idea to budget like 40 years out,” says Franken before chuckling. “It’s insane but he asked to come to my office and talk about it.”
When a colleague in the world’s greatest deliberative body asks for a meeting, the senatorial thing to do is honor the request, says Franken. So Franken agreed to hear more about Johnson’s “stupid budget idea.”
“He brings all these charts and shit about what they do in business. He says, ‘I created my own business. You see, I'm a businessman and in business, we do business because business is what we do in business,’” says Franken, imitating Johnson. “I'm getting so sick of this, at one point, I just say to him, ‘You know Ron. I was in show business.’”
Franken says Johnson didn’t realize he was being mocked.
“He didn't quite know what to think when I said that,” says Franken, before pausing to sum it all up. “He’s not smart.”
Franken’s assessment of the current state of politics is “bleak” and he had hoped Democrats would have been able to accomplish more with their razor-thin majority in the Senate, aided by Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote. He hasn’t ruled out running for office in the future. During our interview, the 70-year-old answered questions more like an elder statesman than a showbiz veteran. When Franken uses the royal “we” he’s talking about Democratic politicians — not comedians.
“We need to talk about what people care about. We also need to just say where we’re at and be able to disagree with people. But do it in a way that's respectful,” says Franken. “That goes a long way. I won my second race by well over 200,000 votes after winning my first one by 312.”
He would probably prefer to be asking questions at Jackson’s confirmation hearing, but Franken is focused on stand-up in 2022.
“This interview wasn’t necessarily about laughs. I mean that’s okay, I’m happy with what we talked about,” says Franken. “But yeah, [the show] is about comedy.”
Franken tries to find the funny even on geopolitical affairs he admits are no laughing matter.
“[Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy] is a Jewish comedian,” says Franken. “And as everyone knows, comedians are the bravest people in the world, especially Jewish comedians who go into politics.”
Referring to himself and Zelenskyy, “There’s only two of us.”
