With a history of breaking boundaries – from his tenure at Saturday Night Live to the rigorous debates of the US Senate – Franken is at once the humorist you love and the senator you respect. A master storyteller with an arsenal of accolades – from five Emmys, two Grammys, four New York Times #1 bestsellers to a distinguished tenure as a US Senator – Franken crafts evenings that resonate with every American. His talks blend earnest analysis and satirical wit, appealing to anyone ready to understand the complexities of current affairs without losing their sense of humor. Franken's presentations engage with our world critically and humorously and urge all Americans to recognize their power to create positive change.

Whether discussing his career in comedy or public service, Franken delivers a singular experience. He leaves 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 delightedly shares stories from his fifteen seasons at Saturday Night Live—audiences get a behind-the-scenes look into the show's evolution from Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, John Belushi, and Dan Aykroyd to Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Chris Rock, and Chris Farley. While at SNL, 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.

Instead, Franken saved his political bias for his books. Upon leaving SNL, Franken wrote Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations, the first of his four New York Times bestsellers, including Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balance Look at the Right. From 2004 to 2007, Franken was the country's #1 progressive radio talk show host on Air America radio.

In 2008, he ran for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota, clobbering incumbent Norm Coleman in the smallest clobbering ever—by 312 votes. Franken was re-elected to the Senate in 2014 by 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. Franken led health care and education reform, privacy, mandatory arbitration, and the courts in his eight and a half years representing Minnesota in the Senate. 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 critical issues facing our country on any given day. With guests like David Axelrod, Sara Silverman, Joyce Vance, Michael Lewis, and Michelle Obama—well not Michelle Obama 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 it like it is.