Comedian Al Franken, a longtime writer and performer on Saturday Night Live who served nearly two terms in the U.S. Senate before stepping down in 2018 amid allegations of sexual misconduct, is coming to Maine.
Franken’s “The Only Former U.S. Senator Currently on Tour” tour will visit the State Theatre in Portland at 8 p.m. Sunday.
The 70-year-old has deep ties to Maine. His wife, Franni Bryson, is from Portland (the couple met while at Harvard University in the early 1970s), and they visit at least once a year.
Franken, a Democrat, had an interest in politics and public policy long before his successful run for the U.S. Senate in 2008. Now that he’s transitioned back to comedy, politics anchor his performances even more.
Franken spoke this week about his two careers, his family in Maine and the situation in Ukraine. He wouldn’t answer questions about the circumstances of his departure from the Senate. The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Q: What’s it been like touring at this particular moment in time?
A: Well, there’s different things happening. You know, we’re on COVID time, we’re now on World War III time (chuckling). I was supposed to start this leg of the tour in January. We had to postpone a couple shows in northern California because omicron was peaking then … But Portland, I’m really happy about, because I have a lot of family there. My wife’s family is all there, and I love Maine.
Q: Do you find that people are eager to laugh again in a public setting?
A: We haven’t been able to do that until recently and I think it’s always kind of, whenever you’re in a theater and there’s people, it’s a bit of a celebration anyway, but especially now. People are very happy to get out.
Q: When you were in the Senate, I expect you had to work hard to shed the label of “that SNL comic” and be taken seriously. What was the transition like back to being a comedian? Was this always something you expected to do?
A: I really hadn’t thought that I’d be coming back to private life, so to speak, so soon, but that’s where I started, was comedy, and I value it very highly, especially satirical comedy.
But I had never done standup as a single. I used to do it with my partner, Tom Davis (a fellow Minnesotan who like Franken was an original writer on SNL), but it’s a different beast when you’re up there alone.
Q: Is your comedy more political now than in the past, because of your experiences in the Senate?
A: I talk a lot about my time in the Senate and give you some background and peeks into what the Senate’s like. That’s not a small part of it.
Q: Anything on Maine’s senators (Susan Collins and Angus King, with whom he served)?
A: I don’t talk too much about that (in shows), but I may a little. I told Angus (King) I’m coming, and he said ‘Well, how do I go?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’ll send you two comps.’ And then he writes back and says, ‘You know I’m a U.S. Senator, and I can’t take them.’ I said, ‘Good, then buy the expensive seats.’
Q: Did you leave any tickets for Sen. Collins?
A: (long pause) Ah, no. No.
Q: Is it harder right now to do comedy given everything that’s going on in the world?
A: That stuff has always been fodder. I’m sort of a satirist, so on SNL, I wrote, with other writers of course, a lot of the satire. So that was part of our toolbox, what was happening. Even now, I’m thinking, well, what I am going to say about Ukraine? How am I going to approach that?
But it is hard in these days where satire is supposed to be about pushing boundaries. Good satire always has. You talk about George Carlin, Richard Pryor, people like that, and now it’s comedians are finding it harder in some ways. A lot of comedians I know won’t do colleges.
Q: What are your thoughts on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky who, like you, was a comedian?
A: He’s doing great now. I loved when we offered to get him out and he said, ‘You know, we need arms, not a ride.’ I just think the bravest people in the world are Jewish comedians who go into politics. There’s only two. (Franken is Jewish.)
Q: With your family connections in Maine, do you visit a fair amount?
A: We visit pretty much every year. My wife – her four siblings, three sisters and brother, are in the Portland area and mom, my mother-in-law, is 99, and she’s the family hero. I talk about her a little bit. She’ll be embarrassed, but I don’t care. She’s amazing. A remarkable story. Her husband died in a car accident after doing two shifts at the paper mill. He fell asleep and hit a tree, leaving my mother-in-law widowed with five kids, age 7 to 3 months, and that’s why she’s our hero.
Q: Are there specific places you go when in Maine?
A: We usually almost always go to Two Lights (State Park in Cape Elizabeth). When we come up, we eat a lot of lobster rolls. We just do. In summers, we go to Higgins Beach (in Scarborough).
Q: You hinted recently you might be interested in returning to politics. How different is the landscape now?
A: It’s actually gotten uglier, which is hard to believe. When I was in the Senate, (Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell, he told his caucus, our job is to make sure Barack Obama gets nothing done, he filibustered executive appointees, and that started the destruction of the Senate as far as I’m concerned. Now, you know, Trump is sort of the end result, I think of the Palins, the Hannitys, the Tucker Carlsons, Rush Limbaugh, the Tea Party, they finally got everything they wanted. They are authoritarian. That’s what they’ve turned into as a party. It’s always been there, but now it’s the top of the Republican Party.
Q: You mentioned Tucker Carlson, a part-time Maine resident, any more thoughts on him?
A: He’s been giving aid and comfort to one of the worst people in the world, to Putin. It’s deeply disturbing. And it’s deeply disturbing that he’s the most popular host on their primetime schedule. The others aren’t so great either, but Tucker’s smart enough to know what he’s doing.
Q: With all the podcasts out there, why did you decide to start one?
A: I think I’ve carved out my podcast … I do kind of public policy that’s funny and fun to listen to. I care about this stuff … about what’s really going to make people’s lives better.
You think about my mother-in-law … (Franken started to get tearful). Sorry. What made her life possible was Social Security survivor benefits, Pell grants for her kids, Title I. She got a GI loan to go to college, she teaches at a Title 1 school, she gets her loans forgiven. These things are important. It means stuff to people. And it kills me that it doesn’t seem to mean stuff to the Republican Party at all.
Q: Do you think people have an understanding of what to expect at your show?
A: It depends on whether you do your job. I don’t think they know exactly what to expect, but I don’t think they’re surprised by anything. They’ll be surprised by some things, but they’ll be comedic surprises. The show is funny. That’s the intent. And people really like it.
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