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width="145" height="32" border="0" id="nav.client_login" alt="Client Login" vspace='0' hspace='0' /></a> </li> </ul> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign='top' bgcolor="#ffffff" background="/newsp/images/back.both_sides.gif"> <BR> <p>  <table border='0' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='0' width='852'> <tr> <td><img name="intro" src="/newsp/images/spacer.gif" width="20" height="149" border="0" vspace='0' hspace='0'/></td> <td align='center' valign='top'> <table width="750" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td class="infobox" align='left' valign="top" width=18 bgcolor="#4980bc"><img src="/newsp/images/corner_left.gif" width='18' height='18' border='0' vspace='0' hspace='0'></td> <td align='left' valign='middle' bgcolor="#4980bc" width=1><img src="/newsp/images/spacer.gif" height='30' width=1 align='left'></td> <td align='left' valign='middle' bgcolor="#4980bc"> <font color="white" size='3'>Al Franken</font> </td> <td align='right' width='18' valign='top' bgcolor="#4980bc"><img src="/newsp/images/corner_right.gif" width='18' height='18' border='0' vspace='0' hspace='0'></td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan=4> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding='1'cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td bgcolor="#4980bc"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding='1'cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td background="/newsp/images/back.speakers_flame.jpg"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding='4'cellspacing="0"> <tr> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" valign="middle" width='200'><img src="/clientimages/clientimages,f/frankenal.jpg" border=1 vspace='20' hspace='10'></td> <td width='360' align='left' valign='middle' id="bullets"><br>TOPICS<br> <ul> <li><a href='http://www.speaking.com/speakerindexes/humor.html'>Humor</a><br> <li><a href='http://www.speaking.com/speakerindexes/politics.html'> Politics</a><br> <li><a href='http://www.speaking.com/speakerindexes/comedian.html'> Comedian</a><br> <li><a href='http://www.speaking.com/speakerindexes/liberalpolitics.html'> Liberal Politics</a><br> </ul> <P> FEE CATEGORY*: 50.0k to 75.0k <P> TRAVELS FROM: New York </td> <td valign="middle" width=180 align='center'> <div id="speakerlist"> <a HREF="/speakers/alfranken.html"> Profile</a> <a HREF="/speakerpages/speakerpages,f/alfrankenclients.html"> Testimonials/Client List</a> <a HREF="/speakerpages/speakerpages,f/alfrankenproducts.html"> Books & Videos</a> <a href="/info_request.php?add=1&first=Al&last=Franken">Request This Speaker</a> </div> </td> <td><img src="/newsp/images/spacer.gif" height='30' width='15' align='left'></td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign='top' width='852' bgcolor="#ffffff" background="/newsp/images/back.both_sides.gif" align='center'> <br> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 width='90%'> <tr> <td> <ul><h6>Al Franken: Profile</h6></ul> <ul> You might know Al Franken as an award-winning satirist and author. You might know him as the host of Air America Radio's "The Al Franken Show," the network's flagship program that helped put progressive talk radio on the map. And if you're a Minnesotan, you might know him from bumping into him at a DFL event or two. Here's how Al got to where he is today. <p> Born in New York on May 21, 1951, Al moved with his family to Albert Lea, Minnesota at the age of four. When Joe Franken's quilting factory went under -- as Al likes to say, his dad was a "great guy, but a terrible businessman" -- the family moved to the Twin Cities. Al, his parents, and his brother Owen lived in a two-bedroom, one-bath house in St. Louis Park. <p> Growing up middle-class in Minnesota back then meant that while the Frankens weren't rich -- his dad ended up getting a job as a printing salesman while his mom worked as a real estate agent -- they had a feeling of security and access to opportunity. As Al puts it, he felt like the luckiest kid in the world. <p> His good grades got him into Harvard, but his friendship with fellow Minnesotan Tom Davis(Tom grew up in Richfield) and their performances in school and at Dudley Riggs's Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis led him to try his hand at comedy after graduating. <p> Al and Tom Davis soon caught on with a show called "Saturday Night," splitting a weekly paycheck of $350 as "apprentice writers." Over the next two decades, Al would be awarded five Emmy awards and seven nominations for his work on the show, which you might know as "Saturday Night Live." Al's creations ranged from the silly (a self-help guru named Stuart Smalley) to the bitingly satirical (portraying the Rev. Pat Robertson in mock "debates"). <p> Al also wrote for the big screen, where his screenplays included "When A Man Loves A Woman," a serious take on the family disease of addiction, as well as on television, where he created "Lateline," a send-up of political news programs. <p> At a mixer his freshman year, Al met Franni Bryson, a freshman at Simmons. They've been married for over 32 years, "many of them happy," as Al likes to joke. They have two kids. Thomasin, 27, graduated from Harvard and became a teacher, working in a public elementary school in the Bronx. Joe (named after Al's dad), 23, is a recent graduate from Princeton with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. <p> When Al left "Saturday Night Live" in 1995, Newt Gingrich's Republican Congress had just taken power. Although Al had refrained from injecting his own politics into his work as a comedian, watching these Republicans and their obnoxious radio mouthpiece, Rush Limbaugh, take aim at Al's core values was too much for him to let stand. <p> So, he used his wit as a weapon, penning "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot (and other observations)." The book rocketed to #1 on the New York Times best-seller list and inspired a very different kind of reaction from Al's fans. <p> In 2003, with George W. Bush in the White House and another Republican Congress once again using its media mouthpieces to hold power, Al was named a fellow at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics, and Public Policy. There he wrote his next #1 New York Times best-seller, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right." In 2005, he followed with another #1 New York Times best-seller, "The Truth (with jokes)." <p> On March 31, 2004, a brand new part of the progressive movement celebrated its first day on the air. Air America Radio was the first progressive talk radio network, and Al was its first star. Broadcasting live, three hours a day, five days a week, Al figured he might as well learn from the experience. So in addition to his own famous wit and passion, the show featured experts in domestic and foreign policy, national and world leaders, and issues ranging from the cost of prescription drugs to the war in Iraq to the Bush administration's misuse of scientific research. <p> The show reached over 1.5 million unique listeners per week, and Al was soon ranked among the most influential radio talkers in the country, quite an achievement given the conservative bent of established hosts. In addition, Al continued to be in high demand as a speaker at Democratic functions around the country, especially back in his native Minnesota. <p> Al has visited our troops overseas with the USO seven times. He's been to Iraq four times. These trips are the highlight of his year. Visiting a war zone with the Sergeant Major of the Army is an opportunity to visit with members of the armed services, speak with generals, and see first-hand "how it's going over there." <p> When Al's son went off to Princeton, Al and Franni found themselves empty-nesters and decided to move back to Minnesota. Al's political philosophy had always been informed by his friend and hero, the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, and when he moved home at the end of 2005, he found that the spirit of Wellstonian progressive politics was still very much alive. <p> Franken served as a "big name" host for the 2004 start-up of the liberal radio network Air America, a post he left in early 2007 to run for the U.S. senate in Minnesota's 2008 election. Franken, a Democrat, ran against incumbent senator Norm Coleman, a Republican. Although in January 2009 Franken claimed victory, it was a close election that ended up in the courts and neither Coleman nor Franken have been seated in the Senate. </ul> <P> <hr size="1" width="95%"> <blockquote><font size="1" color="#666666">* Please note that while this speaker's specific fee falls within the range posted (for Continental U.S. based events) at the top of this page, fees are subject to change without notice. For current fee information or international event fees, please contact your Speakers Platform representative.</blockquote> </td> </tr> </table><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> <tr> <td>  <table cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' border='0' width=852> <tr> <td><a href="mailto:speaker@speaking.com"><img name="footercontact_info" src="/newsp/images/footer.contact_info.gif" width="450" height="32" border="0" id="footercontact_info" alt="" vspace=0 hspace=0 /></a></td> <td><img name="footer.copyright" src="/newsp/images/footer.copyright.gif" width="402" height="32" border="0" id="footer.copyright" alt="" vspace=0 hspace=0 /></td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>