Al Franken
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian, radio host, political commentator, and politician. After several decades as a comedic actor and writer, became a prominent political activist and was elected to the United States Senate. Currently the junior United States Senator from Minnesota, Franken rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s as a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live (SNL). A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, an affiliate of the Democratic Party, he narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman in 2008. Born in New York City, Franken grew up near Minneapolis and attended Harvard University. With his writing partner Tom Davis, with whom he had developed an interest in improv in high school, he was hired as a writer for SNL at its inception in 1975. He worked on the show as a writer and performer until 1980 and returned from 1985 to 1995. After leaving SNL, he wrote and acted in movies and television shows. He also hosted a nationally syndicated, political radio talk show, The Al Franken Show, and authored six books, four of which are political satires critical of right-wing politics. Franken declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2007 and after a close race, he trailed Coleman by 215 votes. After a statewide manual recount, required because of the closeness of the election, Franken was declared the winner by a margin of 312 votes. After an election contest and subsequent lawsuit by Coleman, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously upheld Franken's victory on June 30, 2009 and Franken was sworn into the Senate on July 7, 2009.