Comedian in the U.S. Senate: Al Franken!

Two of the more awkward phone interviews I have conducted over the years have been with Al Franken. Just lucky, I guess? But maybe, just maybe, Franken may have been tentative with me all of those years ago because he knew that someday, he'd become a U.S. Senator. That day, after months of legal wrangling over the votes and recounts from the 2008 election, has come today following a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling, as incumbent Republican Norm Coleman conceded the race to Franken this afternoon. Congrats, Al. The Internet already is buzzing with comments referencing the catchphrase of Franken's Saturday Night Live character, Stuart Smalley: "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!"

Let's toast this moment in time, when a comedian and satirist has joined the U.S. Senate and is now a coworker with the targets he previously mocked, with a look back at some Al Franken moments.

Here is Franken on Letterman in 2007, after he announced his Senate campaign:

Here's Al Franken with SNL co-writer Tom Davis on Solid Gold doing The Rolling Stones!? With Franken as Mick Jagger?? Believe it.

How about Al Franken roasting Chevy Chase?

For some reason, though, anything involving Stuart Smalley, Franken's character who used self-affirmation to help himself and others — most famously, perhaps on SNL, one Michael Jordan — is not available to view online or is not embeddable. But NBC does have this "Church Lady" sketch with Al Franken playing televangelist/politician Pat Robertson…

Related: Al Franken explains Stuart Smalley; the movie trailer for the failed Stuart Smalley movie.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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