Day: January 23, 2008

When I first saw Will Franken perform last fall, the best I could come up with on my Daily News blog was this description: "manic brilliance." Speaking to Franken at length this week over coffee amid the Williamsburg types, I realized the words really do fit this untraditional comedian. First, though, watch this portion of his most recent one-man show, "Grandpa, It’s Not Fitting," which I recorded with Franken’s permission during his Jan. 18, 2008, performance at the UCB Theatre in NYC. Will Franken at UCBUploaded by thecomicscomic Franken, 34, grew up in rural Sedalia, Missouri, and began his professional career as a teacher of English at Southwest Missouri State University, but he acknowledges he wasn’t the best teacher. He’d much prefer taking the class out on field trips or showing Harold & Maude or listening to The Who. "I was always going to the A/V department," he said. At 24, he decided to up and move to New York City. He’d done an open mic or two in Springfield, Missouri, and felt he was ready for his big break. "I thought I was going to go to Washington Square Park and do what I do and someone would walk past and say, ‘I want you to do that on TV.’" Instead, he dabbled in horrible theatrical productions, moved to Harlem and taught school there for a year. Discouraged,...