Al Franken
Appearances
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Yeah, you know, people think we really don't like the censors, that they're our enemies. And the fact is I spend more time with the censors at NBC than with, you know, anybody else other than our staff. So I know these guys real well. It's adversarial, but it's friendly, and we don't really pull anything off over on them. We just make our argument.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
I lost a piece last year that I really cared about. It was called What's My Addiction? And it was a game show in which, you know, the celebrity panelists were Johnny Cash, Liza Minnelli, and David Crosby, and the host was Betty Ford. And all the... You know, guests would come on, the panelists would ask them questions like, on what's my line, and try to guess what their chemical dependency was.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
And the point of the show was that all chemical dependency is the same thing, whether it's barbiturates or speed or alcohol, you know, street drugs or prescription drugs. It's all the same thing, and it all has very, very similar tragic consequences. And I was more proud of this piece than of any I had written that year, and they showed it on the air.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
It went on the air once, and it went over great, and they decided not to run it in the repeat.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Because it dealt with drugs and it got laughs. And there is this prejudice against comedy, which is if you do comedy, therefore it isn't serious. You know, they're just two separate things.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Well, we're beginning to try to make an argument higher up. We're thinking maybe this is something General Electric will understand, that we're in competition with cable and Saturday Night Live's on at 11.30 and at least at one time had a reputation of being on the cutting edge. And some of the censorship that we've had this year and in the last couple of years has really been silly. Yeah.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
We wrote a sketch called Jew Not a Jew. It was a game show in which it would be like a big board and someone's picture would come up. It would be like Family Feud and there would be two families and Penny Marshall's face would come up on it. There you go.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
She was, you know, the star of Laverne and Shirley, now a director, married to all the family's meathead one time, Penny Marshall, Jew or not a Jew? And then ding, ding, ding, ding, take it Knopfler's. You know, she's from New York or something. She's got a big nose. We're going to say Jew. Sorry. Penny Marshall is Italian, of Italian descent.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
But anyway, the point was that our censors said, no, you can't do this because some people will take it the wrong way. And we're just saying, well, yeah, but it's not intended to be anti-Semitic. I'm Jewish. I wrote it. I'm Jewish. This is what we used to do at home when we were sitting at home. We'd see Mel Farrar on TV and go, you think he's a Jew? I don't know.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
And my dad would go, you know, Leslie Howard is Jewish, Alan. Really? Yes, he is.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
So it's sort of a living. We made it into this game show.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
No, it never got on the air. And it's just stupid, you know? I mean, I think at one point they, like, asked some rabbi if it was okay to put it on or something.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Yeah. Tom and I have worked, we're called Lorne again. We've been there whenever Lorne's there. Lorne again writers. And so we've been there from, we were there for the first five years, and now we've been here or there for the last three.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Oh, the Al Franken day. Okay, basically what happened was I was in 1979. At the end of 1979, remember the 70s was the me decade. And everybody was sort of saying, well, the me decade's over. What's the next decade going to be about? And there'd be some guy who would write a thing, my turn in Newsweek. And he'd say, this is going to be the...
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
pull together generation revolving around how we use our energy resources. And then at the bottom would say, Ted Hudnut is an energy resource consultant. And I realized that everybody was saying basically that the 70s was the me decade, but the 80s is going to be about this thing that I'm involved with. So I figured I'd just make it the Al Franken decade.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
I'm going to do a great guided visualization tape, and I'm going to help people because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me. Hello, I'm Stuart Smalley, and welcome to You're Good Enough, You're Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like You. A healing journey through the dysfunctional forest and other guided visualizations. It's a long title, but that's okay.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
It's appropriate. Now, before we go any further in this tape, I do want to start with a little warning. Guided visualizations are powerful stuff and hopefully the visualizations on this tape will transport the you inside of you or whatever and free that inside person to be the best you inside of you that you can be.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
But I think I would be remiss if I did not tell you that I am not a licensed therapist and while I am being paid To do this, I am not a professional in the therapeutic sense. And I do worry that I will misuse this power and really screw somebody up, you know, accidentally.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
You know, the voice, it's funny, sometimes when you write something, it comes with a voice, and this just did. And I don't know why exactly, other than maybe there are a few people. I actually belong to one of those groups. I belong to an anonymous fellowship for friends and family members of drunks or recovering alcoholics, too.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
And I think there are a number of people in rooms that I've met who sort of remind me of Stuart. And... I guess the reason I came up with Stuart and the way he is is that one of the great things I learned going to this fellowship is that I can learn stuff from people who I never in a million years thought I could.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
And so I sort of deliberately made Stuart pretty silly and lame in a lot of ways, but very kind of courageous and sweet and vulnerable in his own way.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Well, actually, people who know me very well know that there's a lot of Stuart inside of me. A lot of the insecurity and a lot of the self-doubt and all that stuff. And I think it's in a lot of people. Because I think there are parts of all of us that are very vulnerable and very... You know, can be stupid at times.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
And I think it's, you know, it's fine to give yourself permission to do that and not, you know, beat yourself up.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Well, affirmations are... First of all, a program has this incredible amount of jargon.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
And the jargon is usually just a shorthand for some concept. Yeah. So all it really is is just a way for someone to grasp, hold on to a concept. And most of these concepts are pretty sound. But the jargon can get pretty grating and silly. And yet when the concept has helped you so much and the way you got to the concept was through the jargon, you kind of hold on to the jargon.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
So that steward is a program junkie, so he is a jargon junkie. Actually, people send me these things. I got one the other day, which is, fear is a dark room where negatives get developed, which is a gift through the mail. If you're listening and you got good ones, send them to me. Stuart will use them.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Another one someone sent to me was, it's easier to put on slippers than to carpet the entire world.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
And there's one I'm doing that I heard in program that I'm using this week, because Stuart is going to be, I think is going to be on the show this week. He's apologizing for yesterday's show, which is what he always does. And he evidently took Madonna's inventory.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
And he says, which is a good thing to remember, when you're pointing a finger at someone else, remember there are three fingers pointing back at you.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Well, Stuart believes that. Yeah. He says, one of the affirmations is, today I will laugh at least once. And I've already laughed today, so I'm fine.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Well, you know, it's funny. As you said that, it's true. And it's the first time I've realized that. which I can't believe that's the first time I realized that. Thank you for... No, it is true. There are people who I... Because there are laughter in these rooms. By the way, there's much... I've gone to some open AA meetings, and there's a lot more laughter in...
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
in Alcoholics Anonymous than in Al-Anon, which is really unfair, if you think about it. But, no, you're absolutely right. There are people who, just by nature, have no sense of humor, but know that it's a good thing and are working on it. And it's a really, really ugly thing to observe. But, you know, God bless them.