The Al Franken Show

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The Al Franken Show is the flagship talk show of Air America Radio. Hosted by Al Franken, it features commentary and interviews arguing for liberal positions on the issues of the day, and comedy poking fun at conservatives. The show premiered as The O'Franken Factor on March 31, 2004. As of January 3, 2006, the show is being recorded and broadcast from the 28th floor of the historic Foshay Tower in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Prior to that date it was based in New York City.

Franken is a comedian and satirist who is well known for his books and his earlier role as a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live, where he usually teamed with fellow writer/performer Tom Davis.

From the show's inception in March 2004 until October 7, 2005, the show was co-hosted by experienced journalist Katherine Lanpher. Lanpher left the show to write Leap Days, a memoir about her experiences moving to New York City. Lanpher did not rejoin the show because she did not wish to move again when Franken relocated to Minnesota.

When the show began, Franken signed a one-year contract. "I'm doing this because I want to use my energies to get Bush unelected. I'd be happy if the election of a Democrat ended the show," he said in an interview with The New York Times. Bush won a second term on November 2, 2004, but Franken stated that the show would continue whether a Democrat or a Republican was in office.

Beginning on September 7, 2004, Sundance Channel broadcast a one-hour televised version of the show on weekdays. The show aired its last episode in November 2004. The channel inked a new contract with Franken and aired a second season of the show from June 6, 2005 until early November 2005. It is unclear whether the channel will air the show again in the future.

1 The O'Franken Factor
2 Guests
3 Regular features
4 Swing State Tour
5 Music
6 Staff
7 References
8 External links

[edit] The O'Franken Factor

Until July 12, 2004 the name of the show was The O'Franken Factor. That name was a jibe at Bill O'Reilly and his The O'Reilly Factor. O'Reilly is widely thought to have instigated Fox News Channel's lawsuit against Franken for using their trademarked phrase "fair and balanced", which was thrown out of court in summary judgment, but ended up giving publicity to Franken and his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.

Franken described his show as taking place in a "Zero Spin Zone" where Franken pledges to tell the truth and there is "no spinning allowed." This is also a parody of O'Reilly's show, which he says is in a "No Spin Zone."

[edit] Guests

The show's regular guests include David Brock, Joe Conason, James Fallows, Christy Harvey, Paul Krugman, Jonathan Alter, Thomas Oliphant, Norman Ornstein, George Packer, Melanie Sloan, David Sirota, and Lawrence O'Donnell Jr.

The show's guests during its first three weeks included:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
3/29	3/30	3/31 Bob Kerrey, Michael Moore, Bebe Neuwirth (as Ann Coulter), G. Gordon Liddy, David Sirota, Bob Elliott, Robert Smigel, Ben Stein, Chuck D, Al Gore	4/1 Hillary Clinton, Robert Reich	4/2 Richard Clarke, Paul Krugman
4/5 James Fallows, Ron Suskind	4/6 David Kay, John Dean	4/7 Jon Stewart, Fred Kaplan	4/8 Michael Isikoff, Howard Fineman, Gail Sheehy, Michael Kinsley	4/9 John Kerry, Darryl Worley, Karri Turner, Andy Breckman
4/12 David Cay Johnston, Sherrod Brown	4/13 James Carville, Michael Elliott	4/14 Walter Cronkite, Jonathan Alter	4/15 Neal Boortz, Samantha Power, Lawrence O'Donnell	4/16 Richard Ben-Veniste, Jason Flom, John Martin, Kellie Mann, Helen Thomas

Other guests have included

2004-04-19: John McCain, Eli Pariser, Norm Ornstein, G. Gordon Liddy
2004-06-25: Ron Reagan, Michael Moore, Bill Clinton

[edit] Regular features

In addition to general political discussion, the show features several recurring segments. These include:

Wait Wait... Don't Lie To Me!: Every Friday afternoon, Franken hosts a mini-game show with fellow judge Joe Conason. The contestant listens to a series of audio clips from earlier in the week, and is asked to identify whether each statement made is the truth, a lie, or a "weasel" (defined as "a statement that is technically true, but intended to mislead"). The title is based on the National Public Radio show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! Contestants who win are sent a copy of The Al Franken Show Party Album. Contestants who lose are also sent a copy of The Al Franken Show Party Album. In the spirit of the lying theme, Franken frequently states that the game has won ever increasing numbers of Peabody Awards — now over one hundred — which itself is a humorous dig at Bill O'Reilly.
Hate Email of the Day: Franken picks his favorite hate email and reads it on the air, often noting spelling and grammatical errors, and usually concluding with "We take your criticisms very seriously."
Mark Luther: The show regularly features a segment with Mark Luther, Franken's childhood friend and self-proclaimed dittohead. Franken will play a clip by Rush Limbaugh, often containing a perceived factual error, and the two then argue about it.
Good Ribbin': A correspondent travels to some of the best southern barbecue hot spots in the country, to talk with people who love barbecue and hate Franken's show. Patrons are invited to tell the audience what they're eating and then argue with Franken.
The Fifteen Second Debunk: An audio clip is played, and then debunked by another audio clip from the same person. Although the debunk is usually less than fifteen seconds, the clips are preceded by several minutes of prerecorded lead-ins, and followed by several minutes of other audio.
Nigel Chestley: Franken plays a BBC correspondent who sometimes reports on international news, and other times simply gives an update on the queen's long running drum solo.
Senior Moment: Franken plays Enid Davenport, a crotchety old woman who offers an extremely confused perspective on the news (she prefers to call the segment "A piece of my mind"). This character is somewhat reminiscent of Gilda Radner's Emily Litella from Saturday Night Live.

Some other skits no longer occur regularly since Katherine Lanpher left the show. These include:

The Oy Oy Oy Show, in which Franken played "old Al" and responded to a litany of depressing news items by saying "Oy"
Mastication Theater, in which Franken and Lanpher would perform a skit while stuffing their mouths with food

[edit] Swing State Tour

In the runup to the 2004 U.S. presidential election, the show went on a "Swing State Tour" that included stops in

San Diego, California (though California was not often considered a swing state)
San Francisco, California
Denver, Colorado
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Madison, Wisconsin
Columbus, Ohio
Miami, Florida

[edit] Music

Theme: Grateful Dead - "Terrapin Station" (live)
Grateful Dead - "Sugaree" (live)
Commercial Bumpers: Grateful Dead "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" (live)
The Klezmatics [1] - "N.Y. Psycho Freylekhs" (used for the now defunct "The Oy Yoy Yoy Show" segment)
many original compositions of Adam Albright-Hanna, including the phone number song, "866-303-2270"
Dire_Straits - Sultans of Swing (Plays this song until that "note," after commercials)
Jerry Garcia - "The Wheel" Garcia