Will Franken (born June 30, 1973) is a comedian and impressionist based in San Francisco.
Born and raised in Sedalia, Missouri, Franken holds a Master’s degree in English (with a specialization in Restoration and 18th Century literature). He pursued an acting career and taught high school in New York City after college. He lived in the San Francisco Bay Area from 2002 until late 2007, when he relocated to New York City, but he moved back to San Francisco in 2009.
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Franken’s humor is rooted in the British sketch comedy tradition, notably Monty Python. Onstage, he portrays an eclectic mix of characters through a series of interconnected vignettes. His skits are often satirical, skewering a range of subcultures and political views, often absurdist.
Offstage, Franken publishes a podcast entitled Things We Did Before Reality.
In 2005, Franken was selected Best Comedian by the SF Weekly; Best Alternative to Psychedelic Drugs by the San Francisco Bay Guardian; and one of the Top 25 People to Watch nationwide by Tribe.net. In late 2007, Franken was first runner up for the Andy Kaufman Award competition in Las Vegas.
He has performed his solo shows Good Luck With It; For Existence, Press One; and Grandpa, It's Not Fitting at The Marsh in San Francisco, the Collective: Unconscious in New York (as part of the New York International Fringe Festival), Ars Nova Theater, the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in New York and Los Angeles, and the Comedy Central Stage (at the Hudson Theater) in Los Angeles. Will had his film debut in Stanley Cuba, directed by Per Anderson.
Franken has one son from a previous relationship.