Al Franken, Purveyor of Truth

By Laura Barcella, AlterNet. Posted February 9, 2006.

The famous funnyman speaks out about his latest book, Air America's future, and his potential run for the Senate in '08.

Al Franken, the Air America radio host and bestselling author of new-ish book "The Truth (With Jokes)" (Dutton; October 2005), may have started his career in standup comedy, but he's evolved into one of America's more astute lefty commentators.

A refreshingly normal guy in the savage world of political spin and smear, Franken is progressive, but not radical enough to alienate moderate, middle-of-the-road folks. He's intelligent and well-informed, but without a whiff of his fellow Al (Gore)'s overeducated snoot. Approachable and friendly, but moody enough to seem, well, human, Al F. emanates a likeable everyman quality. Like his archnemesis, President G.W. Bush, who snared the last two elections partly based on his "good old boy" affability, it's easy to imagine hanging out with Franken: grabbing a pint, yelling at network news, smoking a cigar.