Al Franken is smart enough, he’s liberal enough, and judging by the reactions from hundreds who saw him speak in Cambridge Monday night, people like him.
Franken kept the hundreds that had packed the First Parish Church laughing with his stinging parody of the political right and what he considers to be the hypocrisy of their actions.
Though well known for the affirmation-making character Stuart Smalley on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ the former SNL writer and entertainer was at the First Parish Church in Cambridge promoting his latest book of political satire, ‘Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.’
‘When Bush told us in 2000 that he was against nation-building, we didn’t realize he meant only our nation,’ Franken joked.
Though Franken first gained notoriety as one of SNL’s original writers, the Harvard University graduate has found the conservative right to be just as full of comedic potential.
Many see Franken as a liberal version of pundits like Rush Limbaugh, who have built no less loyal followings on the right. In fact, during the 90-minute presentation, Franken admitted he is currently in talks to help establish a ‘liberal radio network.’
At one point, Franken discussed both his amusement and his frustration over his understanding that the Bush White House has no significant policy-making department. Rather, Franken said, an majority of decisions are based on political considerations. And tax cuts seem to be the only economic policy option the Bush administration seems interested in implementing, he added.
Franken said current budget deficits are ironic, given some of the statements that have come out of the White House. He laughed that White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer once said, ‘There’s a new sheriff in town, and this one’s dedicated to fiscal discipline.’
In his book, Franken pays particular attention to FOX News personality Bill O’Reilly. The subtitle to Franken’s book is ‘A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right,’ a reference to FOX’s slogan ‘Real journalism; fair and balanced’ to which O’Reilly took particular exception.
FOX sued Franken over the alleged copyright infringement, but the judge deemed the case to be ‘wholly without merit.’ Franken told the audience O’Reilly had said he had sued Franken ‘to punish him.’ The lawsuit had the opposite effect, however, and the publicity dramatically helped sales of the book, Franken said.
His current book has been the top seller on Amazon.com for five straight weeks.
‘I’m really licking my wounds,’ Franken said sarcastically.
According to Franken, O’Reilly has also said Franken has ‘powerful forces’ behind him, which Franken jokingly attributed to the young Harvard students that helped with the research for the book.
Given Stuart Smalley’s propensity for hugs, it was only fitting that an audience member followed her question to him with a request for a ‘liberal hug,’ to which the audience cheered.
Suffolk University freshman Molly Starkdean said she was excited to see Franken because of his ability to articulate ‘great arguments of the left wing, which are lacking in the media.’
One of the other audience members asked Franken about his earlier comment about his plans to perform for troops in Iraq as a part of his fourth United Service Organizations tour, and questioned whether or not his partisan humor would go over well with those in the military.
‘Aren’t you afraid of ‘friendly fire?” she asked him.
‘I do different material,’ Franken deadpanned.
The Cambridge Forum, a weekly public affairs radio show broadcast from Harvard Square, sponsored the event.