Newsmakers meet New Yorkers as host Brian Lehrer and his guests take on the issues dominating conversation in New York and around the world. This daily program from WNYC Studios cuts through the usual talk radio punditry and brings a smart, humane approach to the day's events and what matters most in local and national politics, our own communities and our lives. WNYC Studios is a listener-supported producer of other leading podcasts including Radiolab, On the Media, Death, Sex & Money, Nancy, and many others.
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Al Franken: From SNL to the U.S. Senate
Al Franken, U.S. Senator (D MN) former comedy writer and actor, and the author of Al Franken, Giant of the Senate talks about his improbable path from Saturday Night Live to the U.S. Senate. Plus the latest on the news on the health care bill and where things are with Trump world and the Russia investigation.
On his childhood Franken says, "I felt like the luckiest kid in the world," growing up in suburban Minnesota, part of the middle class. It's what helped him decide to be a Democrat. But people don't feel that way anymore. "In America, they tell you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. But first you have to have the boots." And when it came to his political career, Franken has made a point of not being funny. How did he make the switch? With the help of "the de-humanizer, an Israeli-made machine that de-contextualized and took out the irony of every thing I did."