Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American politician, comedian, writer, actor, and media personality who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. Franken first gained fame as a writer and performer on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he worked for three stints. He first served as a writer for the show from 1977 to 1980, followed by a short return in 1986, and then a third and final stint from 1988 to 1995, where he served as a writer and, briefly, a member of the cast. After decades as an entertainer, he became a prominent liberal political activist, hosting The Al Franken Show on Air America Radio. Franken was elected to the United States Senate in 2008 as the nominee of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL, an affiliate of the Democratic Party), defeating incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman by 312 votes out of nearly three million cast (a margin of just over 0.01%) in one of the closest elections in the history of the Senate. He was reelected in 2014 with 53.2% of the vote over Republican challenger Mike McFadden. Franken resigned on January 2, 2018, after allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him. In September 2019, Franken announced he would be hosting The Al Franken Show Saturday mornings on SiriusXM radio. It covers global affairs, politics, the 2020 presidential election, and entertainment. In September 2021, Franken began a 15-city live tour, his first since semi-retiring from comedy during his time in the Senate. Early life and education Franken was born in New York City to Joseph P. Franken (1908–1993), a printing salesman, and Phoebe Franken (née Kunst) (1918–2003), a real estate agent. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Germany; his maternal grandfather came from Grodno, Russian Empire; and his maternal grandmother's parents were also from the Russian Empire. Phoebe was from Allentown, Pennsylvania. Both of his parents were Jews, and Franken was raised in a Reform Jewish home and attended Temple Israel in Minneapolis. He has an older brother, Owen (b. circa 1946), who is a photojournalist, and his cousin Bob is a journalist for MSNBC. The Frankens moved to Albert Lea, Minnesota, when Al was four years old. His father opened a quilting factory, but it failed after two years. The family then moved to St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Franken graduated from