LEWISTON – “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”
Stuart Smalley, aka Al Franken, is coming to Lewiston to perform a benefit show at Bates College.
Franken will appear at the Bates Chapel at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1. Tickets are $10. The show benefits Maine College Democrats.
Franken is a former “Saturday Night Live” star turned liberal comic political activist. On “SNL” he played Stuart Smalley, a man in several 12-step programs who offered affirmations to others.
Franken continued to gain fame by writing the best-selling books “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot” and “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.” Now, from noon to 3 p.m. weekdays, he hosts Air America talk radio, broadcast from New York City.
Asked in a phone interview Tuesday why he’s coming to Lewiston, Franken said, “because my sister-in-law and wife told me I was going there.”
Franken’s wife, Franni, grew up in Portland. Her sister, Carla Bryson, is chairwoman of the Cumberland County Democrats. Franken said he expects a lot of college parents will be in the Bates audience. Out of respect for non-Democrats, he plans to tone down his political commentary. “I’ll talk more about my college experience.”
When speaking privately to college Democrats Saturday, he’ll get more political.
His change from comedy writer to comedian to political activist was a gradual one, Franken said. He spent 15 years with “SNL,” both as an Emmy-winning writer and comedian. “I’m proud of the body of work we did on the show,” he said. There was always lots of political jokes, but the show was never about politics, he said.
After “SNL,” Franken felt freer to express his own political beliefs. “I left the show in 1995. The Gingrich revolution was emerging. Limbaugh was his mouthpiece. So I wrote, ‘Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations.’ That sort of changed who I was in people’s minds.”
The last book he wrote, “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right,” was an even larger success, Franken said. The research he did on that encouraged him to continue speaking out against the Bush administration and right-wing activists.
Before Air America started in January 2004, there were no progressive voices on talk radio. It was dominated by the right, Franken said. “There needed to be push-back. No one else was doing it.”
In his second year pushing back, Franken said he’s enjoying offering comedy, commentary and interviews on the radio. “It’s a gas,” he said. “It’s nutritional candy.”
Franken and his wife, Franni, will be in Portland the next day celebrating their wedding anniversary. When asked to appear at Bates the night before, Franken “was kind enough to lend himself to us,” said Anya Trundy, co-chair of the Maine College Democrat Convention and a Bowdoin student.
The Bates Chapel holds 600 people. William McElhinny, president of the Bates College Democrats, expects it to be full, but there will be overflow rooms available. “I’m a huge fan of Al Franken,” he said. “Our club has tried many times to get him here.”
To reserve tickets, people may go to www.mainecollegedems.com/alfranken; call Anya Trundy at 207-522-4068, or send e-mail to [email protected].
McElhinny and Trundy said they expect the show to last an hour; Franken will speak first, then take questions from the audience, they said.
“Good idea,” Franken said.
Who: Al Franken
What: Benefit show for Maine College Democrats
Where: Bates College Chapel, Lewiston
When: Saturday, Oct. 1, 6 p.m.
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