Before his stint as a U.S. senator, Al Franken accomplished a great deal in comedy: helping launch "Saturday Night Live," writing "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot," starring in his own sitcom, playing radio host and convincing us to love Stuart Smalley, gosh darn it.
But he only recently started hitting the road as a stand-up, a role that can trip up even the most agile of comic minds.
If Franken is struggling with his new endeavor at the age of 71, it doesn't show, at least not while filling in as guest host on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Tuesday and not during the first of his four nights at Acme Comedy Co.
On Wednesday, Franken gave the intimate audience at the Minneapolis club a sampling of different styles of comedy, like he was teaching a class on the history of humor. His Borscht Belt jokes, which included one he borrowed from Buddy Hackett, showed off impeccable timing. He had dirty one-liners that kill at office parties. He did dead-on impressions of Sens. Bernie Sanders and Charles Grassley. He even saluted ventriloquism by introducing his new friend, Petey, a puppet who exposed the darker side of his operator — and then threw up on the front row.
But most of his 75-minute set was dedicated to his political life in Washington. At times it felt like Acme was the backroom of a D.C. bar, with Franken presiding over a raucous night of gossip.
That image was strengthened by the fact that Sen. Amy Klobuchar was seated in the fourth row, a visit that Franken took full advantage of by coaxing reactions out of his former colleague. Klobuchar, who got a mighty round of applause before taking her seat, was more than game to play along. At one point, she even punctuated her own punchline by standing up and taking a bow.
Franken, who has sold-out shows at Acme through Saturday, talked openly about having to tone down the humor in Washington during his first term when even fellow Democrats like Sen. Dianne Feinstein were skeptical about a comedian in the Capitol. But he shared how he still found time to crack up his colleagues at retreats and in hallways, especially with a Willie Nelson joke that would surely make the country music troubadour howl with laughter.
There were some somber moments. He paid tribute to his wife, Franni, recounting her hardscrabble childhood and how the government made it possible for her family to elevate themselves into middle-class status.
