Al Franken

With one of the oddest career arcs in comedy history, Al Franken rose from minor standup and Saturday Night Live writer/bit player in the 1970s to Minnesota's Junior Senator by the end of the '00s. In between, the nebbishy comedian carved a niche as one of liberal America's most vocal humorists, while creating some classic SNL sketch characters, most notably neurotic self-help guru Stuart Smalley. Smalley, talk show host of a fictional new age show, went from cable to network TV through SNL. A book (by the name of his favorite Daily Affirmation "I'm good enough...") and a movi...