My parents were really political. The news was very important in our home. We basically had dinner every night while watching the news, and then we'd discuss it with our parents.
The civil rights movement was very important in my house, and then Vietnam was very important 'cause there were two boys, so I came of age during a very heated political climate.
Minnesota has a proud tradition of having two Senators on the Ag committee - a tradition I'd like very much to continue.
Minnesotans know the difference between the job of satirist and the job of senator. And so do I.
It is my fondest wish that in the fullness of time, the American people will look back on the Franken presidency as something of a mixed bag and not as a complete disaster.
Demagoguery sells. And therefore radio stations will put it on. But that doesn't mean that you can't do something else and also make it sell. You know, when I look at an Ann Coulter or I look at a Rush or I look at a Sean Hannity, I think to myself, 'What kind of self-image do you have?'
I've spent my entire career being a satirist.
It's hard for a liberal to go on between Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, because it's like doing country music after hip-hop. I mean, just, the audience doesn't go from one to the other.
The reason I wrote political satire was because I thought it - politics - was important... that public policy was important. Then I transitioned into books, then into radio.
I'm a bit of a shill for the Clinton Administration, which has its perks. I'm invited to all the inaugural balls.
If I put myself on the ballot and even 50 people voted for me, it'd be a travesty.
Comedy to the Senate? Well, there certainly hasn't been a satirist or a political satirist who's done that. So, that really was uncharted territory during the campaign. But I think it's a good thing. Some people thought that it was an odd career arc, but to me it made absolute sense.
There's an appeal to the American sense of exceptionalism, that we're morally superior, as way to not be self-critical. I think that's a bit dangerous.
For 35 years, I was a writer. I wrote a lot of jokes. Some of them weren't funny. Some of them weren't appropriate. Some of them were downright offensive. I understand that.
When you win an election, what you really win is a chance to go to work for working families who need a voice in Minnesota.
There's plenty of room for humor in politics, God knows, but it's a serious business.
My dad loved comedians, especially George Jessel, and he loved Henny Youngman and Buddy Hackett.
I want to reclaim 'liberal.' I'm a liberal, and I think most Americans are liberals.
I'm the New York Jew who actually grew up in Minnesota.
I know I have an awful lot to learn from the people of Minnesota.
