Al Franken's new memoir marries comedy and politics ... finally

Al Franken has a new book, and paints the picture of a new senator trying to be taken seriously while realizing he needs to embrace "the funny."

The Democratic Senator's memoir is titled "Al Franken: Giant of The Senate." He joined MPR News host Tom Weber to talk about his early forays into comedy, his work on Saturday Night Live and his attempts to suppress his humor as an elected official.

Franken on his first improv show

Franken would attend comedy shows regularly at Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis while he was in high school.

After getting to know Riggs and the cast he and his friend — and future comedy partner — Tom Davis landed their own show at the venue.

"He was the first person to put us on a public stage," Franken said.

Franken spoke about throwing up three times backstage one night while performing with a migraine. The duo received a standing ovation for their efforts, even though the audience could tell something was wrong. Riggs came back stage to applaud the performers and Davis asked, "what would happen if Al had thrown up on stage?"

"They all would have left," Riggs responded.

On his time with SNL

When Franken ran for the U.S. Senate the first time, his work on Saturday Night Live was used as fuel for his opponent's attack ads.

Franken said his comedy was taken out of context.

"A lot of what you do in satire is irony or hyperbole and without the context it can look pretty bad," said Franken.

When Franken was elected, he said he "made it a point to not be funny" so that his constituents would take him seriously.

"I came to D.C. to be a workhorse," he said.

Surprisingly, what didn't come back to haunt him during that campaign was his drug use.

"I used to joke that [I] did enough coke to stay awake to make sure no one else did too much coke," Franken said.

He's grateful he didn't walk away with the addiction many of his fellow comedians battled with.

On bringing the humor back

"If we don't honor our treaties, we should give you all your land back," Franken recalls saying to an amused crowd at the Red Lake Reservation during his first powwow as a senator.

He didn't plan on joking around because he wanted to show he was serious about his new, important job. But advisers and friends, such as state Rep. Peggy Flanagan, DFL-St. Louis Park, said his audience was expecting a little bit of humor.

"She was right," he said.

To hear Sen. Al Franken talk about the American Health Care Act and other current issues, use the audio player above. Franken also gave a longer interview on the radio show Fresh Air .

Correction (May 31, 2017): The audio that was originally posted with this story misidentified U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. The audio has been updated.