Alan Stuart Franken, known as Al Franken (born May 21, 1951), is a renowned American politician, comedian, actor, and writer. He served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. Franken first gained fame as a writer and performer on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he worked for three stints. He initially served as a writer for the show from 1975 to 1980 and returned from 1985 to 1995 as a writer and, briefly, a cast member.

After decades as an entertainer, Franken became a liberal political activist, hosting The Al Franken Show on Air America Radio. He was elected to the United States Senate in 2008 as the nominee of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL, an affiliate of the Democratic Party), defeating incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman by 312 votes out of nearly three million cast in one of the closest elections in the history of the Senate. He was reelected in 2014 with 53.2% of the vote over Republican challenger Mike McFadden. Franken resigned on January 2, 2018, following allegations of sexual misconduct against him.

In September 2019, Franken announced he would be hosting The Al Franken Show on Saturday mornings on SiriusXM radio, covering global affairs, politics, and entertainment. He is also the author of four #1 New York Times bestsellers, including Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them – A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, and Al Franken, Giant of the Senate. Franken has won five Emmy Awards for writing and producing and two Grammy Awards.

Franken continues to be active in political and social issues hosting The Al Franken Podcast and supporting Democrats through his political action committee, Midwest Values PAC.