Wendy R. Williams Talks with Al Franken, Chris Hegedus and Nick Doob Al Franken: God Spoke Press Roundtable August 29, 2006 New York City Written and Photographed by Wendy R. Williams

Al Franken: God Spoke follows comedian and political activist Al Franken as he tours to promote his new book (“Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right”), starts the radio station Air America, covers the 2004 election for Air America, all the way through to Franken’s decision to explore running for US Senator from Minnesota against the now incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman (the seat formerly held by the now deceased Senator Paul Wellstone). The documentary was created by Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus, the creators of documentaries such as The War Room, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, and Moon Over Broadway.

The Interview with Al Franken

What it was like to have the filmmakers follow you around?

Al Franken: I worried about how I would look and then I forgot they were there. But after I saw the film, I thought, “Hey, I’m a great guy.”

Are you going to run for the United States Senate from Minnesota?

Al Franken: I am thinking about it and doing the things people do when they contemplate running for office. I have formed a PAC and I give to other Democratic candidates. I also travel the state, going to barbeques, meeting activists and talking to people.

Tell us about your radio show.

Al Franken: It is a three hour a day show and I am using it as a learning experience; I read a lot and do a lot of research.

Can you picture yourself in office?

Al Franken: Yes.

What would it like to be a Senator?

Al Franken: Great job, bad life. But is it about me or about doing something for society? If it is about me, it is a terrible choice. But if it is about doing good for people…? [But it is a hard job] with guys like Bradley quitting and that other guy becoming the DA on Law and Order.

What would you do if you were elected?

Al Franken: The first thing I would do [if it isn’t presently in the hopper] is introduce health care legislation that would cover every kid in America. The things I have heard about since I have been traveling Minnesota; there is this girl whose parents make just enough to not qualify for Minnesota’s free health insurance but they also can’t afford to buy insurance. She is seventeen years old and has lupus and she told her parents to not buy her medicine because they had other children and cannot afford it. She is now in the hospital with [what might be] renal failure and she is on dialysis and may always have to be on dialysis. This is wrong and this is stupid. The government has cut money for kids with developmental disabilities, but has invested more in prisons.

What kind of Democrat are you?

Al Franken: Hey, I traveled the country begging people not to vote for Nader. They would say things like, “There is no difference between Bush and Kerry.” No difference between Bush and Kerry!

What do you think about the Robert F. Kennedy article in Rolling Stone about voter fraud in Ohio entitled “Was the 2004 Election Stolen?”

Al Franken: I don’t want to scare people away from voting because of the possibility of voter fraud.

But how can we fix this voter fraud problem?

Al Franken: You fix it by winning with a big enough margins that it won’t matter.

Are you afraid the media will bring up your past?

Al Franken: I’m not worried about that. There were drugs at Saturday Night Live. I am trying to tone it down and not tell certain jokes to certain people. People have the right to expect me to not be self indulgent.

How do you feel about the fact that Ann Coulter refused to give filmmakers the rights to use a segment of the documentary where Ann and Al are being interviewed and asked which historical person they would like to be and Ann replied that she would like to be FDR and then she would not institute the New Deal. Al then trumped her by saying that he would like to be Hitler and not cause the Holocaust or institute World War II. Can you talk to her [Ann Coulter] about letting you use that footage?

Al Franken: No. I’m heartsick about it but she [Ann Coulter] is awful and we don’t get along at all.

What do you think is the main difference between Democrats and Republicans?

Al Franken: Democrats run a better government. Republicans are all about cronyism. One of the reasons that Katrina was such a disaster is that Michael Brown was given the FEMA job so he could funnel contracts to his old college room mate and former FEMA head Joe Allbaugh. Republicans run on the slogan that the government does not work and then they get in there and prove it.

How and when did you became politically active?

Al Franken: I co-wrote a lot of the political skits for Saturday Night Live but SNL was not a political show. Then when I left SNL in 1995 I wanted to speak out against the Gingrich’s dismantling of the safety net.

How do you think we can take our finger out of the dam in Iraq without resulting in a bloodbath?

Al Franken: There needs to be a lot more study and thought but so far I am impressed with the proposal in Peter W. Galbraith’s “The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End.” Iraq is an artificial country comprised of Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis who have hated each other for thousand of years. It probably needs to be partitioned and the Sunnis need access to some oil revenue. And we need to retreat to Kurdistan where at least they tolerate us. But this needs a lot more study and talk among the Iraqis because it is their country and should be their decision. It needs to be argued by the people who need to solve it.

Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus

The Interview with Chris Hegedus and Nick Doob

There is an enormous amount of footage of Al Franken. What was it like going through all of that?

Nick Doob: I don’t think you can ever have too much footage, especially after you get the smell of what you want to do, what your film is about. First you cast a wide net and then you see where it is beginning to take shape.

How do you decide to make a film and to what do you attribute the recent success of documentaries?

Nick: We have been working together a long time. With digital technology you can decide to make a movie in an afternoon and go make it. The hard part is raising the money to distribute it, but it is much easier than five years ago because of the success of so many documentaries. And also because of the success of reality television.

Chris Hegedus: Who would have thought that a movie about some penguins...

Why did you decide to make this particular documentary?

Chris Hegedus: We had just lost the Al Sharpton film and we became interested in the law suit (Fox sued Franken for defamation), but that suit only lasted one day. So we decided to film his book tour. Like a lot of our projects, it sort of evolved. It was not like The War Room which had a beginning, middle and end.

We knew we were going through the elections but when Kerry lost that was not the end. In a way the election was a transformative time. That was when Franken decided to move back to Minnesota.

Nick Doob: The fact that Kerry lost was actually good for the film. It was disastrous for us personally and disastrous for the country, but it changed the film.

What do you think about the Robert F. Kennedy article in Rolling Stone about voter fraud in Ohio entitled “Was the 2004 Election Stolen?”

Nick Doob: We just could not take that on with this film.

Will there be a nasty fight if Franken does indeed decide to run for the Senate in Minnesota?

Nick Doob: Sure there will be; they will use everything against him.

How was it to work with Al Franken?

Chris Hegedus: He could not have been more hands off. [And later] Al was not making our movie for us. He just lived his life and allowed us to film it. The only limitations were what we did not think to ask for.

Many thanks to Al Franken, Chris Hegedus and Nick Doob for agreeing to talk to www.newyorkcool.com.