Ep. 488 — Al Franken

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

CNN

News

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2022

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Al Franken has been in the public eye for decades, first as a comedian and then as a senator from Minnesota. Since he resigned from the Senate in 2018 amid sexual harassment allegations—that he has denied—he has mostly stayed out of the spotlight. He talks to David about his transition from comedy to politics, his departure from the Senate and his subsequent battle with depression, whether he might run for office again, and his touring comedy show, “The Only Former U.S. Senator Currently on Tour Tour.” To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Music
0:06.0	And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axfiles with
0:12.5	your host, David Axelrod.
0:15.7	I sat down a few years ago for an Axfiles with then-Senator Al Franken, comedian-turned-politician,
0:24.8	but a lot has changed since then, he resigned under pressure from Democratic colleagues in
0:29.8	the Senate in 2017 over allegations of sexual harassment and episode and decision that
0:35.6	has been the source of controversy to this day.
0:38.6	Now he's a politician returned to comedy.
0:41.3	During the country with a highly-reviewed stand-up act of political satire, he came to the
0:46.2	Institute of Politics last week to perform some of that show, and we had a chance to sit
0:51.0	down and talk about the roadies traveled since we last spoke.
0:54.4	Here's that conversation.
0:56.4	Music
1:02.4	Al Franken, my friend, good to see you.
1:04.4	Good to see you.
1:05.4	Back on the road again with comedy.
1:08.0	That's right.
1:09.0	That's right.
1:10.0	I'm on the only former US Senator currently on tour tour.
1:15.8	And off tomorrow to Madison, Wisconsin, at the Barrymore Theater.
1:20.9	Nice.
1:21.9	Very, yeah.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from CNN, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of CNN and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.