“and A LOUSY ONE AT THAT.”
That’s the interesting point. I never saw anything he did that was even remotely funny. The man in a baby diaper routine was disgusting. The character Stuart was so bad I turned it off.
Franken was highly disliked by most of the SNL staff and talent. He’s since shown himself to be unstable with outbursts that would make Alec Baldwin blush. His entire shtick is based on being a wry, deadpan commentator. In the 70s, that was the thing as the Groundlings and Second City alumni created the “I’m too cool to think what you’re doing is cool” style of humor. That form of comedy has passed. Even re-runs of SNL aren’t nearly as funny as we remember them to be. Franken was always better as part of a writing team than he ever has been on his own.