Posted on 03/31/2004 2:13:57 PM PST by veronica
History will record that it was the celebrated author, comedian and Hollywood hobnobber Al Franken who sounded most ill at ease in the early going of his new radio adventure, while the kid from the provinces, former Minnesota Public Radio host Katherine Lanpher shined.
“The O’Franken Factor”, the marquee program of the new liberal network, Air America Radio, staring Minnesotans Franken and Lanpher debuted this morning. (It is heard locally, and temporarily, on WMNN 1330-AM from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays.) The first hour provided dollops of palpable, opening night jitters, satirical swagger and old-fashioned partisan invective in pretty much equal measure.
Franken, the “Saturday Night Live” alumus and conservative-bashing best-selling author of “Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot” and “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them,” was clearly feeling the pressure of being the tent-pole of the much-publicized new network. His first few minutes, reading a script promising, “A battle for truth, justice and indeed America itself … not to be too grandiose,” was funny enough, but was read with enough tension in his voice you’d have looked away in embarrassment were he performing stand-up in front of you.
Fortunately, Franken acknowledged his unfamiliarity with the tricks of the talk radio trade and the value he places on Lanpher, who sounded reassuringly poised. At least for the time being, Lanpher is cast in a kind of Mother Hen/Voice of Reason role. She kept Franken on his cues, introduced and re-ID’d guests and cut to commercials. Happily, her trademark laugh, so problematic for MPR, appears to have been unfettered here.
By the second hour, when former 9/11 Commission member Bob Kerrey came on, Franken found a comfort level, although the interview itself was a slightly more informal version of what you’d get on public radio.
The show flashed more of the comic colors and tone the network has been promising when filmmaker-provocateur Michael Moore arrived. The sound of Franken and Lanpher trying to embarrass Moore into publicly apologizing to former Vice President Al Gore, stifling a laugh on the phone, hit the kind of mischievous-insiders tone the network’s listeners are probably eager to hear.
Sen. Hillary Clinton is scheduled for Thursday’s show. Former Bush administration counter terrorism expert Richard Clarke will be a guest on Friday
BWWWHAAAHHHAAAAHHAAA!
The only listeners he had were the critics so they could write an article. XM radio subscribers ain't payin for that crap either. They are listening to hip hop and rap.
I always thought that the Stuart Smalley stuff was due to Franken's experiences with his own family. It wasn't. Franken started going to Al-Anon meetings to help his comic partner Tom Davis, who apparently had a substance abuse problem.
You're right. I forgot.
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