I caught Al Franken on his book tour at Parish Church in Harvard Square on Monday. He was delightful and charming. The church was filled beyond capacity, so people without chairs got the boot. Franken spoke for about 45 - 60 minutes and took questions for about the same. He then spent two hours signing books. I got to meet some of the other members of TeamFranken, the research team of Harvard students that helped him on Lies. I was there until the end.
When it was my turn to get met him, Franken appeared to be a tired and broken man. Clearly, it was past his bedtime and he just wanted to sleep. Still, he must of known that the path to slumber lay through me, so he was good natured about signed both books I had brought (Lies and Rush Limbaugh). I told him I enjoyed Why Not Me?, the fictional story of his 2000 run for President. Because I was pretty tired, I called the book Why me?. When Franken corrected me, I rejoined with “Right, Why Me is the story of my life.” To his credit Franken managed a belly laugh at that, which shows how much of a professional he is.
An edited version of Franken’s talk, sponsored by the Cambridge Forum, will appear on NPR at some point. Also, it will appear on the web (I sat in back of the sound guy).