I recently applied for a Manhattan Community Board seat. Step two of the process was essentially a zoom virtual cattle call (described as an interview) of over 100 people shuffled in smaller breakout rooms to discuss different scenarios a community might have to address. It was clear there were those who had received received documents in advance and could prepare. There were also some technical issues. The breakout rooms basically became privileged discussions while the rest played catchup or were relegated to mute limbo. The ability to participate freely and fairly in the democratic process has become so tainted and gerrymandered that it’s any wonder why our society is cannibalizing its institutions.
Yep. I wanted to run for city council in my small city of 85,000 where Democrats are mostly in charge. I am friendly with our mayor so I scheduled a meeting to discuss my thoughts and potential candidacy in my district. BUT, big but, he knew from my participation at Democratic Committee meetings that I have some different ideas and disagreement on some issues and not be his rubber stamp. The very next day, his hand chosen candidate (a wealthy sycophant who had lots of money for a campaign), announced her candidacy. That was it for me. As a good soldier I even helped her get elected but after a few more meetings and nobody ever willing to voice disagreement, I was done.
Whoo, early Al Franken podcast. I need a great one for a change. Please run again Al Franken. Please run again Al Franken. Please run again Al Franken. Three times cause America needs you.
One of my childhood friends has a cranberry farm where he also grows weed. So the cranberries are a cover farm. And he is the guy who if you ask him what time is it he will tell you how to build a watch. So never ask him how he grows cranberries.
Build a Watch ??? Just jam a Stick in the ground. You know what else can go in the ground. Cranberries. And Weed. It's not all that complicated actually 😂
Fun fact: If you look at the definitions of ''sophistry'', ''sophism'', ''fallacy'', ''casuistry'' and ''spuriousness'' in a dictionary, there's always a picture of Ted Cruz beside them. I wonder why that is?
"I Think You Should Leave" is brilliant. Tim Robinson is spectacular. He is truly disturbed. 😂😂🤤😭😭🤣🤣😅 Sam Richardson is amazing. "Detroiters" was so perfect!
Thanks, Al. After 2 weeks of horror and impotent rage you've provided a brief respite. You and Patton are brilliant and I could listen to you guys chat forever. In fact I wish I could, but back to our hellscape reality. Thanks again.
@Jay Bee Well that's foolish and shortsighted. A president isn't a dictator (at least not yet.) Biden has to work with people whose sole purpose is to make sure NOTHING gets done. Especially if it hurts Americans. That way the uniformed blame him instead of the assholes that don't care about this country...only about retaining power.
Excellent conversation and very informative. (I m an anti-spry 69.) Thanks for yet another anecdote referencing Mr. Cruz and his little mendacity problem. You and Patton make a great duo.
I can't remember the last time I was as sad as I was when I could hear them wrapping up this podcast. I could have easily blown off everything I needed to do, just to hear a few hours of this.
I listen to comedy like most people listen to music. The live audience reaction is always memorable. The woman who I know peed herself hearing, “and my mother threw the snowball away”.
I clipped and posted an article at my work's bulletin board that detailed an accident on a local carpath (tollway).. I would like to further emphasize that this really happened.. A truck full of frozen chicken collided with a truck full of popping corn on the highway. The ensuing fire began to cook the chicken. Luckily no one was injured in the crash. (There was no mention of pop corn popping, but I made sure to include that caveat when bringing it up to coworkers)
@Jay Bee Except there was. Violently storming Congress to stop the Electoral Votes from being certified. Is in fact an insurrection. Just because they didn't succeed doesn't mean they didn't do it.
If these mass shootings started happening at country club golf courses and private schools how long do you think it would take to get some laws passed?
Puh-lease. That's like saying that the Rodney King rioters should have gotten on the church bus and driven to Bel Air or Beverly Hills. It was funny to hear Wall Street got out of work early for fear New Yorkers would come for them. Guilty consciences.
as a registered and bonded 'dead head' i got to say that the intro to the band at radio city was the most spot on and absolutely funny start to any show i was fortunate to attend .. there were so many 'inside' jokes that only those 'on the bus' would appreciate .. still to this day continues to crack me up ..
Patton, I've been showing my classes here in Fukushima, Japan Walter Mitty for several years now, and turned many students onto you. They love you, "Todd".
My uncle's name is Robert Townsend. He told me once that during the 90's or so, he sometimes would see where the hotel front desk staff was disappointed when they figure out that it wasn't the comedian Robert Townsend staying that night.
Ted Cruz reminds me of a corporate HR lackey who tells you everything is going to be alright after you tell them about corruption, bullying, theft, and all sorts of other horrible things that hurt the company... and then they fire YOU for pointing it out.
Al, you're a mensch. Thanks for not retreating into your personal life (though, God knows, no-one deserves that privilege more). If more folks were as engaged and informed as you, representative-democracy might actually work as intended.
well there goes my description of dumpster as, well, a dumpster -- one that's on fire and being carried away by a flood down to a road runner cartoon cliff where you can hear the whistle as it falls for a very, very long while, so long and so far down that you barely hear the impact and then there's this little puff of smoke.
47:36 Editor of Punch magazine, Malcolm Muggeridge, lamented the impossibility of satirizing the outrageous public figures of his day. “How can I make it funnier when the Archbishop of Canterbury jumps up during a screening of Godspell and shouts, long live God!(?) You can’t satirize that. You’re beaten. You’re defeated.”
There's no crazy camera tricks in (a part from the in camera special effects) in Ghostbusters but the film is gorgeous - the cinematography elevates that movie to much more than anything that say an Apatow film has done from an aesthetic point of view.
Dear AL. I can hardly talk about this. Since Toomy is retiring...how can we make sure Fetterman wins? Cruz is pretty scary. I wish you would run again.
Well, the assault weapons ban wasn't totally worthless, but it did very little to stop the proliferation of such weapons into the civilian population. To have any effect, you need to make the existing semi-auto weapons Class III and license and regulate the crap out of them. Then again, if Roe can be overturned, so can Heller.
28:02 Reminds me of A Perfect Circle concert, early 2000, the stage was overly dark most of the time ... I guess that's also something musicians can sorta/sometimes getaway with, but probably not comedians or speakers.
It's pretty ironic to hear someone compare modern society to Nazi Germany while also calling for the censorship of other people's art. You know who else was all about censorship? I'll give you a hint...his name rhymes with Shitler.
At 26:59 Al said he wants to see the first few rows of the audience and asked Patton what he tells the lighting staff. Patton said well lit audience gets self conscious and won't laugh. I wonder if they had considered night vision goggles? Too creepy?
*do you fucking know the difference?...* between the echo?... and feedback?... the echo... is back talk... buttz... with feedback... you getz somethingz....
*THE RULE I GREW UP ON:* _Whenever a Republican starts to complain about corruption, they are doing it themselves now._
Look up *Projection* in the dictionary and you should find *Republican* -- you won't, but you _should_ 🙄.
Always, as we are seeing today!!!
So very true!
Republicans could get a job in movie theaters as projectors.
Gaslight
Obstruct
Project
I recently applied for a Manhattan Community Board seat. Step two of the process was essentially a zoom virtual cattle call (described as an interview) of over 100 people shuffled in smaller breakout rooms to discuss different scenarios a community might have to address. It was clear there were those who had received received documents in advance and could prepare. There were also some technical issues. The breakout rooms basically became privileged discussions while the rest played catchup or were relegated to mute limbo.
The ability to participate freely and fairly in the democratic process has become so tainted and gerrymandered that it’s any wonder why our society is cannibalizing its institutions.
Yep. I wanted to run for city council in my small city of 85,000 where Democrats are mostly in charge. I am friendly with our mayor so I scheduled a meeting to discuss my thoughts and potential candidacy in my district. BUT, big but, he knew from my participation at Democratic Committee meetings that I have some different ideas and disagreement on some issues and not be his rubber stamp. The very next day, his hand chosen candidate (a wealthy sycophant who had lots of money for a campaign), announced her candidacy. That was it for me. As a good soldier I even helped her get elected but after a few more meetings and nobody ever willing to voice disagreement, I was done.
Whoo, early Al Franken podcast. I need a great one for a change.
Please run again Al Franken.
Please run again Al Franken.
Please run again Al Franken.
Three times cause America needs you.
He’ll be back in the senate in 2024 Clara.
Please run again Al Franken.
Please run again Al Franken.
Please run again Al Franken.
Love you Al, thank you, for everything you do.
One of my childhood friends has a cranberry farm where he also grows weed. So the cranberries are a cover farm. And he is the guy who if you ask him what time is it he will tell you how to build a watch. So never ask him how he grows cranberries.
Build a Watch ???
Just jam a Stick in the ground.
You know what else can go in the ground. Cranberries. And Weed.
It's not all that complicated actually 😂
Comedians are the truth tellers
Two of my favorite comedians and people in the world 😂 Classic!
Fun fact: If you look at the definitions of ''sophistry'', ''sophism'', ''fallacy'', ''casuistry'' and ''spuriousness'' in a dictionary,
there's always a picture of Ted Cruz beside them. I wonder why that is?
BINGO, Juice!!
So Ted Cruz isn’t good enough or smart enough, and gosh darn it people don’t like him?
My favorites together! Thank you both for this wonderful hour!💕
You forget, Pence is also on tour with his comedic hilarity. ;O)-
"I Think You Should Leave" is brilliant. Tim Robinson is spectacular. He is truly disturbed. 😂😂🤤😭😭🤣🤣😅 Sam Richardson is amazing. "Detroiters" was so perfect!
two of my favorite people.. Patton and Al~!
Laughing so hard about the confusing light schemes. It's the worst when you are too drunk to turn out the lights.
Thanks, Al. After 2 weeks of horror and impotent rage you've provided a brief respite. You and Patton are brilliant and I could listen to you guys chat forever. In fact I wish I could, but back to our hellscape reality. Thanks again.
@Jay Bee Well that's foolish and shortsighted. A president isn't a dictator (at least not yet.) Biden has to work with people whose sole purpose is to make sure NOTHING gets done. Especially if it hurts Americans. That way the uniformed blame him instead of the assholes that don't care about this country...only about retaining power.
What a great conversation by two of my favorite performers and citizens. Thanks so much.
Very good discussion Al and Patton. I'm just glad they still make patchouli incense so I can keep my mood elevated! I just want some #Peace! 🤘✌
I love wearing patchouli oil, John! Right on!
Great! 2 of the funniest people!
Excellent conversation and very informative. (I m an anti-spry 69.) Thanks for yet another anecdote referencing Mr. Cruz and his little mendacity problem. You and Patton make a great duo.
Al, stop being indignant, and run for office on your tour. Do us all a favor.
FRANKEN '24
I can't remember the last time I was as sad as I was when I could hear them wrapping up this podcast. I could have easily blown off everything I needed to do, just to hear a few hours of this.
I listen to comedy like most people listen to music. The live audience reaction is always memorable. The woman who I know peed herself hearing, “and my mother threw the snowball away”.
I clipped and posted an article at my work's bulletin board that detailed an accident on a local carpath (tollway)..
I would like to further emphasize that this really happened..
A truck full of frozen chicken collided with a truck full of popping corn on the highway. The ensuing fire began to cook the chicken. Luckily no one was injured in the crash. (There was no mention of pop corn popping, but I made sure to include that caveat when bringing it up to coworkers)
So good to take a break from war, famine, pestilence, and death.
"Constable Bob" lol
You guys are so great. Why is trumpeter still a thing, and not in jail for sedition ?
Merrick Garland, and his boss.
Because the Senate and Conservatives filled the Judiciary with Federalist Society activists judges.
@Jay Bee Except there was. Violently storming Congress to stop the Electoral Votes from being certified. Is in fact an insurrection. Just because they didn't succeed doesn't mean they didn't do it.
@Jay Bee So did Nixon. However it was trump that violated the Constitution several times.
@Jay Bee Jay bee, Putin has a free citizen for you in Russia, he would love to have you come over LOL,LOL,LOL,
If these mass shootings started happening at country club golf courses and private schools how long do you think it would take to get some laws passed?
Puh-lease. That's like saying that the Rodney King rioters should have gotten on the church bus and driven to Bel Air or Beverly Hills. It was funny to hear Wall Street got out of work early for fear New Yorkers would come for them. Guilty consciences.
They would be passed the next day.
Love Patton Oswalt, about as much as I love AL Franken, Man the two together ....what a treat/ Thanks
Thank you both.
as a registered and bonded 'dead head' i got to say that the intro to the band at radio city was the most spot on and absolutely funny start to any show i was fortunate to attend .. there were so many 'inside' jokes that only those 'on the bus' would appreciate .. still to this day continues to crack me up ..
It was hilariously accurate. 🤣
This was nice. Thank you.
Besides being hilarious himself, I swear Al has the BEST taste in fellow comedians.
Thank you, Senator. A good one...as always!
Patton, I've been showing my classes here in Fukushima, Japan Walter Mitty for several years now, and turned many students onto you. They love you, "Todd".
I love you both and I read your books. Respect
Love me some PO! He’s an OG. He’s OGPO.
Ok, just checked with my sister who is a traveling sales rep and she agreed with everything you said about the hotel rooms. Lol
My uncle's name is Robert Townsend. He told me once that during the 90's or so, he sometimes would see where the hotel front desk staff was disappointed when they figure out that it wasn't the comedian Robert Townsend staying that night.
Thank you Al. I do look forward to hear your words because you're so straight up!
I love Patton's stand-up material on religion. Super funny!!
Ted Cruz reminds me of a corporate HR lackey who tells you everything is going to be alright after you tell them about corruption, bullying, theft, and all sorts of other horrible things that hurt the company... and then they fire YOU for pointing it out.
Al, you're a mensch. Thanks for not retreating into your personal life (though, God knows, no-one deserves that privilege more). If more folks were as engaged and informed as you, representative-democracy might actually work as intended.
Two intelligent men please America wake up
Was at Radio city. I didn't boo. I was too stoned couldn't manage it.
Oh by the way, I'll never see Bill Maher again because it was a greatest HBO Hits show. Besides the fact Maher turned into Dennis Miller
Two person comedy: Sklar Brothers
Whenever I hear the name Pat Toomey I often think of the show
Laughin', as in sock it Pat Toomey.
delightful way to spend a sunday. thanks, guys!
🤣 "No I didn't." PERFECT DELIVERY!
well there goes my description of dumpster as, well, a dumpster -- one that's on fire and being carried away by a flood down to a road runner cartoon cliff where you can hear the whistle as it falls for a very, very long while, so long and so far down that you barely hear the impact and then there's this little puff of smoke.
❤ AL Franen. ❤ Patton Oswald
THE GUY FROM MINECRAFT STORY MODE!!!!
i thought nobody would remember that
Wow, what a wonderful Podcast
double thumbs up for Patton ,,he is a rock star..I had to edit this to say he is a fucking rock star
47:36 Editor of Punch magazine, Malcolm Muggeridge, lamented the impossibility of satirizing the outrageous public figures of his day. “How can I make it funnier when the Archbishop of Canterbury jumps up during a screening of Godspell and shouts, long live God!(?) You can’t satirize that. You’re beaten. You’re defeated.”
There's no crazy camera tricks in (a part from the in camera special effects) in Ghostbusters but the film is gorgeous - the cinematography elevates that movie to much more than anything that say an Apatow film has done from an aesthetic point of view.
I don't know why I laughed when Al got to the Ted Cruz punch line in which he lies. I should have wept for my country.
Quibblepants!
IIRC, early Monty Python had bare bones sets because they could only use what they could find in the BBC set/props department.
Dear AL. I can hardly talk about this. Since Toomy is retiring...how can we make sure Fetterman wins? Cruz is pretty scary. I wish you would run again.
That was a blast, I hope ya'll had a great dinner as well!
You all need to talk about Ecosia they are a search engine that plants trees
When I go down to the cellar, it's to clean out the litter box. Sometimes, the cat hits the mark but when she misses, she really misses.
Well, the assault weapons ban wasn't totally worthless, but it did very little to stop the proliferation of such weapons into the civilian population. To have any effect, you need to make the existing semi-auto weapons Class III and license and regulate the crap out of them. Then again, if Roe can be overturned, so can Heller.
Love the Leo Kottke opening music.
Ted Cruz gets owned left, right, and center lol
Good one.
David Chappelle sends his love
Love Jones cut their teeth at the Largo club in the nineties.
i read an article discussing if Star Trek Voyager was re-cast, that Patton Oswalt would make a good Neelix character. i had to agree.
28:02 Reminds me of A Perfect Circle concert, early 2000, the stage was overly dark most of the time ... I guess that's also something musicians can sorta/sometimes getaway with, but probably not comedians or speakers.
I’m scared my grandchildren will be slaughtered at school too, or anywhere!
They say gun sales go up after an infamous school shooting, so maybe we should stop talking about it so sales won't keep happening?
Blake. Sahr. ❤️
Former Senator should COME BACK to politics!
I always have a problem with the temperature in the room. You're either freezing or baking. I hate staying in hotels.
HAPPY!
Great interview. But bittersweet. Too much truth about how we got here is kind of horrifying.
Oh sky cake...why must you be soooo delicious.
This interview better have sophistry ,that's all I'm saying...
How come he is orange and not brown?
More podcasts with Ol road dogs!
It's pretty ironic to hear someone compare modern society to Nazi Germany while also calling for the censorship of other people's art. You know who else was all about censorship? I'll give you a hint...his name rhymes with Shitler.
Did anyone notice that Patton is not only married, he's also engaged to be married? ;O)-
@ 57:19 Josef Goebbels actually had a clue about why comedy worked for his enemies but not for him amd his friends.
I want to hear yr comments on the shootings
TOO SHORT! I could listen to these two all day long. And I believe they could talk all day long, so why not just leave the mic on?
🇨🇦❤️😂
*Really???...are you guys kidding???...You know this is youtube ...Not sirius radio or spotify!!!...REALLY???...lol*
Mike Franken to defeat Grassley
June 7 primary. AL JOIN US
December of 2000: Brooks Brothers riots in Florida. Many future criminals were there.
At 26:59 Al said he wants to see the first few rows of the audience and asked Patton what he tells the lighting staff. Patton said well lit audience gets self conscious and won't laugh. I wonder if they had considered night vision goggles? Too creepy?
9:05
About
*do you fucking know the difference?...* between the echo?... and feedback?... the echo... is back talk... buttz... with feedback... you getz somethingz....
I love Al, but he always sounds a bit sloshed. 🍹🍹🍹
I've got to go ... hope they don't say anything funny after I leave the stream. It's time for the Plumbers Talk Plumbing Stuff podcast. See ya.
In a post democratic world youll have lotsa time with your grandkids just not sure why youre stepping away now. Ill give it another week.
How ironic, more Republican projection. Lyin’ Ted engages in his own sophistry & fallacious arguments with intent to deceive today! Thanks Al!
Way to many ads
break up your hour long segments into 5 minutes and watch your views soar
working the 'system' perhaps but what a drag for continuity ....
God no. Chances are I'm going to see a 10-15 version of this next week and get 5 minutes in before I realize I saw the whole thing.
You dropped the guy’s guitar?!!!! They’re not cheap! Not like your mic that under a $100. A guitar is between $2000 to priceless.
Instead of smashing guitars in protest over high prices, The Who should have invested in an electric guitar company.