Alan Stuart "Al" Franken (born May 21, 1951) is the junior (Seniority in the United States Senate) United States Senator (United States Senate) from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party (Democratic Party (United States)).

Franken first achieved prominence as a writer and performer for the television show Saturday Night Live (SNL) since its inception in 1975 before moving on to writing and acting in several films and TV shows. He then became a political commentator, author of five best-selling books, and host of a nationally syndicated radio show (The Al Franken Show) on Air America Radio.

Franken ran for U.S. Senator in 2008 and narrowly defeated incumbent Republican (Republican Party (United States)) Norm Coleman by 312 votes after a mandatory statewide manual recount. Coleman contested the outcome in court,cite weburl=title=Coleman asks high court to look again at rejected votesauthor=Jason Hoppinpublisher=St. Paul Pioneer Press date=2009-04-20accessdate=2009-04-22 but the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously upheld Frankens victory on June 30, 2009. Franken was sworn in to the Senate on July 7, 2009.