GK: ........Al Franken is with us on the show today. Is he in his
dressing room?
SS: He was a minute ago.
GK: Did you give him a copy of my book?
SS: Yes.
GK: Did you?
SS I handed it to him and I said, --Here, this is for you.--
GK: Did he look at it?
SS: Yeah.
GK: I mean, did he open it and look at it?
SS: He opened it. He didn't sit down and start reading but he looked at it.
GK: I wonder if I went overboard on the inscription ----
SS What'd you write?
GK: I said, --To Al, with deepest respect--
SS: What's the problem?
GK: You don't think it's excessive?
SS No, not really.
GK: I should have written --cordially--. --With deepest respect-- is ---- I donno---You don't think it comes off as emotionally needy?
SS: Don't worry about it.
GK: So he looked at the book when you gave it to him? He opened it?
SS: He opened it. For a moment. He didn't pore over it. He looked at it
GK: Did he read anything?
SS: He glanced at it.
GK: Did he show any reaction? Did he smile?
SS He said, --Great.--
GK: Uh huh. Was that in response to a particular thing or more of a general comment?
SS: More of a general comment.
GK: So he wasn't looking at one part in particular?
SS I don't know.
GK: Did he chuckle?
SS: He just said, --Great-- and put it down on his dressing table.
GK: Uh huh
SS: That was about it.
GK: I bought a copy of his book today, just in case he doesn't give me a copy, but if he does, I kept the sales slip so I can return it.
SS Why don't you ask him to sign it for you?
GK: I don't want to put him on the spot. He's busy. On a big book tour. His book has a million copies in print. A million.
SS: That's a lot of books.
GK: Yeah.
SS: How many copies of yours in print?
GK: Two thousand. Twenty-five hundred. I forget. They've been thinking of printing another couple hundred.
SS: So people are buying your book -----
GK: It's sold well in the large-print edition, yes.
SS: What is Al going to do on the show?
GK: He said he wants to sing.
SS: He's not going to talk about his book?
GK: After you've sold that many books, I guess you don't need to.
SS: Sshhhh....here he comes now.
GK: Ladies and gentlemen, it's a real privilege and a great personal pleasure to welcome to our show, a fellow author and fellow performer and fellow Minnesotan, a guy with a brand-new book out that according to friends of mine who've read it, or read parts of it, is really a terrific read for a book of that sort, the author of LIES AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM: A FAIR AND BALANCED LOOK AT THE RIGHT, Mr. Al Franken........
AF: Thank you......Thanks so much. Great to be here and see you looking so good. So much better than when I was here the last time.
GK: Thank you.
AF: You've lost quite a bit of weight, haven't you.
GK: I lost some.
AF: You look younger.
GK: Thank you.
AF: You don't look a day over sixty.
GK: I've heard so much about your book from people I know who are big fans of yours and they say it's a wonderful book.
AF: Well, I didn't come here to talk about my book. Speaking of which, I saw the copy in your dressing room and I autographed it for you.
GK: Oh. Thanks.
AF: Here it is. Hope you enjoy it.
GK: I'm sure I will. Oh----- there. --Sincerely, Al Franken-- Thanks.
AF: You're welcome. And you have a book out too, right? Called HELP ME?
GK: It's called LOVE ME.
AF: Oh. I knew it was something like that. It's fiction, right?
GK: Yes.
AF: I've looked for it in bookstores and couldn't find it.
GK: It's in fiction. Between Kafka and William Kennedy.
AF: Oh.
GK: If they're out, they'd be glad to special order it.
AF: Usually I'm so busy signing books when I'm at a bookstore I don't have time to shop. You know. When you sit there for eight hours and sign three or four thousand copies, it's tiring. You do autographing at bookstores, right?
GK: Right.
AF: A friend of mine ran into you at your book signing in Denver. He said you were extremely generous with your time. He told me that he stood and talked with you for a couple of hours.
GK: Right. I remember him. I was so glad he came.
AF: Well, he thinks you're great.
GK: Did you have a book signing in Denver?
AF: Yeah. They held it at the stadium.
GK: I see.
AF: It was like a rally. There was a drum and bugle corps.
GK: That's great. Now you've done other things than write books, right?
AF: I've done comedy for years.
GK: Oh. That must've been a lot of fun for you.
AF: It still is.
GK: Somebody told me that you used to be involved in some sort of TV show on weekends.
AF: It was on Saturday night.
GK: Really.
AF: --Saturday Night Live--.
GK: I knew people who watched that. I heard it was good.
AF: You didn't watch it?
GK: I was working.
AF: So was I.
GK: Anyway it's good to have you and I'm sorry we ran out of time for you to sing your song but I hope you'll come back soon and do it then.
AF: I'm pretty busy with this book but I'll see if I can find an open date. Maybe in a couple years
GK: Thanks, Al Franken. (APPLAUSE, AND PLAY OFF)