Franken remembers his family eating dinner while glued to the nightly news, watching historical moments sch as the Civil Rights Movement unfold.

Despite his future calling, Franken was far from being a class clown, excelling in his studies. And while neither of his parents had gone to college, higher education always loomed in Franken’s future.

His older brother was a “Sputnik child”—a science buff pushed into the field by the 1950s space race—who attended college at MIT. Franken expected to follow suit and enter the science field.

But Franken’s early interest in politics led him to work on Democratic presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey’s campaign, as well as other local campaigns in Minneapolis in high school.

David W. Griffin `73, Franken’s junior high school classmate and Harvard freshman year roommate, says that even in junior high school, Franken would lead the discussions of politics in civics class each week.

As he would do throughout his career, Franken was able to meld his interests in politics with comedy at an early age.

“He ran for class president our seventh grade year and his motto was ‘Never spit in a man’s face unless his moustache was on fire,’” Griffin says.

Franken, or “Honest Al” as he ran, won the election.

The Unconventional Path

When Franken entered Harvard in 1969, he continued his comedic antics. Griffin says he is glad he did not live with Franken after their first year because he would not have gotten any work done.

He particularly remembers playing a game they called “extreme frisbee,” in which he and Franken would throw frisbees at each other as hard as they could in their common room, with each wearing protective clothing.

And while Franken had set his academic sights on science in his first year, he quickly learned the field was not his strong suit, as revealed in a Harvard-sponsored psychology test on career aptitude.

“I took the test and scientist came in at dead last. Number one was camp counselor and jazz musician was second,” Franken says.

Comedian was not a career option on the test—but Franken decided to pursue the profession anyway.

But he did not follow the traditional routes into the entertainment business available at Harvard. He became neither a member of the Harvard Lampoon nor the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, both known for their connections in the entertainment industry.