Draft:Will Franken

Will Franken (born June 30 1973, Sedalia, Missouri) Will Franken is an American character comedian and satirist whose work has been highly acclaimed in both the USA and Europe. Reviewing his one-man show, Good Luck With It in The New York Times in 2005, Jason Zinoman wrote: What elevates Mr. Franken above your garden-variety comedian is an erudite wit and a highly developed sense of the absurd. Zinoman went on to say in summing up Franken's satire: What is constant is a disgust with the mediocrity of contemporary culture, suburban living, and the hypocrisy of well-meaning liberals. Born 30 June 1973

Occupation Satirist Character Comedian Absurdist

Early life and education Franken was born 30 June 1973 at Bothwell Regional Hospital to William Dale Franken, a construction worker, and Patricia Fern Fischer. He was enrolled in kindergarten at the small country school of Pettis County R-XII in nearby Dresden, Missouri. He attended this school for the first nine years of his education before graduating as valedictorian from his eighth grade class. From there he went on to attend Smith-Cotton High School and it was during these years that he made his first appearances on stage. In his sophomore year, he played the part of Krojack in a school production of Woody Allen's Don't Drink The Water. Around this time, he also co-wrote and performed in a sketch comedy review with two of his closest friends at a coffee house in Columbia Missouri. When he was sixteen he left home and worked various odd jobs, mostly fast food. With a few weeks to go before graduation he was expelled by school administrators for absence and behavioral problems. Franken went on to obtain a G.E.D. (General Equivalency Diploma) He was then granted a small scholarship which allowed him to attend State Fair Community College in Sedalia where he received an Associate's Degree in acting. He appeared in many department productions including William Inge's Bus Stop and Ayn Rand's The Night of January 16th. For his Bachelor's degree he enrolled at south-west Missouri State University, graduating summa cumlaude with a double-major in creative writing and philosophy. Staying on at SMSU, Franken switched majors to English Literature receiving a master's with a special focus on restoration and 18th century British satire. In addition to studying for his master's and teaching university level composition and world literature he also wrote and performed his earliest live comedy club sets at The Funny Bone Comedy Club in Springfield Missouri. On campus, Franken was known for his unorthodox approaches to university education. Having committed the entirety of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal to memory, Franken would be invited by other members of the English faculty to come and present the piece to their classes in full 18th century costume with an accompanying slide presentation. During his graduate studies, Franken was credited with uncovering some illuminating literary discrepancies between two extant copies of David Garrick's one act farce, Miss in Her Teens The spotlight which this discovery shone on the role of political censorship from the Lord Chamberlain's office in the 18th century, proved of such interest to those in the field that Franken's article about it was published in the Huntington Library Quarterly

Career Unsure about whether or not to continue with his doctorate, Franken instead went to New York to pursue his comedy career whilst juggling various odd jobs to keep himself afloat including a stint as a middle school teacher in Harlem whilst busking at night. Eventually he would be cast in some some experimental off-Broadway plays as well as commercial radio and television work. In 2002 Franken arrived in the Bay area of California. He lived in his car for three months at the Berkeley marina. During the day he divided his time between his two day jobs working at an art supply store before crossing the street to wash mannequin heads at CPR training company. He performed in folk music cafes and poetry slams often winning cash prizes. Very quickly Franken was in demand and selling out shows at venues such as The Marsh Theater, The Purple Onion in San Francisco and The Throckmorton Theater in Mill Valley. It was here that Franken first met Robin Williams who described Franken's performances as witnessing an id unchained and a master of illusion. In 2005 Franken was a recipient of two separate awards from competing weekly papers. The SF Weekly awarded him "Best Comedian" and a few weeks later, the SF Bay Guardian gave him the award for "Best Alternative to Psychedelic Drugs" This same year he also received his first national press from both the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.