Satirist-commentator Al Franken will return to his TV roots next month when his radio show begins appearing on cable’s Sundance Channel.
Beginning Sept. 7, “The Al Franken Show,” heard live each weekday from noon to 3 p.m. Eastern on Air America Radio, will go on display in a one-hour edition on Sundance each night at 11:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m., executives at both networks told The Associated Press on Monday.
The “Franken” TV hour is currently scheduled through the November election, but all parties voiced hope the show would continue on Sundance indefinitely.
“It would be nice if it were a permanent home,” Franken said.
A writer-performer who helped launch NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” three decades ago, Franken in recent years has been more identified as a left-leaning political humorist whose best-selling books include “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.”
He became a talk-show host when Manhattan-based Air America signed on in March as a response to the mostly conservative world of talk radio. At Air America, Franken joined a roster of other liberal personalities including actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo, radio veteran Randi Rhodes and Lizz Winstead, a co-creator of “The Daily Show.”
The Air America network includes stations in 17 markets that include New York, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Anchorage, Alaska, and, starting next week, San Diego. It is also heard on the XM and Sirius satellite radio networks, as well as through the Internet on streaming audio.