Franken & Davis delighted in pushing the envelope when it came to matters of taste in TV comedy. As a commentator on the show's "Weekend Update" segment, Franken elicited hundreds of letters and calls of outrage from viewers when, in the course of a science essay about the supposed indestructibility of cockroaches, he various burned, impaled and dismembered a number of the insects. To Franken & Davis, comedy did not have to be pretty. They came to specialize in writing fairly elaborate historical sketches involving such unlikely subjects as leeches and other ghastly medieval medical cures (in the fourth season's "Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber" sketch starring Steve Martin) and a Roman "vomitorium" (in a fifth season outing with Burt Reynolds). The pair retained their youthful vulgarity even after achieving veteran status with sketches like "Dr. Shockley's House of Sperm.”

Franken & Davis joined the "SNL" team at the bottom its hierarchy, along with fellow apprentice Alan Zweibel, splitting one $350 apprentice salary between them. They quickly worked their way up to become full staff writers. Franken especially built up a behind-the-scenes reputation for stubborn aggressiveness in his wrangling with their mentor and producer, Lorne Michaels, to get their material on the show. The comedy duo soon began appearing in supporting roles in sketches, eventually gaining on-air segments of their own entitled "The Franken & Davis Show". One memorable installment had straight man Davis confiding to the audience that Franken had an inoperable brain tumor that made his comedy erratic. He encouraged them to laugh heartily nonetheless so as to encourage the dying comic.

As a team, Franken & Davis wrote for various projects supervised by Michaels including "The Paul Simon Special" (NBC, 1977), "Bob & Ray & Jane, Laraine & Gilda" (NBC, 1981) and "Steve Martin's Best Show Ever" (NBC, 1981). As an individual, Franken became increasingly prominent as a performer on "SNL". He began appearing frequently as a commentator on the "Weekend Update" segments in 1979-80. Franken gained a small footnote in TV comedy history when he announced that the "Me Decade" of the 70s would be followed by the "Al Franken Decade" in which every matter would be considered in terms of what it meant to "me, Al Franken." Somehow, this excessive self-regard proved endearing to many, but not to NBC execs when he delivered a blistering on-air attack on then prexy Fred Silverman in the infamous "Limo for the Lamo" tirade.

Franken & Davis joined the exodus of writers and performers who departed the show when Michaels left in 1980. Franken made his feature acting debut with a cameo in John Landis' "Trading Places" (1983) starring "SNL"'s Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. He and Davis joined the writing staff of Michaels' ill-fated prime time comedy-variety series "The New Show" (NBC, 1984). They ended the gig with an angry falling out with their boss. Nonetheless, when Michaels returned to executive produce a shaky "SNL" in 1985, he hired Franken & Davis to produce the show. Franken would stay on for the next decade even after his partnership with Davis dissolved. Off the show, the comedy team made their feature screenwriting and starring debut with the little-seen flop, "One More Saturday Night" (1986), produced by their friend Aykroyd.

Franken developed a reputation as a provocatively funny political satirist over the course of his long tenure with "SNL.” Riding on the press bus during the 1976 Presidential campaign, he even had a run-in with then-candidate Reagan. It was Franken who took the initiative to invite President Ford's press secretary Ron Nessen to host the show in a memorable early outing that featured savage attacks on the President courtesy of the physical comedy of Chevy Chase. By 1988, Franken was providing commentary for CNN at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. As the anchor (and a writer) for Comedy Central's "Indecision '92", Franken covered both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions (in NYC and Houston respectively) in 16 hours of programming spanning eight days. He also provided election eve coverage for the cable network.

Franken's appearances on "SNL" became less frequent but more refined. He favored more low-key character pieces over his youthful style of "shock" comedy. Franken's most memorable character in the early 90s was self-help junkie Stuart Smalley. Smalley was a good-hearted screw-up, hopelessly devoted to several 12-step recovery programs. Franken managed to lampoon the excesses of recovery without minimizing its virtues or denigrating its practitioners.

A member since 1987 of Al-Anon, a 12-Step support program for "co-dependent" family and friends of alcoholics, Franken was well-suited to co-executive produce and co-script the family drama "When a Man Loves a Woman" (1994) featuring Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia as an alcoholic woman and her co-dependent husband. He dealt with similar material in a more comic vein in the underperforming feature "Stuart Saves His Family" (1995). Though the film has its share of supporters, most reviewers were disconcerted by the mixture of satire and heavy family drama with a cast of accomplished dramatic performers. Franken fared better as the author of Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations, a collection of humorous political essays published by Delacorte in 1996. After a turn as an onscreen commentator (paired with conservative Ariana Huffington) for Comedy Central's "Politically Incorrect With Bill Mahr" during the 1996 presidential election, he headlined "Lateline" (1998-99), an NBC sitcom spoof of ABC's "Nightline.”

In 1999, Franken released his second politically-themed book, Why Not Me? The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency, a satirical and completely fictionalized account of his ousting of then-Vice President Al Gore from the Democratic ticket to become the 43rd President of the United States by running on the pledge to eliminate ATM fees. The book was well-received, but failed to reach the best-selling status of its predecessor. His next book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, managed to outdo his first political tome by targeting several prominent Republicans and conservatives, documenting the numerous lies and inaccuracies of Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity with his usual ironic aplomb. The book’s subtitle, A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, prompted FOX News to file a lawsuit claiming an alleged violation of trademark rights. FOX then tried to file an injunction to block sales of the book, but U.S. District Judge Denny Chin refused the request, citing that the network’s claim was “wholly without merit.” FOX dropped their lawsuit days later, while Franken’s book went on to top the New York Times best seller list.

On March 31, 2004, Franken took his first tentative steps into talk radio, a world that had previously been completely foreign to him. With the onslaught of right-wing talk radio dominating the airwaves for two decades, a small network of stations calling itself Air America Radio emerged to offer a much-needed liberal slant on politics. Franken was approached to become a host, giving the fledgling network a well-known face to plaster on billboards. Reluctant at first—Franken initially singed only a one-year deal, feeling he might not like hosting duties—he quickly became attuned to putting on a show five days a week. His show, originally called “The O’Franken Factor”—a satirical take on his arch-nemesis Bill O’Reilly’s FOX News show—proved to be the top ratings winner on Air America despite his neophyte status in the radio world. And while Air America had initial financial problems—former executives claimed they had three years of financing, when they only had three weeks—the network gained prominence, expanding to over 70 markets its first two years, with Franken’s show consistently on top of the ratings heap. A documentary, “Left of the Dial” (2005), detailing the first uncertain days of the network aired on HBO in early 2005. Meanwhile, Franken continued churning out political humor, publishing “The Truth (with Jokes)” in 2005, which focused on the fears and smears of the 2004 presidential campaign.