Cranky Al Franken, Matt Lauer, NBC's Today Show, Michael Smercomish

FRANKEN: 'SCREW YOU!'

On National Television, Grumpy, Testy Al Lets Loose





Memo to network producers: avoid booking Al Franken in the early morning hours. Before a certain point, he's a certifiable grump.

Who knows, maybe he didn't get his Wheaties yesterday.

Whatever the reason, Al made a serious mistake appearing with Matt Lauer on NBC's Today Show. Paired with WPHT-AM/Philly's Michael Smercomish, Mr. Smalley had little to say about the topics at hand, including ongoing pro-illegal immigration marches sweeping the West Coast.

Thanks to Ian at Expose The Left for making the video available, while a transcript exists at Scott Whitlock's Newsbusters blog. Hat tip: Scott Johnson at Powerline.

Is this what happens when Mr. Billy ($625,000 per annum) Kimball is fast asleep in his hotel room? Was the remaining Franken/Harvard entourage not available for prop-up duties?

For Al, the end result of this mess was career-damaging: he lashed out at Smercomish, saying "screw you" on national television. Who knew the Today Show was unsafe to watch with one's children?


While Franken brought nothing but misery to NBC, despite Lauer's predictable praise for Air America (which Al oddly didn't address), Smercomish was in top form.

Bringing facts and timely information to the segment, he won the illegal immigration debate by default.

If only NBC's liberals were interested in listening to reason!


From the NewsBusters transcript (with Whitlock's dead-on comments):

Lauer: "Al Franken is host of the Al Franken show on Air America radio, celebrating a second anniversary today, so congratulations."

The Today host allowed Franken to take a number of cheap shots at the administration. He even obliged by throwing the radio host some softballs:

Lauer: "Andrew Card, five and a half years as chief of staff, out. Was he shown the door? And if so, is change good?"

Franken: "He was exhausted. I think he's been exhausted since, pretty much, since day one...You know, they point to lousy decisions made recently, but they've been making lousy decisions since, pretty much since- I think they just stayed up too late at the first inaugural."

Franken went on to say that Josh Bolten taking over as chief of staff would do no good because he’s "even more exhausted." He then added:

Franken: "I think they should just fire these guys in order of exhaustion. I think Rumsfeld is looking real tired."

That last line drew a laugh from Lauer and the Today set. However, Mr. Franken, who felt free to dish insults out, became very testy when Michael Smerconish noted how somber the author of "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot" seemed:

Smerconish: "Yeah, Al sounds a little exhausted to me this morning."

Franken: "It's 4:11AM! It's four in the morning here....Screw you! I got up at four in the morning."

Franken, who was appearing via remote from California and thus in a different time zone,couldn’t let the issue go:

Franken: "I got up at 4AM, Michael! Four friggen AM!"

Hey Al: welcome to the media biz! Are you new to this?

Interviews at crazy hours are par for the course. It's not a reason to lash out on national television.

Maybe Al gets so darn much free publicity these days, he just doesn't appreciate it.

Because morning shows usually have a "fun" element to them, Franken's anger seemed especially jarring.

And most baffling is why NBC staffers found Franken's Rumsfeld "joke" so funny.

Even with Lauer's fawning, softball questions and hand-holding, Franken still bombed, creating a heavy tune-out urge.

Quite an accomplishment, Al! Wonder if NBC will be crazy enough to try this again? We think that's unlikely.


Also at NewsBusters: Tim Graham on Air America's second birthday. And, a big thanks to sites linking to yesterday's Radio Equalizer piece on that very occasion, including Viking Pundit, memeorandum, The Truth Laid Bear, Ace Of Spades and several others not yet known to us.

HELP: Press freedom is under attack in Canada. Please help the Western Standard fend off Islamofascism.

Welcome Little Green Footballs, Captain's Quarters, Allah Pundit/Michelle Malkin, Powerline and other readers!

Your Amazon orders that begin with clicks here, regardless of your final purchases, are vital to supporting this site's efforts. Thanks again!

DRS, NBC Spin: David A Lunde for the Radio Equalizer