Supplied coke to John Belushi. Was in a 12 step program. Once an addict, always an addict, they say. His Stuart character was developed from people in his 12 step program.
"Al Franken: There was not as much cocaine as you would think on the premises. Yeah, a number of people got in trouble. But cocaine was used mainly just to stay up. There was a very undisciplined way of writing the show, which was staying up all night on Tuesday. We didn’t have the kind of hours that normal people have. And so there was a lot of waiting ‘til Tuesday night, and then going all night, and at two or three or four in the morning, doing some coke to stay up, as opposed to doing a whole bunch, and doing nitrous oxide, and laughing at stuff. People used to ask me about this and I’d always say, 'No, there was no coke. It’s impossible to do the kind of show we were doing and do drugs.' And so that was just a funny lie that I liked to tell. Kind of the opposite was true, unfortunately—for some people, it was impossible to do the show without drugs. Comedians and comedy writers and people in show business in general aren’t the most disciplined people, so the idea of putting the writing off until you had to, and then staying up all night, was an attractive one. And then having this drug that kept you awake in an enjoyable way was kind of tempting too. But I only did cocaine to stay awake to make sure nobody else did too much cocaine. That was the only reason I ever did it. Heh-heh." Source: Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests, Tom Shales and Jimmy the Writer, Inc, 2002, 104
Franken’s first cocaine purchase
"Dick Ebersol: My office was on the fourth floor. The writers basically never got there before one o’clock in the afternoon—ever. We had so little space. Herb Sargent was back in a corner. In the hallway to Herb’s office were like Franken and Davis and Alan Zweibel, the three apprentice writers. Al and Tom had bought their first-ever cocaine, and they had it all out on the desk. First time they were able to buy any. As apprentice writers, their pay was, I think $325 a week. So they have cocaine on the desk, they’re literally staring at it. I’m off in the distance. I’m in a tough place because I’m supposedly the executive, but I decided it wasn’t my job to play the policeman. Suddenly this figure comes roaring through the room. Unbeknownst to us at the time, he had a straw in his hand. He gets to the table, and he has half of that stuff up his nose by the time they knew who it was: Belushi. They didn’t know whether to be thrilled that Belushi had just done this to their coke or be absolutely decimated, because that represented about half the money they had in the world at that time." Source: Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests, Tom Shales and Jimmy the Writer, Inc, 2002, 104
Pot party at Franken’s apartment
"Neil Levy: Franken and Davis I think shared an apartment, and they threw a party so we could get together to watch Howard Cosell’s Saturday Night Live. It came on before us, which is why we weren’t allowed to call our show Saturday Night Live at first. We wanted to see this other Saturday Night. All the writers showed up, Michael O’Donoghue, Dan Aykroyd. They were passing around these joints. I had never smoked before, or not really gotten stoned, and I didn’t want to seem like 'the kid,' so I started smoking. This pot was from Africa or something. You didn’t even have to smoke it; you just looked at the joint and you were unconscious." Source: Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests, Tom Shales and Jimmy the Writer, Inc, 2002, 104
Splitzville for Franken and Davis
"Tom Davis, Writer: My breakup with Al was hardly just a matter of shaking hands and going separate ways. It was a really ugly divorce. It was just hideous. It was precipitated by someone her knew having to enter a twelve-step program. And they really had to. They had a serious problem. And then Al wanted me to go into a twelve-step program. And I didn’t want to go. And then I got married in ’89 and we were already drifting apart significantly. Because Al was into Al-Anon at that time. And the show kind of became a twelve-step comedy. I just wasn’t going to join the program. That was one of the issues. He thought I was an alcoholic and a drug addict. He called me a garden-variety alcoholic and drug addict. He did his share of my drugs. He did plenty of experiments. I don’t want to embarrass him now, because I don’t think he needs that for his current career or whatever, but it was common knowledge". Source: Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests, Tom Shales and Jimmy the Writer, Inc, 2002, 350-351
Franken Has Admitted To Using Cocaine, LSD, And Marijuana
“Al Franken, the former actor on 'Saturday Night Live' and DFL candidate for Coleman's Senate seat, used cocaine, LSD and marijuana while working on the late-night show, according to news reports. Franken's first stint on the show was in the late 1970s. In a Los Angeles Times article from 1994, Franken admitted to doing his ‘share of recreational drugs’ but said he never was addicted. ‘There'd be cocaine around the show and if it was [mid-week] at 3 in the morning and I wanted to finish something I was writing I'd do some,’ Franken said in the interview. A Washington Post story from February 1986 described a scene from a book about ‘Saturday Night Live’ that had Franken and co-writer Tom Davis using LSD while writing a sketch about former President Richard Nixon. In a 2006 Playboy interview, Franken admitted to doing cocaine when he was ‘young and irresponsible.’ Andy Barr, communications director for Franken's Senate campaign, declined to comment Wednesday on Franken's alleged use, saying Franken takes the issue of drug use seriously.” Source: Star Tribune, June 28, 2007
Former SNL Star Says Franken Always Smoking Pot
“Mr. Miller: One effect it had upon them was they all stopped doing drugs, at least for a few minutes, and some of them even stopped smoking pot, I think, which, you know, pot around the "Saturday Night Live" offices on the 17th floor was like Coca-Cola around a normal office. I remember Lorne showing me through once, and we opened the door to Tom Davis and Al Franken's office, and this cloud of smoke rolled out like, you know, fog over San Francisco Bay. It was marijuana smoke. And so after John's death, I think, though, they suddenly became aware that there could be dire consequences to all this recreational drug use.” Source: “Fresh Air,” WHYY, October 8, 2002
Posted by Minnesota Democrats Exposed at 2:39 PM
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