14 seconds ago 2009-11-27T16:57:04-08:00
He may no longer be a working comic but Sen. Al Franken employed some classic comedic techniques at Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing.
He got chuckles in his first minute -- as all comics are trained to do -- by describing how he watched Perry Mason shows on television just like Sotomayor. Comedy 101: You have to get a good laugh quickly to win over the crowd. Once they like you, they laugh more easily the rest of the act.
And he won big laughs at the end with what comics call a callback, a decision to recall a subject that has already brought laughs in the hopes that it can score even bigger laughs again.
He asked Sotomayor why she could not recall specifics about the one case that Perry Mason lost.
"I know I should remember," Sotomayor answered.
And then Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, let out the zinger.
"Didn't the White House prepare you for that?" he said to loud laughter throughout the room, including from Sotomayor.
Later, when they resumed the hearing, Franken got big laughs when he offered to give his mic to Leahy when his was not working. People thought he was joking, but he was serious and switched seats with the chairman. And he set up another senator for a funny line: "That's the quickest rise of any senator in history."
-Larry Neumeister, AP federal court reporter (and trained comedian)
