Molested frequently as a child. As a teenager, more of the same. Molestation continued throughout his twenties and early thirties. Just last week, as a matter of fact, he was molested no less than four times by the same molester who had molested him as a child. Molestation for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's Will Franken. All of these zany real-life experiences find their way into Will's unique brand of comedy. Called by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as "The Nation's Premier Molested Comic" and hailed by the Village Voice as "Mr. Molestation", Will Franken reminds us all that sometimes the funniest things in life are the things that really happened! :)
Website
willfranken.com
Influences
Monty Python, Kids In The Hall, Lenny Bruce, Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, Shelly Berman, Lou Reed, Velvet Underground, Beatles, Kinks, Brother Theodore, William Blake, James Joyce, Flannery O'Connor, Winston Churchill, Orianna Fallaci, John Howard (Australian PM), & others to be determined at a future date. . .
Members
Arms, Legs, Body, Head, Genitals
TV Shows
World Stands Up (BBC America)
Films
Stanley Cuba, Nine Planets?, Regardless. . .
Albums
Getting Started: The Early Years, Periodic Forays Into The Medium Of Television, How To Induce A Nightmare, A Tale Of Two Factories, Letters And Numbers, Don. . ., A Funeral Causes, TNTNTN Or NTNTNT, The Final Thought Parts 1 and 2, Cup O’ Death, Outtakes, I Can’t Sleep, Putting Smiles On The Faces Of Dead People, Concert To Benefit The Victims Of My Father, That’s Not The Reason I’m Doing This, Turn On The Window, Good Morning And Good Night, Civilianophobia, Never Give Up The Surrender, Whose Dick Do I Gotta Suck Around Here To Get A Blowjob?, Pastorale, Texas Chainsaw Yuletide, Odometer Fraud, My Personal Space, The Big Black Stone Thing, Michael Krenford Is Not Alone, BANG!
Will Franken's Interests
Music
Beatles, Nuggets Compilations 1 and 2, Velvet Underground and solo Lou Reed up until and including "Street Hassle", The Kinks, David Bowie and the other good gods of glitter, Beethoven, Schubert's Impromptus, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath
"San Francisco's Patron Saint Of Misrule" - SF Weekly
"Best Comedian" - SF Weekly
"Best Alternative to Psychedelic Drugs" - SF Bay Guardian
"What elevates Mr. Franken above your garden-variety comedian is an erudite wit and a highly developed sense of the absurd" - The New York Times
Listen to Will's explosively popular podcast, Things We Did Before Reality.
Click Here to subscribe in iTunes.
Here is a recent attempt at animation titled "You Can't Change What You Are". (story and dialogue by Will Franken, drawing and animation by Nina Paley)
Who I'd like to meet: More people who sound like this:
Liberty above equality; individual above collective; freedoms of speech, choice, and thought above all else.
After hours spent in intense individual actualization sessions at the Groovy Self Empowerment Center, me and the boys go back to the crash pad and listen to hours of your 1-50 series of audio humor compilations. We got into a big ol' heated row concerning your rather controversial 90's era sketch titled, "Peace Corps." Some of us in the gang got to thinking that surely you must have had the Ted and Elaine "Airplane!" (Yes, and please don't call me Shirley!) flashbacks in mind when you wrote your routine. Is that so, master? Crotchety old Cendric says "bollocks!" and others have begun to side with him. I'm beginning to worry that this may split up the group. Desperately waiting for your cranky and obliquely worded answer...
Jelly Roll Mountain Jr., Requisition Officer for the Society of Carl Malden Impersonators Inc. Acid-Frenzy, Kansas. P.S. We all got the goddamn snow fever!!!
Great Show(s)Will!!It was awesome having you come home to The Onion. Don't let the Big Apple keep you away too long. Have fun brotha, and keep doing what you do! -AJ
I saw a friend of mine down at the Comedy Underground last night. He just got back from San Francisco. We were talking about comics that are/were from/in San Francisco. When I brought you up he told me that you are legend in the comedy scene there and everybody still talks about your shows.
Happy Birthday Will! I sent you a card and a little donation (sorry it couldn't be more, times are tough, esp. if you drive a car - be glad you don't need them in NYC). Anyway, we're thinking about you and hope all is well!
