The Very Big World of Stuart Smalley, According to Al Franken
“I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”
That was the mantra that self-help guru Stuart Smalley told himself at the end of every SNL sketch he starred in, sketches in which he hosted a cable access show called Daily Affirmations. While it was certainly played for laughs, the man who created and embodied Smalley — former Minnesota senator and SNL veteran Al Franken — says there’s more to him than you might assume at first.
At the very least, there’s no denying that Smalley had staying power. From 1991 to 1995, he was one of the most commonly recurring characters on SNL. He was so popular, in fact, that in 1995 he starred in the oft-forgotten movie Stuart Saves His Family, and today, he remains one of the most memorable SNL characters of the ‘90s.
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I recently caught up with Franken to talk about all things Stuart Smalley — from his inception, to the best advice he ever offered, to why Franken believes he has much deeper meaning than the typical SNL character.
Let’s start with the origin story of Stuart Smalley.
I used to go to Al-Anon pretty regularly. Al-Anon is for friends and relatives of alcoholics. I have a family member who is an alcoholic, and so, I’d go to meetings. I went to one that was very close to Rockefeller Center, and I got a lot out of it for myself and dealing with my situation. I learned a lot about myself that way.
I’d also listen to people, and I’d be amazed by who’d give me wisdom. There’d be people who I’d judge as not being smart, and then they’d say something that was kind of brilliant, or it made me realize something about myself.
That was the case when there was a guy somewhat like Stuart who said he was happy that a higher power put a new apartment in his life. That struck me as funny, and I thought of this guy as kind of ridiculous. Then, a couple of weeks later, he said something that was profoundly important to me, and it made me think a lot about myself. From that I said, “Oh, I get it, you can learn stuff from everyone.”
And so, I thought that was a character. I originally wrote it for Mike Myers, but we tried it in read-through and it didn’t work. I can’t remember if Lorne (Michaels) told me to try it myself, or I said that. Either way, there was no resistance to it; so I started doing Stuart.
What do you think worked about your version versus Myers’?
I had a three-dimensional character in my head because I had a model from the Al-Anon meeting.
Do you think Stuart was actually capable of helping people?
Oh yeah. We did characters on the show that had one characteristic, like the Widettes. They were a family that had really big butts. They were obviously one-dimensional, but I thought Stuart was three-dimensional. While watching the sketch, you could take something from it or just laugh at the insights into this guy who was so silly in so many ways. Still, the wisdom of the program would come through him.
You did a lot of them with guests and a lot without guests. Did you have a preference?
Not really. When I had a guest, I would try to incorporate the host. I did one of them where Rosie O’Donnell was Lorena Bobbitt and Myers played her husband. I had a great joke that Dave Attell added to. I turned to Mike and asked, “So how does it feel now?” and he said, “It itches.” Isn’t that a great joke?
It is. Any memories from the Michael Jordan one? It’s obviously considered the gold standard.
In dress, he laughed, and I told him, “Don’t laugh.” The point of this is that they’re playing it straight. He did crack up a teeny bit, but it was exactly the right amount. I realized what a pro he is. I was very impressed with him.
Do you think all the 12-step programs were helping Stuart?
Oh, they were helping him. He tried to take the wisdom of the program and share it with people.
What do you think about his best pieces of advice now? Stuff like, “It’s okay not to prepare for a show,” and “It’s okay if he doesn’t have a good show.”
He basically would tell himself not to beat himself up.
What about his daily affirmations? Like, “I deserve good things,” and “I’m an attractive person,” things like that.
Daily affirmations can be helpful for people, though I don’t actually do them. I really do believe in the stuff in the program, though.
Did you ever get any heat since maybe some could take it as making fun of the program?
Oh no. Actually, people in 12-step programs really love it.
Why do you think Stuart Saves His Family worked with critics but not with audiences?
It was marketed wrong. Paramount tried to market it as another Saturday Night Live movie, but it wasn’t. It was frustrating. Siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs up, but the week it came out they did a special show, so the week my movie came out — which had two thumbs up — nobody knew it had two thumbs up. One critic said the people who will like this movie won’t go see it, and people who see this movie won’t like it.
The daily affirmations where it’s right after the movie came out and he’s mad at the audience for not seeing the movie is hilarious.
Yeah, he was bitter. It wasn’t the normal Stuart.
Did Stuart help you in any way?
Absolutely. He made me understand the value of the program more.
