Video News

Dallas Videofest to bestow award on comedian and ex-Senator Al Franken

Al Franken

Photo courtesy of Al Franken

For 2022, Dallas VideoFest will present its coveted comedy award to comedian and former US Senator Al Franken, of Saturday Night Live fame.

Franken will receive the Ernie Kovacs Award on Thursday September 22 at 7:30 pm, at Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff at 231 W. Jefferson Blvd.

The Ernie Kovacs Award recognizes television's greatest visionaries, and has been a key component of the Dallas VideoFest since the Festival began in 1987. With the festival currently retired, The Ernie Kovacs Award is now the primary component.

Franken will attend to receive the award from Dallas VideoFest founder Bart Weiss; Joshua Mills, son of Edie Adams and keeper of the Kovacs flame, will also attend.

Immediately following the award presentation, DVF will show the 2006 documentary, Al Franken: God Spoke. There'll also be a VIP meet-and-greet reception with Franken at Oak Cliff Cultural Center. Tickets can be purchases at VideoFest.org.

Al Franken the man the genius
Throughout the 15 years Franken was associated with Saturday Night Live, starting with the very first show in 1975, he wrote, performed in, and produced hundreds of sketches, including the well-known and often recited "Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley." Franken won five Emmys for writing and producing during his 15 seasons with SNL.

Franken was also author of four No. 1 New York Times bestsellers, including Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them – A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, and Al Franken, Giant of the Senate.

Franken served Minnesota in the Senate from 2009-2018, "clobbering" his first opponent, incumbent Senator Norm Coleman, by 312 votes. But he won his second election by well over 200,000 votes. Franken served on the Judiciary, Energy, Indian Affairs, and HELP (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) Committees where he routinely embarrassed badly prepared witnesses and was a fierce opponent of media concentration, mandatory arbitration, and Betsy DeVos.

His career was on a fast track until he was forced to resign by fellow Democratic Senators following accusations of sexual misconduct during photo opps. Half were made anonymously and he denied them but never got a chance to settle in court. The New Yorker did a good story running down the facts.

He's since founded "The Al Franken Podcast," one of the top politically-themed podcasts with guests like Malcolm Nance, Sarah Silverman, Paul Krugman, and Chris Rock. His political action committee, Midwest Values PAC, supports progressive Democrats and voting rights.

The first Ernie Kovacs Award was handed out in 1997. Recipients have included comedian Joel Hodgson, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Robert Smigel, Paul "Pee-wee Herman" Reubens, Martin Mull, Mike Judge, George Schlatter (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In creator) Harry Shearer, Michael Nesmith, Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald (The Kids in the Hall), and Amy Sedaris, the first woman to receive the Ernie Kovacs Award in 2018.

Franken says in a statement that he feels honored to receive the award.

"Ernie Kovacs' influence on comedians of my generation is not often told these days," Franken says. "I was maybe 10 years old when I first watched The Ernie Kovacs Show. Like many young avid fans of comedy, I was immediately struck by his wholehearted and brilliant embrace of absurdity."

Weiss traces the connection between Dallas VideoFest and Ernie Kovacs thusly:

"The very first program of our festival in 1987 was Edie Adams showing the work of Ernie Kovacs," Weiss says. "Ernie's innovative spirit has been with us these 35 years. The Kovacs Award became the perfect way to honor those whose comedy change the way we look at TV/Video much like Kovacs did."

Joshua Mills, Edie Adams’s son and keeper of Ernie Kovacs Estate, traces the connection between Ernie Kovacs and Al Franken thusly:

"Al Franken's humor, his dry wit and his irreverent characters are part of a long comedy continuum that connects everyone and everything from Ernie Kovacs to Monty Python to David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and others who helped shaped modern comedy," Mills says. "From Stuart Smalley to Medieval Barber Theodoric of York, it’s about time we usher in the Al Franken Decade in 2022 with The Ernie Kovacs Award."

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Movie Review

Charli XCX attempts to seize 'The Moment' in new mockumentary

Photo courtesy of A24

Charli XCX in The Moment.

There have been plenty of music documentaries and biopics that show how the life of a music star can be a trying one, with fans, record label executives, and hangers-on all wanting a piece of a certain singer or band. Charli XCX knows the pressures as well as anyone thanks to back-to-back hit albums, but instead of addressing her life with a self-aggrandizing promo film, she’s gone the unexpected route with the mockumentary, The Moment.

The singer plays a fictionalized version of herself who’s coming off of “Brat Summer,” a cultural phenomenon that followed the release of her 2024 album, Brat. In addition to a planned tour, she and her team are trying to come up with other ways to capitalize on the moment, ideas that sometimes include her input and sometimes don’t. The one that becomes the driving force of the story is a concert film that will be directed by the in-demand filmmaker Johannes (Alexander Skarsgård).

Even though Charli XCX had already planned out the visuals, props, and other elements of the tour with good friend Celeste (Hailey Gates), Johannes slowly but surely pushes his ideas to be used instead. As that part of her life starts to slip from her grasp, she starts to lose it in general, agreeing to endorse a Brat-themed credit card, taking an ill-advised spa trip to Ibiza, and more.

Written and directed by Aidan Zamiri (who’s directed two Charli XCX music videos) and co-written by Bertie Brandes, the film should in no way, shape, or form be interpreted as giving viewers an accurate idea of who the singer really is. Aside from the presence of well-known actors like Skarsgård and Rosanna Arquette and comedic actors like Kate Berlant and Jamie Demetriou, everything in the film is heightened sufficiently to understand it shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Still, it’s clear that fans of Charli XCX or those who participated in Brat Summer will be more invested in the film than others. Knowing that Rachel Sennott’s cameo likely stems from their friendship following Charli XCX doing the score for Sennott’s film, Bottoms, or that she enjoyed early fame from the inclusion of her song, “Boom Clap,” in “a movie about two kids with cancer,” as her character puts it, adds some depth to the film.

One of the funniest things about the film is the lack of a showcase of Charli XCX’s music. She doesn’t sing a single note in the entire film, and any songs of hers that are heard are incidental to the story. There is, however, a ton of oppressive flashing titles and frenetic imagery during the various transitions in the film. If you are even slightly affected by rapid lights and/or movement, it might be best to avoid the film entirely.

As George Clooney can attest from Jay Kelly, it’s more difficult to play a version of yourself than you might think, and Charli XCX deserves credit for playing into rumors of her “bitchiness” in this film. Upcoming roles in other films will prove whether she’s truly a good actress or not, but she has a presence that serves this movie well. Skarsgård, who seems to be having a moment of his own in the real world, is the clear winner for best supporting actor of the film, scoring in almost every scene he’s in.

The Moment may not be as effective a mockumentary as something like This is Spinal Tap, but it still has enough memorable moments to make it worth seeing for both fans and non-fans alike. If that’s not enough Charli XCX for you, she’s also created the soundtrack for Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, which will be in theaters on February 13.

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The Moment opens wide in theaters on February 6.

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Movie Review

Charli XCX attempts to seize 'The Moment' in new mockumentary