[At the Maine political delegation breakfast on July 26, 2004] John Cusack saw Franken in the audience and said, "I'm not going to try and be funny." Franken responded, "I'm not going to try and act." "No, I grew up very middle class. My parents didn't make a lot of money. My dad was not a high school graduate - he didn't have a career as such, he was a printing salesman essentially for most of his working life." [interview with Jay MacDonald, in an article "Fame & Fortune: Comedian Al Franken." [February 2006] "I'm part of the mushball middle. I consider 'confused' the majority position because, thankfully, most people would rather be uncertain some of the time than 100 percent positive all the time - even when they're wrong." [interview with Marla Williams, Seattle Times, March 11, 1996] "The reason I chose Limbaugh [Rush Limbaugh] is, first of all, when I made the decision, it was late '94, right before the congressional elections. He was this huge power, he was being called the 'Majority Maker.' ... And I listened to him, I just listened to him. And I thought, how does this guy get away with this? ... Someone's got to do something that's funny. Someone's got to do something in his face." [interview with Mark Schapiro for Salon, February 1996, on-line]. "No one is more sensitive to the issue of overeating than the creator of Stuart Smalley."