Terry Gross

The comedian plays the sensitive twelve-stepper Stuart Smalley on "Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley" -- a Saturday Night Live skit based on Franken's own experience with a 12-step group. Franken is a co-producer of SNL and works on the cable network "Comedy Central," where he anchored the Democratic and Republican Conventions for "Indecision '92." He has a new book (written by Stuart Smalley) called "I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me."

Part two of our Al Franken interview. He talks about his roles with Saturday Night Live, and his work with the Comedy Channel paroyding the presidential campaign.

Updike's new book is 'Memories of the Ford Administration,' which introduces a new hero, Alf Clayton. He's a history professor who is invited to write his memoirs of working for Gerald Ford. But the memoirs turn out to be more a chronicle of the Clayton's sex life during the sexually liberal '70s.

Lyn Nofzinger was an official in the Nixon administration and was Reagan's press secretary and later his aide in the White House, where he was known as a "hatchet-man". He has a new political memoir, called "Nofziger." He Fresh Air to talk about Reagan's recent decision to campaign for President Bush.

A Bush apointee, Frohnmayer ran the National Endowment for the Arts from 1989 until last May, when he was asked to resign. Frohnmayer was routinely attacked by the religious right for giving grants to what it deemed "obscene" art. He also angered many who thought he didn't question enough the administration's pandering to the right. Since his resignation, he's become a strong advocate for the First Amendment.

Maupin served in Vietnam and worked for Jesse Helms in his pre-Senate days. When he moved to San Fransisco, he came out of the closet. He was a journalist for several years before writing his "Tales of the City" series, which blended gay and straight storylines. His latest novel, "Maybe the Moon," expounds on Hollywood's hypocrisy, as seen through the eyes of a little person actress. His partner Terry Anderson joins him for the interview.

Journalist Robert Krulwich is hosting a new "Frontline" documentary on PBS, "The Best Campaign Money Can Buy," about the funds that go into the presidential campaign. In particular, the documentary looks at contributors that give "soft money," -- money given to a party rather than to a candidate. This kind of giving bypasses the law which limits individual donations to presidential candidates to $1,000.

Rivers has a new autobiography, "What Did I Do?" He's known by art historians as "a great figurative painter," "the father of Pop Art," and is recognized as the first American artist to use vulgar objects in an artistic context. Rivers was part of a loosely knit association of poets and painters in New York in the 50's. His book looks back at his work as a jazz saxophonist, his drug use, and his unashamed interest in sexuality.

Buscemi's list of movie credits include "Parting Glances," "Slaves of New York," "Mystery Train," and "Reservoir Dogs." His newest film is "In The Soup," a low budget film directed Alexandre Rockwell. Before becoming an actor, Buscemi was a fire fighter.

Writer Jack Beatty has written a biography of four-time Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, called "The Rascal King." Curley, an Irish-Catholic, is a Massachusetts legend, having run in 32 elections, serving as governor, congressman, and mayor. While Curley could be dismissed as an old-fashioned machine politician, Beatty portrays him as a forerunner of the modern entrepreneurial politician.