Al Franken joined the cast of “What the Hack with Adam Levin” earlier this week. The weekly show focuses on privacy and cybercrime by inviting guests to share their stories about hacks, scams and identity theft.
This latest episode created by the What the Hack team in collaboration with Franken offers up a sketch that asks the simple question: Are digital assistants like Siri and Alexa spying on us?
“A former Senator impersonating five other senators on a pressing social question that pivots to an issue central to the outcome of the midterm elections may be a historical first,” co-host Adam Levin said. “For sure it’s hysterical.”
Co-written with What the Hack co-host and producer Beau Friedlander, Franken’s impersonations of Bernie Sanders, Susan Collins, Chuck Grassley, Sherrod Brown and Mitch McConnell are not only spot-on but help highlight in a fun way the confusion many consumers feel about just how intrusive digital assistants are, or may be.
In the sketch, senators attempting to understand how Siri and Alexa operate on the invisible side of Big Data collection policies, find the tables turned by Alexa played here brilliantly by Franken’s fellow SNL alum Laraine Newman, and Siri voiced by Susan Bennett (the actual voice of Siri). Comedy ensues as, one by one, the Senators decide their privacy is threatened in the hearing and leave the room.
Al Franken is currently touring with a comedy show. His genius is on full display here with a crisp take on current events, parodying both sides of the aisle, Big Tech and hot-button political issues.
