“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.

I recently caught up with Franken to talk about all things Stuart Smalley — from his inception,...