Don’t call her Mrs. Franken — Sen. Amy Klobuchar Amy KlobucharThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by The Air Line Pilots Association - White House moves closer to Pelosi on virus relief bill EPA delivers win for ethanol industry angered by waivers to refiners It's time for newspapers to stop endorsing presidential candidates MORE says when she’s out with fellow Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken Alan (Al) Stuart FrankenGOP Senate candidate says Trump, Republicans will surprise in Minnesota Peterson faces fight of his career in deep-red Minnesota district Getting tight — the psychology of cancel culture MORE, she’s often mistaken for his assistant or spouse.

Klobuchar recalled traveling through the airport with Franken — who became a household name as a “Saturday Night Live” cast member — shortly after he took office in 2009.

“I’m walking with Franken in the airport and somebody says, ‘Do you work with him?’” Klobuchar told the crowd Monday night at a gala dinner at Fortune magazine’s annual Most Powerful Women summit at Washington’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

“And I say, ‘Yes, I do,’” Klobuchar, 57, recounted with a smile. "And they're like, 'Will you take my picture with him?'"

ADVERTISEMENT

Minnesota's senior senator indicated that the snapshot request from Franken fans has occurred multiple times when she’s been alongside her same-state colleague.

“And so every time this happens, I want to put that iPhone and I want to go like this,” Klobuchar said, as she mimicked holding up a phone and focusing the camera lens on herself, “and I want to take a picture of myself in selfie mode and say, ‘Here’s a great picture of a senator that you have!’”

Klobuchar says before Franken arrived in the upper chamber, fellow Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin Richard (Dick) Joseph DurbinMcConnell focuses on confirming judicial nominees with COVID-19 talks stalled Senate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden Top GOP senator calls for Biden to release list of possible Supreme Court picks MORE (Ill.) and Charles Schumer Chuck SchumerVideo of Lindsey Graham arguing against nominating a Supreme Court justice in an election year goes viral Graham signals support for confirming a Supreme Court nominee this year Pelosi orders Capitol flags at half-staff to honor Ginsburg MORE (N.Y.) had given her fair warning about being out in public with a high-profile colleague.

The pair, she says, “Took me into a room and said, ‘This is not going to be as easy as you think. You don’t know what this is gonna be like.’”

“Durbin said, ‘I have [Barack] Obama as my other senator,’ and Schumer said, ‘I have Hillary [Clinton]. It’s not easy, you know.’”

But selfie requests pale in comparison to one particular airplane ride with Franken that Klobuchar recounted.

Saying the crew of the Delta flight from Washington to Minnesota was from Atlanta, an animated Klobuchar imitated one of the stewardesses: “We get on it and this flight attendant was very exuberant and she gets on the microphone, ‘Everyone, we have celebrities on the plane: Mr. and Mrs. Al Franken!’”

“Al says, ‘No, no, no, no — she’s actually the other senator from Minnesota,’” a laughing Klobuchar told the audience.

Franken and his wife, Franni, just celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary last week, while Klobuchar and her husband, John, have been married more than two decades.

Klobuchar says the flight attendant then took to the microphone again and exclaimed to the plane: “How cool is this? Husband and wife senators!”

“So, needless to say,” Klobuchar grinned, “it has not been an easy time in Washington.”