Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who made his bones as head writer for “Saturday Night Live” and worked his way to federal office, knows how to work a crowd.

But it seems like the students from Mahtomedi Middle School of Mahtomedi, Minn., proved to be a very tough one, judging from how few appear to be giving him their rapt attention on Thursday in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building.