While there's no mention of him on the Wikipedia page for Rand Paul -- and we know how accurate and thorough those always are -- the Junior Senator from Kentucky talked about his mentor in the US Senate on 'Late Show with David Letterman' (Weeknights, 11:35PM ET on CBS).

A conservative Republican and member of the Tea Party, the last person you might expect Paul to choose for his mentor in the Senate would be former comedian and staunchly Democratic Senator Al Franken, the Junior Senator from Minnesota.

The two apparently made a connection shortly after Paul's victory at the polls. "He called me right after the election," Paul said. "Most of the Democrats were still cursing me, but he was a nice Democrat and he called me up and congratulated me."

Another 'Big Bang Theory' star is getting a raise.

After Simon Helberg's co-stars Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons successfully negotiated major raises for their hit CBS sitcom this summer, the actor decided to get one for himself.

According to Deadline Hollywood, Helberg bumped his salary from $40,000 an episode to around $125,000. He entered negotiations along with fellow supporting series regular Kunal Nayyar in September after their co-stars struck their lucrative deal, but Nayyar has yet to secure a payday for his role on the show. Deadline reports that Nayyar is currently making around $25,000 an episode, and if a deal is not reached soon the negotiations will be tabled until the summer.

In other TV news ...

• After next week's episode, Taylor Momsen will go on an "indefinite hiatus" from 'Gossip Girl.' The notoriously uncooperative 17-year-old actress will supposedly be gone for "creative reasons." [Deadline]

• 'Grey's Anatomy' creator Shonda Rimes said the upcoming musical episode will be a Callie-heavy story. It'll allow Tony winner Sara Ramirez to show off her pipes, but also feature other actors singing. "You will be very surprised to discover that some people sing quite well. ... Also, some people won't be singing because it doesn't go with the story." [TV Guide]

• Chuck Lorre said he built 'Two and a Half Men' around Charlie Sheen because he needed someone who could play a "degenerate." "He's a worker amongst workers," Lorre said of Sheen. "His personal issues don't come onto the stage, and he's been a good partner for a long time." [The Hollywood Reporter]

The Internet's series of tubes were glowing red hot last week when a video surfaced of Sen. Al Franken drawing a map of the United States totally from memory.

It's one of those tasks that may look easy on the surface, but becomes increasingly difficult as you try to do it, as evidenced by the efforts of our sister (heh) site, Lemondrop.com. Some of their staff tried to do the same thing and ended up with what looked like mutated twin brothers of the U.S. that their parents keep locked in the basement and feed a bucket of fish heads once a week.

But Franken's mutant power (his X-Men name would be "Sketchy") dates back farther than his recent days of pandering to voters in an election that made the Dade County, Florida recount look like a jelly-bean counting contest.

If you haven't seen our game before, we give you a picture from a recent episode of a TV series and you provide the caption! Last week's winner is ac with this caption:

"Now I remember why I never watched C-SPAN."

This week's photo is from this week's Hell's Kitchen, the end-of-the-second-episode confrontation between Chef Ramsay and contestant Joseph:

If you haven't seen our game before, we give you a picture from a recent episode of a TV series and you provide the caption! Last week's winner is Nathanael B will this:

"When I said I'd do anything to get on TV, I wasn't kidding!"

This week's photo is from the televised Sonia Sotomayor hearings. Hey, it's Al Franken!

If you're one of the few remaining dissenters who doesn't think Sonia Sotormayor is qualified to serve on the nation's highest ranking court, don't blame President Obama. Don't blame any of her law professors or mentors. Don't even blame the left wing media.

Blame Perry Mason.

The Supreme Court nominee said before the Senate and the Judiciary Committee that the old Perry Mason show inspired her to seek a life in upholding the law.

I'm not sure if you've been watching the Sonia Sotomayor hearings this week, but if you haven't been near a TV during the day or would just rather see a summary of what's been going on than watch hours of judicial talk, you have The Daily Show.

This is funny whether you support Sotomayor or not. Jon Stewart dumps on both sides of the aisle (did Chuck Schumer actually start to cry yesterday?), and it also includes some bonus Al Franken footage!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
White Men Can't Judge
www.thedailyshow.com

-- So what's it like to be a joke writer for 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon'? Step into Anthony Jeselnik's shoes for a day [Asylum]

-- Is 'NYC Prep' one of TV's 35 most appalling shows? Get in on the gossip [EW.com]

-- Now that Al Franken is officially a Senator, who should spoof him on 'Saturady Night Live'? [Seattle Times]

(more headlines after the jump)

Well, they finally settled that Norm Coleman vs. Al Franken race in Minnesota. So I thought this would be a good opportunity to show Franken in another time, impersonating Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger on Solid Gold in the 80s. Partner Tom Davis is doing Keith Richards. I wonder if Franken would have won if Coleman had just run this video on a continuous loop on his web site for a year.

MSNBC is perking along. Either they're getting better at the results or I'm getting more comfortable with all their bells and whistles and commentary.

8:48 David Gregory is good as a traffic cop. He's bouncing the focus around from Chuck to Chris to Ann to Lester really well. He's interviewing Obama's campaign chief strategist David Axelrod now. He doesn't look worried. He looks like Mr. Whipple, but he doesn't look worried.

8:55 Tom DeLay, former House Majority Leader -- is talking trash. He claims Nancy Pelosi is going to push President Obama around. Hmm...he sounds pretty bitter. Of course, he was forced to resign when he was indicted for election fraud.

Fred Thompson, Jesse Ventura and 11 others who went from the small screen to the podium

Did you know that before he hosted his eponymous chair-throwing, fist-flying talk show, Jerry Springer was the mayor of Cincinnati?

Going from politician to TV star may be an unusual path, but the opposite route is actually quite common.

Here are 13 stars who made -- or tried to make -- the leap from primetime to politics.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Doc Jensen has some new theories concerning Lost over at Entertainment Weekly.
• Time's James Poniewozik weights in on Recount and The Andromeda Strain (he liked one and hated the other).
• Oh, for Pete's sake, it was a person's voice!
• Ausiello over at TV Guide has some info about Supernatural.
• Here's the latest on that possible strike (yes, another one).
• Will Al Franken's past come back to haunt him in his Senate race?
• And now, the music of Katie Couric.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily: It's a special "Law and Politics" episode!

• How powerful is Oprah, really? Is she like "choose the next president" powerful?
  
• You may know Al Franken best as Stuart Smalley. Minnesotans may soon know him as their senator.
  
• News: Cartoons have a hard time appearing in court.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

On his final Air America radio show today, comedian and political pundit Al Franken announced that he is going to run for a U.S. Senate seat in his home state of Minnesota. He'll be seeking the Democratic nomination for next year's election; whoever gets that nomination will run against Republican incumbent Norm Coleman.

This isn't exactly a surprise, since all the signs were there: he moved his family back to Minnesota last year and decided to end the Air America show. Both pointed to his intention to run. But his presence is going to lend national attention to that race, meaning we'll probably be hearing much more of the humorless pundit version of Franken than the witty comedian we actually came to like over the last twenty-five years. Oh, and don't put it past Minnesotans to vote him into office; he's a much more serious a candidate than Jesse Ventura was, and you remember what happened there.

Jon briefly touched on the heightened security of the other night's episode (bulletproof glass and snipers and all that jazz). "If you're ever in this situation and they bring the bomb-sniffing dogs in, please know -- and I know this now for a fact -- they do not, in anyway, recognize drugs or porn... Not that we weren't scrambling!"