title:  Al Franken Hilariously Roasts Ted Cruz During Variety Show Appearance (VIDEO)
text: Al Franken returned to his comedic roots last Friday and his target was none other than Republican presidential wannabe Ted Cruz.The Minnesota Democratic Senator made an appearance at MinnRoast, an annual variety show, where he used the funnyman skills he honed as a cast member of Saturday Night Live to roast the Texas Senator.On this very welcome special performance, Franken revealed who Cruz s parents really are. Republicans are in kind of a bind since their best hope for stopping Donald Trump is a guy who s the lovechild of Joe McCarthy and Dracula,  Franken quipped.Indeed, Ted Cruz bears a striking resemblance to McCarthy, who led the persecution of suspected communists during the Red Scare in the 1950s, sort of like how Cruz leads the effort to persecute non-Christians and gay people in the present day. Franken was even dead-on with the Dracula comparison. Just take a look at Grandpa Munster as played by Al Lewis on The Munsters TV show and you ll see why.Franken wasn t finished, however. He also took a swing at Cruz s personality and his effort to use it to charm voters into foolishly supporting him. Cruz can be really hard to get along with, but I understand that in a couple weeks he s planning to launch a charm offensive,  Franken began.  He s having a little trouble with the charm part but he s got the offensive part down cold. Then Franken capped off his brief appearance with a jab at House Speaker Paul Ryan about how much Republicans are begging him to run for president so they don t have to watch Donald Trump sink the party in November.Here s the video via YouTube:Franken has rarely used his comedic prowess since becoming a Senator in 2009, and this performance makes us wish he would use it more often, even on the Senate floor. Because just about every Republican deserves to be mercilessly roasted for how they have turned the Senate into an embarrassing joke over the last eight years.Featured image: Screenshot