Since becoming a US Senator, Al Franken has largely resisted doing much national media and at the same time kept a more sober profile. He rarely does comedy for comedy's sake anymore, instead using his talent and occasionally his sense of humor as a cross-examiner at the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Washington Post covered a recent appearance where the Minnesota Senator broke with that tradition:
[However, Franken's] comedic roots were on full display at an event in Minneapolis, Minn., last weekend, when he turned his comedy chops on a few of his congressional colleagues. At a fundraiser for nonprofit online newspaper MinnPost (the fundraiser, featuring skits and monologues by politicians and members of the Minneapolis media, was appropriately called "MinnRoast"), Franken pulled out a few one-liners, calling Ted Cruz "the lovechild of Joe McCarthy and Dracula" and joking about Speaker Paul Ryan's refusal to enter the presidential race.
It's good to hear the entire audience guffaw at the suggestion that Senator Amy Klobuchar's Senate seat is "vulnerable."
Still, I think Franken has toned it down considerably since his days at the 1996 White House Correspondent's Dinner:
