BOONE, Iowa — Bus tour? Call it the Ted Cruz road show.

As he has barnstormed Iowa this week on a six-day jaunt, the Texas senator perhaps best known on Capitol Hill for his bombast has showcased another quality: his sense of humor. He has punctuated his stump speech with well-practiced one-liners even as he warns crowds that America is in “crisis.”

“Has anyone else noticed the Democrats have scheduled their debates at, like, 1:30 in the morning on a Saturday, airing on Alaska PBS?” Cruz observed during a stop Monday at a Christian bookstore in Boone, where supporters wedged into the small space among bookshelves.

The next Democratic debate, Cruz deadpanned, would be held at Leavenworth federal prison. “Well, they wanted to make it easier for Hillary to attend,” he said. One woman’s guffaw stood out amid the laughter and applause.

A number of Republican candidates in this election cycle have attempted the same: to use humor to appeal and relate to would-be supporters.

Marco Rubio, for example, often jests about his famous water bottle incident during the 2013 GOP response to the State of the Union. “I’m also aware that California has a drought,” he said during the September Republican debate in Simi Valley, “and so that’s why I made sure I brought my water.”

And, although Ben Carson is known for his understated style on the campaign trail, one of his most memorable moments was a joke during the first debate, when he was asked how he differs from the other candidates. “I'm the only one who has removed half a brain,” Carson said, “but if you went to Washington, you'd think someone beat me to it.”

But using levity on the stump is not always the obvious or best strategy: It can be risky, and it doesn’t work for every candidate.

Attempts at humor can also provide fodder for rival candidates to characterize an adversary as unserious or immature. An ad released this week by a pro-Cruz super PAC mocked Rubio for joking about fantasy football. But, on the campaign trail, Cruz has no qualms about showing his funny bone — or trying, at least.

For some audiences in rural Iowa, the jokes have fallen flat. An Onawa audience Tuesday only half chuckled when the candidate joked that if children wear Superman pajamas, Superman wears Chuck Norris pajamas — and Chuck Norris wears Steve King pajamas. King, a member of Congress from Iowa, has endorsed Cruz and joined him this week as the opening act on the tour.

King, for his part, has found the Hawkeye State frontrunner’s act amusing. “We can be conservatives and have fun, and we are doing that,” he said.

The fun has not been limited to stand-up comedy. Cruz has also drawn attention for his frequent impressions, including one of Billy Crystal’s character in “The Princess Bride” and of various characters from “The Simpsons.”

And Cruz last month released an ad in which he read “Christmas classics” to his young daughters, including “How Obamacare Stole Christmas.” The spot, which aired during “Saturday Night Live,” has racked up more than 1.8 million views on YouTube. “All of the other reindeer couldn’t afford to hire Rudolf,” Cruz read from one “book” in the ad.

Cruz has not grown a funny bone by accident. In the scope of his meticulously deliberate campaign, his humor is part of a conscious effort to soften his image and reach audiences who might not otherwise pay attention.

“Would it kill Republicans to crack a joke?” he said in South Carolina last year. “I actually think for some Republicans it might. You know, lighten up a little. … So many Republicans run a Soviet-style campaign.”

The strategy is not new to presidential politics. Ronald Reagan was famously funny. In a debate with Walter Mondale during the 1984 election, a moderator asked Reagan whether his age would compromise his ability to serve a second term as president. After responding that it wouldn’t, Reagan turned the question in his favor.

“I will not make age an issue of this campaign,” he responded. “I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Jokes for Reagan could be situational, but they were also a deliberate facet of his style: He kept a collection of one-liners written on index cards and stored in his Oval Office desk.

The 2012 Republican field had its share of comedians: Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain each was quick with a joke.

Prior to his campaign for president, Cruz showed that he could use levity to defuse potentially dicey political subjects, including that of his birth in Canada. (Cruz, because his mother is American, is a U.S. citizen.)

“Frankly, there have been moments when I just wanted to self-deport,” Cruz joked at the 2014 Gridiron Club dinner in Washington.

“Canadians are so polite, mild-mannered, modest, unassuming, open-minded,” he added. “Thank God my family fled that oppressive influence before it could change me.”

That same issue arose again Tuesday, when Donald Trump warned it could be “very precarious” to nominate Cruz due to his birth in Canada and supposedly questionable eligibility to hold the nation’s highest office. Again, Cruz used humor to respond, tweeting out a clip of Fonzie, the “Happy Days” character, jumping a shark – a now-iconic example of a desperate attempt to win favor with the public.

“The best way to respond to this kind of attack is to laugh it off and move on,” the conservative lawmaker explained.

As a debater at Princeton, Cruz “could be foiled with humor,” The New York Times wrote last year, but he also used jokes as an effective tactic. In his political career, he has consistently peppered his speeches with one-liners he keeps handy, in the Reagan mold. Some have endured for years: In Iowa this week, Cruz often said of his daughters, “The best indication that God is a benevolent God: Both girls look just like their mother.” That line has been in his repertoire since at least 2009, when he ran for Texas attorney general.

Indeed, Cruz’s lines often come off as scripted to his crowds. “It was a little forced, I thought,” said Matt Albert, a student at Dordt College, where Cruz held a town-hall event Tuesday.

Over two days in Iowa, however, Cruz seized a few opportunities for improv. At an event in Winterset on Monday, fat drops of water fell from the ceiling, landing directly in front of the candidate.

“The budget is so bad,” Cruz said, “the pipes are leaking!”