“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,” Al Franken said. | AP Photo Franken jokes Cruz is ‘lovechild of Joe McCarthy and Dracula’

Sen. Al Franken dusted off his comedic chops over the weekend and took some jabs at his Senate colleague and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, declaring him “the lovechild of Joe McCarthy and Dracula.”

“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 said at MinnPosts's annual variety show, MinnRoast. The event took place last Friday, with video posted on Wednesday.


That wasn’t the end of it. He also quipped that “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. He’s having a little trouble with the charm part but he’s got the offensive part down cold.“

Franken, an early endorser of Hillary Clinton, is known for his many years on "Saturday Night Live" but has been more reluctant to yuck it up since he entered the Senate in 2009. However, Cruz has been a ripe target for his colleagues, and apparently was too much for him to resist as well. Sen. Lindsey Graham said the choice between Donald Trump and Cruz is “like being shot or poisoned," while Rep. Peter King said he'd "take cyanide" if Cruz gets the GOP nomination.

The Minnesota senator wrapped up his bit by poking fun at House Speaker Paul Ryan’s insistence that he won’t run for president — impersonating Ryan with a British accent. “Ask all you like, I shan't run.”