Black named Cruz most likely to generate laughs. | AP Photos Black: Ted Cruz comedy 'gold mine'

Comedian Lewis Black says government today is so bad, “drunk people ran it better,” and Sen. Ted Cruz is a prime example.

Black singled out Cruz as the politician today is one of the ripest for comedy Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”


“I think Ted Cruz is a gold mine, I think. You can talk about him being the next big thing — good luck. Good luck, him being — if he’s a leader, then I am, I’m seriously, is there an adult in the room?” Black said when asked by guest host Nicole Wallace who makes people laugh the most.

( PHOTOS: Key quotes from Ted Cruz)

“Who can’t say, ‘You know what? No, you don’t get to shut down the government. Nuh uh, we don’t have time, I don’t have energy,’” Black said about the Texas Republican senator. “What are you going to do? You’re going to shut it down because you’re upset about something?”

Cruz has been vocally leading a charge to shut down the government unless the Obama administration agrees to defund Obamacare.

Black, who grew up in Washington, D.C., said that wasn’t the way government should work.

( QUIZ: Do you know Ted Cruz?)

“Government works this way: Two drunks, one Democrat, one Republican, two congressmen who are drunk in the ‘50s walk into a bar and figure something out. Now these guys are in the gym, pumping endorphins all day, it doesn’t help us,” Black said. “That’s how I know this government is the worst it’s every possibly been. When I was a kid, drunks ran it better. Drunk people ran it better.”

The comedian said he gets asked why he picks on Republicans and not Democrats, and he said it’s not because Democrats are a shining example — it’s a pure comedic decision.

“The Democrats are dumb and the Republicans are stupid. The difference between dumb and stupid is dumb isn’t funny,” Black said. “Stupid is seriously funny.”