ABC's Jimmy Kimmel hands show over to Al Franken to bash Cruz, Trump
Franken was forced to leave the Senate at the height of the #MeToo movement
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ABC’s late-night host Jimmy Kimmel handed over his program to Al Franken on Tuesday, where the former Democratic senator from Minnesota was able to help rehabilitate his image by mocking former President Donald Trump and echoing liberal talking points on the Disney-owned network.
Franken was famously forced to step down from the Senate by his own party amid sexual misconduct allegations in 2018 at the height of the #MeToo movement. Seemingly forgiven by the left, Franken was the guest host for ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," where he kicked things off by joking that he wouldn’t get political on Kimmel’s program.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Before he entered politics, Al Franken was a writer and performer on "Saturday Night Live" for a decade. (R. Diamond/Getty Images)
"Tonight is not about politics, it is about comedy and having fun," he said before asking the California crowd, "So, who's here from out of state to get an abortion?"
Franken wasn’t finished with political attempts at humor, repeatedly calling Texas Sen. Ted Cruz a "d—k" and conducting a man-on-the-street style segment to see if regular folks can name a single U.S. senator. Much to Franken’s chagrin, everyone he spoke with was eager to name senators.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}When it came back to the studio, Franken set his sights on former President Trump with a series of jokes tied to last week’s FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago. The guest host spent the next several minutes taking shots at Trump, which is a common occurrence on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"
Al Franken is seen in a controversial photo that led to his resignation from the U.S. Senate in 2018. (FOX)
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In recent years, Kimmel has morphed from a largely apolitical comedian to an overwhelmingly left-leaning, Democrat-boosting host who has spent years criticizing Trump and other conservatives at every turn. The "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" namesake apparently has no issues with the liberal Franken, who resigned amid pressure from Democrats when several women accused him of sexual misconduct and a photo surfaced of him appearing to pretend to touch radio host Leeann Tweeden's breasts.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}However, Franken has since expressed regret for having resigned and many of his former colleagues have issued public apologies for not supporting him.
In recent years, Jimmy Kimmel has morphed into an overwhelmingly left-leaning, Democrat-boosting host. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Franken has denied many of the allegations made against him and took a shot at Trump when he announced his resignation.
"There is some irony in the fact that I am leaving office while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office," he said.
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Before he entered politics, Franken was a writer and performer on "Saturday Night Live" for a decade. He later became a political author and radio host on Air America Radio.
Fox News’ Jon Brown contributed to this report.