--- title: Ted Cruz Calls Out Bernie Sanders With Larry David in Debate description: Cruz is apparently a fan of PBS's "Finding Your Roots" canonical: https://time.com/4989386/ted-cruz-bernie-sanders-larry-david-joke/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-19T15:08:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:48:09.203Z og:title: Ted Cruz Used Larry David to Troll Bernie Sanders in a Debate og:description: Cruz is apparently a fan of PBS's "Finding Your Roots" og:url: https://time.com/4989386/ted-cruz-bernie-sanders-larry-david-joke/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbe5a7f5d261eb96/6988d7607cdbac6220d595f4/gettyimages-508930790.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Saturday Night Live - Season 41 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ted Cruz Used Larry David to Troll Bernie Sanders in a Debate twitter:description: Cruz is apparently a fan of PBS's "Finding Your Roots" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbe5a7f5d261eb96/6988d7607cdbac6220d595f4/gettyimages-508930790.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ted Cruz Made a Larry David Joke During the Debate With Bernie Sanders by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Oct 19, 2017 3:08 PM UTC  Larry David and Senator Bernie Sanders during the Feb. 6, 2016 episode of 'Saturday Night Live.' Larry David and Senator Bernie Sanders during the Feb. 6, 2016 episode of 'Saturday Night Live.'Dana Edelson—NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Oct 19, 2017 3:08 PM UTC _Finding Your Roots_ has at least one fan in the U.S. Senate. Texas Senator Ted Cruz made a sly reference to the PBS television show _Finding Your Roots_ during a CNN debate, by suggesting that [Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders](http://time.com/4943341/why-bernie-sanders-health-care-bill-is-a-risk/) “curb \[his\] enthusiasm” about a particular point in the Republican tax plan. > [](https://twitter.com/CNN/status/920835435424899072) The mild dig was a reference to a recently discovered branch in the Sanders family tree, which was unearthed by the researchers at _Finding Your Roots—_ _Seinfeld_ creator and _Curb Your Enthusiasm_ star Larry David. When [David appeared on the show](http://time.com/4970053/bernie-sanders-larry-david-finding-your-roots-pbs/), the ancestry experts were able to trace his lineage to that of Sanders. The results are particularly funny because [David portrayed Sanders](http://time.com/4211061/bernie-sanders-larry-david-saturday-night-live/) on _Saturday Night Live_ throughout the 2016 election cycle and many people noted David’s uncanny ability to impersonate Sanders, including Sanders himself. “People say to me, you know they talk about Larry David, and I say he does a better Bernie Sanders than I do,” the senator said of his new “cousin.” Perhaps Cruz and Sanders will remember this moment the next time PBS funding comes up for a vote. Watch the moment between the opponents above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4989386/ted-cruz-bernie-sanders-larry-david-joke/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4989386/ted-cruz-bernie-sanders-larry-david-joke/"},"headline":"Ted Cruz Made a Larry David Joke During the Debate With Bernie Sanders","datePublished":"2017-10-19T15:08:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:09.203Z","description":"Cruz is apparently a fan of PBS's \"Finding Your Roots\"","url":"https://time.com/4989386/ted-cruz-bernie-sanders-larry-david-joke/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","politics","Larry David","Bernie Sanders","ted cruz"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbe5a7f5d261eb96/6988d7607cdbac6220d595f4/gettyimages-508930790.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbe5a7f5d261eb96/6988d7607cdbac6220d595f4/gettyimages-508930790.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Saturday Night Live - Season 41","caption":"Saturday Night Live - Season 41","creditText":"Dana Edelson—NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4989386/ted-cruz-bernie-sanders-larry-david-joke/","name":"Ted Cruz Made a Larry David Joke During the Debate With Bernie Sanders"}}]}] ```