“The Republicans, I think, at first were a little like, ‘Oh, he’s a satirist who uses scorn and ridicule against Republicans,’ and then after they got to meet me, they were like, ‘Oh, he’s a comedian,’” Franken told POLITICO. “‘He’s a comedian. He’s got a good sense of humor. He likes to laugh. I get it.’ And that kind of went away, that first initial trepidation, I think went away very quickly.”