Ted Cruz has a pretty cool speaking gig on the horizon and it’s likely to test the man’s ability to make fun of himself.

The junior U.S. senator from Texas has been selected as the headline Republican speaker at the annual Gridiron Club dinner.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/texas-on-the-potomac/2013/12/this-time-maybe-the-cat-in-the-hat/

It’s an annual event that draws media and political elites from Washington, D.C. together to poke a little fun at each other — and at themselves.

Cruz landed in Washington with a serious boom — not just a bang — this past January after winning the Senate seat in November 2012. He established himself immediately as the tea party wing of his party’s go-to guy on all manner of policy issues. He’s hogged TV time, made Senate floor speeches — including his infamous 21 1/2-hour faux filibuster over the Affordable Care Act — and managed to inflame feelings among his fellow Republicans, not to mention among Democrats.

I’ll hand it to Cruz, though. He’s an entertaining guy. As the blog post notes, he’ll follow in the steps of some recent folks who’ve brought the house down: Gov. Rick Perry in 2012 and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal this year.

The best part of all these speeches is when the speakers make fun of themselves, as Presidents Obama and George W. Bush have done over the years.

It’ll be interesting to see if Sen. Cruz has been given that self-deprecation gene that makes these events such fun to watch.