Ted Cruz just served up his own late-night hot take ... and Jimmy Kimmel's talk show return is squarely in the spotlight.

TMZ got the Senator talking Monday -- and he didn’t mince his words, saying Jimmy used to be hilarious, but somewhere along the way, he traded punchlines for political rants ... and, in Ted’s view, that’s when the laughs (and ratings) nosedived.

Still, Cruz isn’t cheering for a cancellation -- in fact, he says the FCC needs to butt out completely, 'cause according to him, the government threatening comedians is a slippery slope that could bite everyone in the bum.

Cruz also says the only hope is that Kimmel ditches the angry shouting, returns to the guy he was a decade ago and gets back to roasting both sides. If not ... well, Cruz thinks we’ll all see pretty quickly whether Jimmy learned a lesson or not.

Hit play on the vid to hear Cruz unload further on Kimmel, comedy, and why politics has become nothing more than 'my team vs. your team.'