On April 1st, appropriately enough, a comedian who plays the president in a popular TV show, “Servant of the People”, emerged as the likeliest next leader of Ukraine, coming well ahead of the incumbent, Petro Poroshenko, and a former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, in the first round of the presidential election.
Mr Zelensky, a man with no political experience but with huge popularity as an entertainer, stepped onto the political centre-stage to expose the failures of Ukrainian rulers who may have experimented with various costumes and roles, but invariably represented dubious oligarchic interests for much of Ukraine’s post-Soviet history.
He did not hold political rallies or participate in television debates. Instead he toured the country with concerts and stand-up comedy acts, giving two shows a day—one free, and one paid. Unlike his rivals, some of whom had to pay people to come to their to rallies, Mr Zelensky actually made money from ticket sales.
