The election by a tiny group of party insiders of Boris Johnson to lead Britain’s ruling Conservative Party may be bad news for the British people, but it will surely usher in a golden age for cartoonists, satirists and standup comics. Mr. Johnson is not only not a serious political leader, he doesn’t even pretend to be one. He is first and foremost a performer, an entertainer, who has chosen politics as his stage. I think we can now conclude that the worldwide political movement is not populism but absurdism. The central role of humor in politics has been established once and for all. Forms of leadership have passed through many historical phases: the age of warlords and tribal chieftains, the age of kings and emperors, and the recent late-lamented age of democracy. Now we have entered the age of comedy, when the main role of a national leader is to keep the people amused. Europe led the way. A famous French comedian called Coluche announced his candidacy for the French presidential