Comedians hope Nicolas Sarkozy will have a long reign as president of France.

Other than a strong constitution, comedy may be one of the most effective ways to keep power-hungry leaders in check. But politics and humor have long been a combustible mix, and perils abound for all who enter the arena of political humor.

It’s rarely a good sign when comedians are among a politician’s most fervent fans. Just as American comics mined the verbal gaffes and cowboy mannerisms offered up by President George W. Bush, French satirists are praying for the long reign of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

“Sarkozy is a godsend for comedians,”Stephane Guillon, a French satirist, told The Times’s Steven Erlanger, adding“I really don’t know how to thank him.”

In Paraguay, President Fernando Lugo, a former priest, has been ridiculed mercilessly since admitting that he fathered at least one child (while not denying the possibility of a few more) while still a member of the clergy. As Alexei Barrionuevo of The Times reported, his campaign slogan,“Lugo has heart,”has inspired a cumbia song. “The playboy has heart,”goes the refrain,“but he doesn’t use a condom.”

Both men may risk becoming what all politicians dread, a permanent punch line.“There are certain people who once they become a joke topic, they are forever joke topics,”Robert Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, in Virginia, told The Times’s Mark Leibovich.

With President Obama, there is little to work with.“He’s difficult to satirize,”the humorist Andrew Boyd told The Times’s Clyde Haberman.“He’s able to leaven his own heaviness.”

But in politics, images change abruptly, as Wanda Sykes, an African- American comedian, warned at an annual dinner for politicians and journalists held May 9 and attended by President Obama.“The first black president,”she said, beaming at Mr. Obama, who is bi-racial. “I’m proud to be able to say that. That is, unless you screw up. Then it’s going to be‘what’s up with the half-white guy?’

President Obama laughed heartily. But other comedians need to think twice about the objects of their derision. Myanmar’s military junta apparently does not have a sense of humor. Last year, it sentenced the comedian U Maung Thura to 45 years in prison.

In Lebanon, Charbel Khalil has faced death threats and a brief exile for mocking the powerful and pompous with a television puppet show called“Democracy,”as Robert F. Worth reported in The Times.

“Nothing is forbidden for satire except the president of the republic,”he told Mr. Worth, speaking of Lebanon’s media laws. Then he added,“and the army. And the judges, and religious leaders. And the president and kings of‘sister and neighborly countries.’

Still, that leaves quite a few targets to lampoon, including Hezbollah, not known for enjoying a good laugh at their own expense. After one pointed skit, they blocked roads with burning tires.

Yet even death threats can be a source of material. Omar Marzouk, a Muslim comic in Denmark, created the situation comedy“The Terror Cell,”about a bungling group of would-be terrorists. His Web site, he told the Times’s John Tagliabue, enabled visitors to choose their favorite means of having him killed.

“A majority chose beheading,”he said.


For comments, write to nytweekly@nytimes.com.