If members of Ukraine’s ruling elite thought he was a joke, they aren’t laughing now.

Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky is poised to win the country’s final round of presidential balloting on Sunday, in what would be a humiliating blow for the incumbent.

It is an uncanny case of life imitating art for Zelensky, who played a teacher who became president on the Ukrainian sitcom “Servant of the People.” The candidate has promised to crack down on corruption, though his silence on controversial issues has given rise to suspicions he would be a Kremlin puppet.

President Petro Poroshenko campaigned on a hardline stance against Moscow. He promised to end the conflict with Russia, which seized Crimea in 2014 and continues to support insurgents in eastern Ukraine.

On Saturday, the candidates had their only debate, at Kiev’s 70,000-seat Olympic Stadium.

Zelensky, 41, highlighted the main refrains of his campaign, saying his lack of political experience positions him to take on corruption.

“I am just a simple person who has come to break down this system,” he said.

“I am the result of your mistakes and promises,” the challenger told Poroshenko. “I am a verdict on you.”

The 53-year-old incumbent went on the counterattack, slamming Zelensky for lacking political experience and for avoiding active-duty military service.

“We only have a beautiful, bright sweet wrapper in which everyone can find what he is looking for,” said Poroshenko. “An actor without any experience whatsoever cannot lead a war against an aggressor.”

Throughout the campaign, Zelensky’s showmanship has been on full display. He didn’t participate in TV debates or hold rallies, but hosted concerts and performed stand-up comedy on a nationwide tour, instead.

Meanwhile, observers say Poroshenko waged a divisive campaign that catered more to western Ukraine than the Russian-speaking east.

The same channel that broadcasts Zelensky’s “Servant of the People” also has given the upstart’s campaign exhaustive coverage, according to the Sunday Times of London. Critics say the network’s owner, exiled businessman Igor Kolomoisky, supported Zelensky because he would be easy to manipulate.

Zelensky recently sent his chief of staff to meet with officials in Washington, DC, seeking to assure them that the upstart would maintain Ukraine’s pro-western course, the Sunday Times reported.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called both candidates on Friday.

Pompeo “reiterated our commitment to working with whomever the Ukrainian people choose to ensure the success of a secure, prosperous, democratic, & free (country),” Washington’s special envoy Kurt Volker stated on Twitter.

Zelensky won about 30 percent of the ballot in the first round of voting on March 31, while Poroshenko came in with 16 percent and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, 13 percent.

“There is a chance for change. This man has potential,” Vlad Motygulin, 33, said of Zelensky to Agence France-Presse on Saturday.

With Post wires