AFP - A popular comedian's potential 2011 presidential run is getting no laughs at all from more "serious" Peruvian politicians, worried about his rise in the polls.

Jaime Bayly, who wants to reduce the size of a "useless" army and cut public funding for the Catholic Church, is becoming a thorn in the side of his potential opponents as he attacks "the two most powerful parties in Peru."

He has created even more headaches for the political elite with his plans to legalize abortion, drug use and gay marriage.

In the space of a few weeks, the satirist has managed to get the public talking about half a dozen taboo subjects on which he has taken controversial positions.

At 45, this iconoclastic dandy lives between Bogota and Lima, where he hosts televised political shows that are half talk show, half satire, mixing biting eloquence and unbridled interviews.

When Bayly hinted in late 2009 that he may run, many thought it was just another self-promotional joke from the professional troublemaker. But when polls gave him five to six percent voter support, ahead of "serious" candidates, the laughter died.

"Peruvians share my lack of confidence in professional politicians," he explained. "They see the presidency like a circus that comes back every five years, and I feel like they wouldn't mind having a new clown."

Enfant terrible of Lima's well-to-do society, Bayly calls himself a "leftist liberal" but without strictly abiding by that label.

Even before formally launching his campaign, he relished becoming "the voice of minorities, gays, agnostics" and to "stir the swamp, call out the politicians in ways they are not used to."

Bayly accepts a comparison to the outrageous late French comedian Coluche, who launched his own presidential bid in 1981 to "screw them all," but insists he does not have "his genius, his talent or his insanity."

"I hope it ends better for me," Bayly said, referring to Coluche's withdrawal from the race under intense pressure despite encouraging polls.

But the Peruvian comedian does not see himself landing in the presidential palace. "With my ideas? Improbable," he exclaimed.

Still, political experts say Bayly's chances may be better than he thinks.

Peru, "a democracy with no true parties, very uninstitutionalized and very focused on politics of personality," has a weakness for surprises, political scientist Carlos Melendez said.

Discrediting the political establishment has helped independents and outsiders gain an edge and eventually clinch victory in presidential campaigns, as was the case with Alberto Fujimori, a virtual unknown six months before his 1990 election.

Aware of a "Bayly danger" on the horizon, politicians have aimed a barrage of criticism at the intruder, who they put down as "amusing but not serious," "disrespectful" and "a recipe for chaos."

The media is also abuzz with what route Bayly would take should he throw himself into the race: will he lean right with Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the former anti-establishment president, or to the left with nationalist Ollanta Humala or with the urban electorate of Lima Mayor Luis Castaneda?

One thing is for sure, he will not have any impact whatsoever on President Alan Garcia, who cannot run for a consecutive second mandate. Garcia, Bayly's favorite punching bag, has even said he feels "sympathy" for his critic's candidacy.

"He raises subjects that no one dares to raise -- modern, 21st century subjects that require our attention," said the president, known to shy away from such controversies himself.