The article deals with specific features of metaphorical interpretation of the 2018 presidential election in the Russian Federation in humorous political communication. It is revealed, that the conceptual domains «Sports», «Games», «Theatre», «Circus», «Cinema», «Show business» are the basic sources of the metaphorical characterization of the election and the politicians participating in it. The use of a concrete source-domain of metaphorical expansion in the anecdotes published in the Internet-space is directly connected with the image of the politician, existing in the consciousness of ordinary citizens. Thus, the characteristic of V. V. Putin is dominated by sports metaphors representing him as a «sportsman-winner», while the metaphorical characteristics of V.V. Zhirinovsky and K.A. Sobchak abound in theatre-circus metaphors creating images of «political clowns». As a result, the whole multitude of metaphors, representing the 2018 presidential election, can be reduced to two macromodels: «Election is a sports competition» and «Electionis a show (performance/circus/cinema/spectacle)». Thus the participants of the humorous political communication interpret an event in the political arena as follows: the politicians try to create in voters an illusion of choice; the results of vote are predictable; and the ordinary citizens in this election campaign are allocated the role of spectators who are passively observing the event and cannot influence the process in any way. Thus, the metaphorical models used to interpret and assess the 2018 presidential election in the humorous political communication allow one to explicate the concepts about the mechanisms of organization of the political life in the country, formed in the consciousness of ordinary representatives of the Russian society.