Hey, That’s Funny, Mikhail--Now Did You Hear the One About. . . .

After a day at the Russian Federation Congress that had gone his way and half an hour of friendly chatting with reporters and Russian lawmakers, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev was in a jovial mood.

Told that entrepreneurs were selling jokes about him for a hefty profit, the Soviet president was moved to mention that he had heard a good one lately--but could not tell it because there were women in the crowd crushed around him.

“We give our permission,” one said authoritatively.

“You permit it?” Gorbachev said.

Then he hemmed and hawed a moment, and recited:

“President Mitterrand has, they say, 100 lovers, and one has AIDS, but he doesn’t know which one.

“President Bush has 100 bodyguards, and one of them is a terrorist, but he doesn’t know who it is.

“And Gorbachev has 100 economists, and only one of them has any brains, and he, too, doesn’t know which one.”

He paused for a moment, to let the laughter subside.

“I liked that one,” he said.