OK, it’s true that humor is more than entertainment — it can sometimes take the edge off tense situations. I’d like to think that I am blessed with a sense of humor. I say blessed, because it is unlikely that one is born with a sense of humor. For me, however, there is good humor and bad humor.

At issue in this writing is the exchange between Stephen Colbert and J. Patrick Boyle, president and CEO of the American Meat Institute, for “The Colbert Report” series on “Know Your Lobby.” I was disgusted when Colbert turned the discussion to a theoretical debate on the value of cannibalism, his point being that if livestock, as in farm animals, are not available, should humans then begin to eat each other.

The good news is he was unable to trick Boyle into an inane answer to the inane (and for some people, no doubt hilarious) question about humans eating humans. “Would AMI support the slaughter and consumption of human beings to sustain life?” Colbert asked. To be fair, his context related to global warming, higher sea levels and the inability to continue raising meat animals in the future.

I understand spoof, but my funny bone did not quiver in laughter the least bit. Instead, my knee-jerk reaction was to question whether anything was sacred. Too bad irreverence is not a crime, I thought.

I am happy to report that I quickly came to my senses, the ones that regulate my humor barometer.

“The Colbert Report,” after all, is a political satire show aired on the Comedy Central network. The last time I checked, the program on AMI that aired on Aug. 17 garnered nearly 35,000 clicks. I wonder what those viewers thought of the segment. I wonder what you, dear readers, think. Let me know after you check out the program on Colbert’s Web site: www.colbertnation.com

Meanwhile, I intend to check out, “Good Humor, Bad Taste,” by Giselinde Kuipers, reportedly the first extensive sociological study of the relationship between humor and social background.