One question that has baffled mankind for centuries is “What exactly is the nature of comedy?” Just a few weeks ago, the New York Times sponsored a discussion of the issue.

The panel consisted of a wide range of recognized comedians and included playwright Neil Simon, actor Martin Short and director Penny Marshall, among others.

According to the Times article, the panel was unable to put its finger on any absolutes when it comes to comedy.

It’s kind of funny when you think about it. Really, everyone wants to be funny. It’s one of the most desired characteristics in our society. If you ask people what they’re looking for in a partner, a good sense of humor is a common reply — even if they really mean a nice ass.

And yet, even a group of the most talented comedians in the biz can’t come up with even a crude definition of what constitutes humor. After the joke has played, we can analyze if it was funny and why, but there is really no formula for success.

I often wonder myself what will be funny or why certain people are funny. One person who has caught my eye recently is Tom Green.

Green’s show on MTV has become very popular on the basis of Green’s unique brand of humor. Now, maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t necessarily see much humor in it.

In fact, I think Green is basically just really ballsy. It seems like most people watch and say, “Wow, I can’t believe he did that.”

Well, I can’t believe Hitler ordered the Holocaust, but that doesn’t necessarily make it funny.

I’m waiting for the day when Green walks up to a nun and shoots her in the face. People across America will be laughing out of their chairs, shouting, “I never would have done that! Ha ha ha …”

Ballsy, definitely. Funny, maybe.

As long as I’ve mentioned Tom Green and the Holocaust, it seems a good time to bring up another interesting issue with regard to comedy. Is there humor in everything, or are some things untouchable?

Honestly, I’d like to think there is humor in everything if we look hard enough. It seems silly that there would be humor in almost everything with only a few taboos.

Most of the taboos seem to revolve around death. We’re pretty serious when it comes to death, so we damn sure don’t want anyone joking about it.

So naturally, the Holocaust is the biggest taboo of them all. In fact, at the New York Times conference, several of the comedians agreed that there was humor in almost everything, except something like the Holocaust. I really think this is the narrow view.

Is there anything funny about several million people dying — no. But an odd culture has developed that says that everyone has to deal with everything surrounding it only in the most reverent of ways.

And somehow reverence can’t include humor — at least not to most. Why do people look at making a joke about something as trivializing it? More truth is revealed through humor than through most other mediums.

Last night was the last Grandma Mojo’s sketch comedy show of the year. I, along with a few other cast members, wanted to do a sketch about the Columbine shootings.

The sketch involved two characters in black trench coats entering a room with guns. The characters then revealed their khaki pants, and a voice-over said “Khaki High School Massacre.”

To me, this was a very funny idea. I thought this joke was more about the media treatment of the event — which is funny — than the event itself, which isn’t funny.

That aside, we didn’t do the skit because several people felt it was insensitive, and perhaps they were right. I don’t necessarily wish we had done it.

But I don’t think doing it would be nearly as obscene as the spread in the latest Newsweek, which includes a diagram of the entire shooting spree, mapping out the paths of the shooters and where all their victims lay.

How obscene is that? Representing dead kids as little red stick figures and the shooters as little black stick figures is a lot more disgusting than a joke.

But for some reason, we can drool over every statistic, photograph and third-hand account until we’re blue in the face, but we can’t make a joke. What bunk.

Other people also suggested that it was too soon to make jokes about the Columbine incident, which brings up the interesting issue of time.

Some people say time heals all wounds. I would also throw humor into the equation.

Most everyone has looked back on a painful event and said, “Well, I can laugh about it now.” There was always humor in the event; it just took the distance that time brings to allow them to see it.

There is an inherent irony in our society — just ask Alanis Morissette — and humor brings it out more than anything else.

So, maybe no one can define humor. Maybe some people wouldn’t agree with me that “Schindler’s Fist” was a very funny name for a porno movie. But whatever humor may be, I think it’s a lot more important than most people let on.

Comedians are not given nearly the credit for their social observations that psychologists and other lame people are. But isn’t the root of any good piece of humor a truth that we all had noticed but no one had put their finger on before?

So, don’t dismiss the scope of what the elusive beast of comedy can cover, and don’t dismiss its ability to heal.

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Ben Godar is a junior in sociology from Ames.