"When ethnic groups are mentioned in the lampoon, it's generally a sign of their inclusion on the staff," he says. "We didn't write any Arab jokes" until an Arab-American joined the staff recently, he says.

Kennedy points out that nothing in the magazine directly argues against his politics.

"There are plenty of pieces in the Lampoon that really are a humor forum for his political views also," Furman concedes. "In some ways he uses that membership in a way that's consistent with Perspective."

That's what happened with Kennedy's Lampoon and Perspective reactions to Inside Edge, for example.

But the Lampoon isn't Kennedyesque for other reasons. Most glaringly, it doesn't seem to mesh with Kennedy's focus on "rational discussion." The Lampoon is almost as well known for its drug-infested bashes as for its publications.

Lane says Kennedy once good-naturedly called him a "slacker" when it came to getting his work done on time. Lane responded, "You're the only go-getter in the place! This is a magazine of slackers!"

The explanation for Kennedy's Lampoon membership may lie in his long-felt need not to take himself too seriously. According to his mother, Kennedy has always handled burdens of work and stress by having a "good sense of humor." Kennedy himself insists he wants to retain a strong "sense of self-irony," as he puts it.

Much of the time, he can pull it off. In high school, debate coach Di Michele says, "David had a terrific sense of humor, And he's smart enough to know not to take himself too seriously."

Kennedy says taking yourself too seriously in debate is "an occupational hazard." Debate partner Friedman also says Kennedy "is willing to embarrass himself for the pleasure of other people."

Still, Kennedy wasn't always so self-deprecating.

While Mrs. Kennedy says David has "learned to make fun of himself" and have a good time, as a kid "he only had time for books." She recalls one "beautiful summer day" when she told David to get out of the house. "He went to the library," she laughs. "All he wanted to do was [read] books."

And today, some of Kennedy's friends say his worst fault is that he takes his own opinions as Truth too often. "He doesn't always have the greatest respect for people with whom he disagrees," one friend says. "He seems to think sometimes, 'These guys are ridiculous. There's absolutely nothing valid in what they believe.'"

Lane says Kennedy can be "moralistic," and explains that he's on Perspective and Lampoon because "he likes to gnaw at people, and both [organizations] allow that."

Kennedy himself admits that he wasn't chosen president of the campus parliamentary debate group because he was "too abrasive." Friedman got the post instead, and Kennedy became comp director.

IN THE END, DAVID JOSEPH KENNEDY has been vastly successful at Harvard. But these successes--and the context in which he has achieved them--sometimes betray his own desire to live life freely, to quote from both "In Living Color" and a German theologian in the same conversation, to write for Perspective and Lampoon in the same week.