Politicians have tended to be a ban-happy lot. A humorless constituent, with stern face and furrowed brow, cries out, and the pol comes running with parchment and pen.

This has been especially true in Boston, where the Puritans are still venerated and the Watch and Ward Society originated.

But it’s always nice to hear when an elected official goes in the other direction, and urges folks to maintain their sense of humor, as Steve Grossman, the state treasurer and an ice cream connoisseur, said Friday when the Ben and Jerry’s controversy was broached in an interview.

The controversy is based on the Vermont ice cream company offering up a “Schweddy Balls” flavor, based on a “Saturday Night Live” skit. Actor Alec Baldwin played “Pete Schweddy,” a baker who hawked his “Schweddy balls” on a faux NPR show.

The name of the ice cream flavor has predictably drawn outrage from a group calling itself One Million Moms. Stop and Shop, which is based in Quincy, Mass., has declined to carry the flavor, a move widely reported on Friday morning.

When the Reporter sat down for a previously scheduled interview with Treasurer Grossman at the Ice Creamsmith in Lower Mills, it would have been journalistic malpractice not to pose a question about the controversy to the man who went on an “ice cream tour” during his 2010 campaign.

“I was not familiar with it until you described it to me,” Grossman said. “But it strikes me that we make a big mistake when we lose our sense of humor.”

He added: “I would counsel people who get too serious about this stuff to just remember that a sense of humor is an essential ingredient to getting through the day, the week, the month and one’s life.”

Grossman said he would be in Whole Foods later that day and he would look for the ice cream.

UPDATE: Grossman tweeted that he couldn't find any in Whole Foods and headed off to Marlborough Market. He gave the ice cream flavor a 5 out of 10: "Too much vanilla. Not enough malted milk balls."