‘My songs spread like herpes’: why did satirical genius Tom Lehrer swap worldwide fame for obscurity?

Tom is one of the only celebrities I’ve gotten to know well. And if you know him, you would see how completely unsuited he is to the modern entertainment industry. An absolutely lovely man with a number of consuming passions.

First is his music. He would discredit his old folk comedy pieces as simple and clever little ditties that weren’t worth the fame they had brought. He is also a wonderful math teacher. Then there is his love for the American musical.

We met at UC Santa Cruz in like 1989. He would split his year back then between teaching math at Harvard and musical theater in Santa Cruz. I was one of the young actors on campus and I couldn’t believe it when he called himself my biggest fan.

In a 10 week course we performed eight musicals with scripts in hand, from Gilbert and Sullivan operettas to the big hits of the 70s. He would accompany us on piano, singing along. One of my best performances ever was as the MC in Cabaret with Tom backing me up. A dream come true.

His very favorite story about himself was how he attended summer camp as an eight year old and shared a cabin with Stephen Sondheim, who he considered an absolute titan.

My parents always thought that me going into the performing arts was kind of a waste until they met Tom and gushed like schoolgirls over him and his compliments toward me.