Tom Lehrer - National Brotherhood Week - When You Are Old and Gray - with intro - now on DVD

[MegaJakeroo]

I'm a Jewish kid, and Tom Lehrer is my IDOL. He's a genius comedian. I'm writing a song called "The GOP Dance" and am thinking of putting it up on my channel. To Lehrer!

[mbj057]

I love this, absolutely fantastic :P

[Grey13Human]

Genius.

[motorrrz350]

"You can tolerate 'em if you try" so funny'n apt

[Cthlhu4President]

I first found out about Tom Lehrer with the elements song on NCIS

[ScattySafari]

I 1st became aware of Mr Lehrer as a teen in Australia in the 1980s.My family would watch the cheesy New Faces talent show on tv,& I fled to my room to listen to Dr.Demento on the radio.Mr.Lehrer was a revelation.I always assumed US comedy of this era was all Lucille Ball & Laugh In.He was hip,smart,funny & so ahead of his time.I wore out 'An Evening Wasted With' & gave copies to at least 4 friends.If the good Prof reads YT,thanks a bunch,Sir,for giving us such pleasure with yr comedic genius.

[6funswede]

@ScattySafari, I really enjoyed this comment :-) Thank you!

[GuillemotWatcher]

@6funswede Norsk folk er slik høflig. Thank you for the upload, Tom's satire is timeless, but he spoiled my golf last Sunday. I couldn't get 'National Brotherhood Week' out of my head. It's impossible to focus when you're laughing inside.

[stilicho2]

@ScattySafari Yes, it's surprising, but some yanks are TOLERABLE. Whod'a THO'T?!

[Inquisitorpink]

One of the sexiest men on the planet.

[DADIRUCSBO]

and everybody hates the jews XD

[ampdavolts]

You are, simply, truly, sir, the greatest songwriter and truth-teller in history.

Time is already telling this out for you in your own lifetime.

I am the best buddy of "Jack Eljan" (Jack Nagle), and I learned of your songs

from that original record, when I was just a boy, and I loved your work then.

Jack was sorry, but, at least he did your work some justice. Thank you

from today, from a COP BEATING SURVIVOR, sir. AM FIGHTING FOR LIFE,

Reid Welch (see latest videos in ampdavolts, please)

[powerslave10000]

its february!

[mabarry3]

@powerslave10000 But what's funny is that this was actually recorded in September, and he still mentions "May" in the video.

[Mirkwoodelves]

@mabarry3

It's metaphorical---he means "December" as in the end of life, and "May" as in the middle(ish) of life. It's not an uncommon analogy.

[mabarry3]

@Mirkwoodelves Ah, sorry, I've not heard that analogy before. Thanks for the clear-up though. :)

[danitiwa]

Tom Lehrer, is like Weird Al's classy, original, great uncle.

[ixd735]

@danitiwa So true. Weird Al does cite him as an influence, actually.

[storeugle]

Roy Zimmerman looked him up - thank you so much for this suggestion - he's priceless!!!!

[CandySingzGrl3329]

lol hahaha evryone hates the jews funny but not to be taken leteral.

[BossHossGT500]

@CandySingzGrl3329 the funny part is that he is jewish

[mabarry3]

@6funswede I have subscribed to your awesome Tom Lehrer-loving channel and I thank you for doing this. I think you should also include some playlists of just Tom Lehrer's songs, but include all of them (the best ones you have, without dupllicates and I think you would have a lot more people going to your channel).

[mabarry3]

Judge yourself (or laugh at yourself, for that matter) before others. I guess Tom, a NY Jew said just that in National Brotherhood Week.

[mountainmango]

A timeless genius.

[mabarry3]

I wonder if what happened in When You Are Old and Gray caused him to do what he did in I Hold Your Hand in Mine. Did she lose her fertility and desirability... so he k-- ... Just watch I Hold Your Hand in Mine.

[mabarry3]

The beginning was SO TRUE during segregation. and ... the rest is also true :).

[6funswede]

@mabarry3, well yes, it's hard to contradict his message in "When You Are Old And Gray", isn't it? How about sending an email with the video link to a married couple you know? But they must have a sense of humor...

[mabarry3]

Love it!

[colinkueny]

Growing up this was the kind of entertainment I enjoyed during my formative years.

[6funswede]

@colinkueny, thank you for this comment. Click on my (stupid) username 6funswede and visit the channel. It's Tom Lehrer, and Lehrer only, so please read the profile description and use the links under "preview" and "more". If you like it, tell your friends :-)

[CpRegiment]

I'm 10 and commenting on Youtube- haha I love Tom Lehrer- got all his CDs

[6funswede]

@CpRegiment, oh man, did I love this comment? Yes!

[Cthlhu4President]

@CpRegiment you lucky little kid

[hethers67]

helllo liz, still love you xx

[TomasuRikabe3]

Considering this was written before the civil rights act in america...

[6funswede]

Some ppl have been annoyed because of the never-ending intro and end credits on the HQ-versions of Lehrer's songs. They have a point, but if they want this concert uninterrupted they should get the fab DVD, out in the U.S. on April 13.

[6funswede]

This video is now out on DVD. Please read the updated video description or visit the channel page!

[ThirteenthMuse]

And 6funswede, thanks amazingly for posting this great old footage! I discovered Tom Lehrer when I was in high school and it was already long past the master's touring days, so coming across video like this is just INCREDIBLY cool.

[6funswede]

@ThirteenthMuse, you know, the man to thank here is Tom Lehrer, not me. Even after the Shout! Factory release I got a message through his gatekeepers, stating that he is still OK with "6funswede's" Lehrer channel.

[xxiloveitallxx]

he was actually pretty handsome too :)

[6funswede]

Yes, I agree. Tom Lehrer was a good-looking satirist as well as a clever satirist :-)

[johnnydontcry57]

@xxiloveitallxx Damn straight he was. Wit is sexy.

[GodHatesPortugal]

"And everybody hates the Jews"

I wonder why...lol...most be because the noses or maybe because they are communist racist-supremacist lying bastard...

[CrazyGeminii911]

I love his intros. The dry wit is so hilarious and he sounds so dead[am. It's perfect. Also, erede007, YES!

[DubiousKing]

4:53 "When you're old and getting... fat"

[erede007]

Oh my god great idea

Jonathon Coultan + Tom lehrer

[johnnydontcry57]

@erede007 Thank God Tom Lehrer is retired so this can't happen. Millions of geeks (myself included) would die from joy and an overload of pure awesome.

[2Mal13]

@erede007 Let's you and I build a time machine for that very purpose alone. Bring the young Tom here, and have him meet Mr. Coulton.

[yesyoucanquilt]

@2Mal13 Tom Lehrer together with Jon Stewart would be so incredibly awesome...

[dannycraft24]

This guy is a Natural Born Lyricist and a great piano player too! Whatever happened to great lyrics in music?

[6funswede]

@dannycraft24, that's a very good question. The only thing I know is that people read books in the days when this song was written. Thanks for watching the song. Click the Lehrer icon to enjoy the whole 1967 performance :-)

[ThirteenthMuse]

@dannycraft24 and 6funswede - You might want to check out Roy Zimmerman, a modern-day singer-songwriter-satirist who actually got an album-blurb-of-approval from Lehrer (wow!) for "reintroducing literacy to comedy songs". Listen to "Saddam Shame" or "Dear Number 1036924053887" and tell me you couldn't close your eyes and imagine Lehrer singing those same lyrics. :) He's got a similarly quirky, intelligent, and extremely literate sense of lyric wordplay. And a 6-string piano. And he's on youtube.

[YellowMagi]

I wonder how many of these guys understand what he is singing :p English in Norway during this was, well, there wasn't any:p

[RobbieWinters]

@YellowMagi : Note hardly any laughing!

[perfgeek]

One wonders how many "americans" get the Mrs. Wallace and Cassius Clay references today...

[6funswede]

@YellowMagi, lol, you know, if you click on the stupid username "6funswede" and visit the channel page, find the link for the favorite reviews and read that ;D

[mars200125]

This man is incredible! Subscribed to you! :D

[randomstick43]

Haha, I'm only 15 and I love this.

Good, clean old-style comedy.

[6funswede]

randomstick43, thanks. Click on the Tom Lehrer icon, visit the channel's front page, check the whole HQ main playlist and tell your friends about this rare stuff :-)

[Quizli]

I'm fifteen, as well. ^___^

[6funswede]

What? OK, that's funny. Click the Tom Lehrer icon, find the (whole) HQ main playlist and send the playlist url to friends, enemies and teachers :-)

[Quizli]

Was this actually recorded in Norway? Cool, I never knew! =D

Haha, that explains the poor audience. =P

[6funswede]

Quizli, yes it was :-)

[TonPappa]

i love this intro. its one of the few that i smile and laph at. this always cheers me up :P

[Marlene55M]

I might be totally uneducated, but who is Mrs. Wallace?

And to the guy below me: revise your clichées. Goodness.

[Fatherofdemons]

Probably Lurleen Wallace, governor of Alabama at the time this was recorded.

[Marlene55M]

Thanks!

[6funswede]

whitekudu, if this is all it takes to be considered "left wing" I think the world is a scary place. To us Norwegians both the Democrats and the Republicans are very conservative. But many people don't get it, because this is NOT about politics, it's about comedy!

[slchandl]

It's a good thing you made that text at the beginning come up so slow...I almost couldn't keep up!!!

[karnicera666]

He IS the best!

[ArisztidZ]

I have been a Lehrer fan for decades and "National Brotherhood Week" cracks me up each time I hear it. He has his finger on the pulse of America in that one.

Wait... I am not white. I am supposed to be offended.

Oh well. I cannot bring myself to bother.

"Old and Grey" is scary. I am sneaking up on 50 years old!

[6funswede]

ArisztidZ, thanks. If you really want to scare your friends and enemies, tell them about the live videos on The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel :-)

[ArisztidZ]

I have and, sad to say, I have not offended anyone yet.

:)

[ArisztidZ]

... but I have helped to create a new generation of Lehrer fans.

[6funswede]

ArisztidZ, thanks!

[ArisztidZ]

Thank YOU and everyone who keeps this music alive to torment and educate the next generation. I mean, being made to think is so difficult.

I had all of his original LPs until they were stolen. :P

[KeenEyedFox]

one of the best musicians of all time.

[zyphoid666]

LOL this cat's awesome. Too bad nowadays everybody gets way too butthurt about satire like this unless it's not a white guy doing it. Racial double-standards, it's American as apple pie!!!  lol

[DoctorExplosion]

Well, Bo Burnham gets away with satire pretty well, but he's on the internet.

The Mainstream Media would be pretty nervous about the whole thing.

[zyphoid666]

Yeah I find the whole PC enforcement agenda really serves to fan those flames rather than extinguish them. It continuously gives a platform for racism, sexism et al. Rather than people making harmful statements as such the same is achieved by simply reversing the strategy and constantly pointing fingers and accusing people of these attitudes/behaviors which becomes a very similar racist agenda all the same but in the guise of social responsibility.

[KingBobDole]

Is Lehrer still alive? That'd be too bad if he wasn't. He was really ahead of his time and an amazing artist.

[6funswede]

KingBobDole, yes, he is. Lehrer retired from his work as a mathematician and university lecturer in 200,1 and is living quiet-LY in the United States.

[ThirteenthMuse]

Ha! Okay, 'fess up: how many people here got the "Electric Company" reference above? LOVE it! (I knew those songs from my childhood long before I ever knew who wrote them, or that he'd written anything else... discovering that it was in fact Tom Lehrer was universe-bending. Suddenly my mind's ear remembered the voice... that s0-distinctive VOICE... "Don't add W, don't add X...")

[6funswede]

Tom Lehrer was universe-bending, because he is out on DVD on April 2010. Yup, this performance, but in much better quality ;D

[Chimbo65]

Yes,I believe he is in his ealy eigthies

[0RedTree0]

i love you 6funswede!!!!!

*subs and favs*

[6funswede]

I love you too :-)

[darahbee]

quietly, quietly, quiet,.......LY!

[hkfreak]

Conspicuously republished on my birthday, isn't that nice? Including the full introduction to the show as well. This is a lovely gift! Thanks a lot...

[6funswede]

Oh, it's Lehrer who should be thanked, he is the cool guy here, making it safe for an enthusiast to share out some American comedy history on video (in reasonable quality).