Tom Lehrer - Poisoning Pigeons In The Park (live, 1998).

Tom Lehrer performing at the 1998 concert "Hey, Mr. Producer!", honoring producer Cameron Macintosh. Introduction by Stephen Sondheim.
Buy the full, highly recommended DVD from this concert here: www.amazon.com/Hey-Mr-Producer..., and/or the soundtrack: www.amazon.com/Producer-Musica....
Also check out the new Tom Lehrer Collection on CD/DVD: www.amazon.com/Tom-Lehrer-Coll...

[@Nogli]

"If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while." - Tom Lehrer

[@RockLeeOfTheMounties]

My man.

[@VoidHalo]

I honestly don't know if this quote is made up or real. Either seems just as likely. Lol.

[@tee2567]

@@VoidHalo Its not against any religion to want to dispose of a pidgin.

[@StormsongK]

"Mr. Lehrer's muse is not fettered by such inhibiting factors as taste." ---The New York Times

[@JamesCPotter13]

my new life's goal 'Go from adolescence to senility and bypass maturity'

[@AuroraBorealis850]

Copy that guys

[@hk-4738]

E X C E L L E N T !

[@simonl94]

i totally encourage you to do so

[@VoidHalo]

Goal? You mean all those people put there are TRYING to be that way?

[@qwmx]

Fun fact, you can reach all three and still keep immaturity and have fun. I'm having the time of my life!

[@FSAPOJake]

He literally spent 2 minutes roasting Cameron Macintosh, then turned around and performed this song as if he hadn't just taken a decades-long break from performing music. He doesn't sound like he skipped a single day here. What an absolute gigachad.

[@thebigragu9952]

He never stopped playing, just performing for the public.

[@VoidHalo]

I'm literally glad that you figuratively cleared up that literal ambiguity. I was figuratively baffled.

[@whoknowsnotme]

Shocked me to realise he is 70 here! And was already 40ish in his peak performing days. He has that youthful spark to him here which he always did, hope he's still doing well today

[@diane2644]

He's 95!

[@Agapy8888]

@@diane2644 Wow. Thanks

[@jamespuleo3269]

The Marx Brothers were also all in their 40's when their first films were produced !!

[@Nogli]

"My pulse will be quickenin', with each drop of strychnine..." has to be the greatest rhyme in the history of song.

[@WernerErkelens]

I loved how he paired 'try and hide' with 'cyanide'. Such a perfect rhyme :')

[@ori5021]

I love most: "We'll murder them amid laughter and merriment Except for the few we take home to experiment"

[@kateholland4980]

A true wordsmith. One of a kind.

[@ColonelFredPuntridge]

Or from a different song by TL: "Relations, sparing no expense, 'll Send some useless old utensil, Or a matching pen and pencil!"

[@dooberheim]

He does this throughout his lyrics. No one has matched him as a wordsmith.

[@rosebyanyname]

When you get to the point where STEPHEN SONDHEIM is introducing you, know you’re a big deal.

[@TheHutchy01]

I don't know what I find funnier, the fact the Queen is in the audience for this or the fact it was her sister (Princess Margaret) that helped popularise him over here

[@mkdy218]

He was DECADES beyond his time when he first performed...... and still is .

[@jmwoods190]

Timeless, that's what he is.

[@nogwig]

In a c1995 programme on BBC radio, TL explained that when they first did the "Tom Foolery"show in the 80s, nobody laughed at "Squirrel" bacause, as he found out, there were no squirrels any more in the London parks. He substituted "Sparrow" and got his laugh again. Hence its use here for Cameron Macintosh's show..

[@simhedgesrex7097]

Whoever told him that was misinformed: there are (and were in 1995) squirrels in London Parks. And no-one laughs at "Sparrow" in this video either. It is the case, however, that sparrows are certainly more disliked, and more common, across London than squirrels (which are generally view as cute).

[@theorganguy]

My take simply was that the Audubon Society doesn't deal with squirrels... so sparrows made more sense?

[@sharoncasey92]

I was wondering about that, because the CD I have definitely uses "Squirrel".

[@CraigFarangBa]

@@sharoncasey92 I learned it as "squirrel", so I noticed this change, too.

[@jamespuleo3269]

So, 20 years ago, he sounded and looked just dandy~~~good for him, ~~~and now he's 90-ish and I wish him all sincere thanks this Thanksgiving season, for his sly wit and charm, and looking forward to his next "first time in 25 years" performance in 2023~~~

[@narakagati5872]

His birthday is actually fast approaching - he'll be 91 on April 9th.

[@franksmith8271]

93, actually, in 2021, as of April 9th

[@forgor4410]

Wow, he's still alive?

[@franksmith8271]

@@forgor4410 He was 93 on April 9th.

[@nebula5189]

94 now

[@djpheeze]

Hadn't performed on stage for 25 years. Still got it.

[@sixfingr]

I was very young when I first heard Tom Lehrer. A big part of my childhood, which explains a lot about the person I grew up to be.

[@davedavis7538]

Same here lol

[@sedgieroobets]

sixfingr was just thinking the same. Played his two LPs to death between about the ages of 5 and 10!

[@jonrosen7980]

Me too. So much so that when I started directing, doing Tomfoolery was high on my list. Since 2001, I've directed it 7 times (Santa Cruz (twice), San Jose, San Francisco (twice), Santa Clara and Raleigh, NC) and now this summer in honor of Tom's 132nd birthday we are doing it one more time in San Francisco.

[@noidea8259]

sixfingr me too!

[@stevefahnestalk8500]

@@jonrosen7980 132nd birthday? Not likely. :P

[@manicmath3557]

Everyone watching this wants to give this man a big hug. Cmon dont lie

[@OriginalCaliKitty]

Sure! I've had a crush on him for 50+ years.

[@alaskya7657]

Aged look but a voice as good as before

[@Ocker3]

+Claire Fan Timing, inflection, playing, still on top!

[@alexandersson404]

So true!

[@qwmx]

The man don't need looks to win women. I'd take him out at 96 and beyond. He will say it's a bad idea. When he leaves in December, he'll tell me "I told you so in May".

[@CopiousJohn]

Seriously? I think he looks pretty damn good for 70. Hasn't put on weight. Hasn't lost his hair. Hasn't lost his voice or his music. Now that I think about it, I hate his guts. Let him get older just like the rest of us. ;-)

[@judithe.foester7725]

Tom Lehrer and Stephen Sondheim went to camp together! Can you imagine what fun they had.

[@BobJoeman]

I was not expecting to see him at the start of this video

[@jaycee330]

Well, Tom was a year older, so they may not have hung out together as much, though in later years they often shared puzzles with each other.

[@jonathanfellus7998]

Two more great and Brilliant Jewish entertainers without whom the world would be a less amusing place

[@richardcleveland8549]

It's a wonder that one of them didn't write a song about it! Coulda been as great as Alan Sherman's "Hello, Mudda, hello, Fada . . . ."!

[@Frankflexxxx]

Still alive as of April 17th 2021. 93 years young.

[@soylentteal]

If he makes it to 100, "that was the century that was!"

[@atadbitahistory9660]

94 in February 2023

[@ZippyPinhead2]

95 in February 2024. :D

[@Frankflexxxx]

Keep it rolling Mr. Tom Lehrer. 🥳 🎉 🎊 🍺 It's now February 21st, 2024.

[@richardcleveland8549]

@@soylentteal Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, SOMEone who watched TWTWTW back in the olden days! Faint hope that those programs might have been taped . . . what a treasure trove they'd be! May he live long and prosper!

[@alexblackburn2021]

Lord please let age as slowly as he and let me have as many marbles left amen!

[@barbarabrown7974]

He's so amazing. Nobody quite like him.

[@barbarabrown7974]

There are people who spoof popular music, from Alan Sherman to Weird Al. Mark Russell had a similar voice and played the piano, but his humor was political. Tom did both political humor and his dark twisted humor.

[@hikerprman]

In all of the comedic stuff I write, I aspire to the standard set by Tom Lehrer. I know I'm there when people say to me, "You are a sick man."

[@jaycee330]

I've seen this question brought up a bit in the comments...why the change to "sparrow" (instead of squirrel). This song was written during the time Boston instigated a pest control of pidgeons by lacing corn with strychnine. (Yes, they really did this, and yes you can imagine the unintended consequences of this). Squirrels are not as abundant in the UK, so when he performed this song, the joke never landed. He found out about the above fact and changed it to "sparrow", which are far more common. Joke landed again.

[@caroltubeyou]

My favorite Tom Lehrer song of ALL TIME. I play my guitar and sing this at parties, and it brings the house down.

[@soylentteal]

So this version gives the squirrels a break and targets sparrows, instead.

[@jaycee330]

See my main comment for the reason.

[@Cloudipy]

Pigeons👌

[@anitaosborn3334]

So I noticed

[@MountainFisher]

I looked up his Wikipedia Page and He is still alive as of 2021. He is over 90 years old. More power to him.

[@apollion888]

2023 and Tom's still alive! I don't know how happy he is about it though

[@EdLove]

An absolute international treasure! Smart humour, clever humour.

[@charlesgibson646]

One of the greats musical satirist ever! As a kid, I grew up listening to three Tom Lehrer LP's that my dad had. I have a hunch that people like Weird Al and Sean Morey did, too.

[@carolynsibley1882]

Proof that age does not diminish talent and still so relevant

[@krouac]

No greater topical songwriter exists. Tom Leher changed the world and only a small part of the world has ever heard of him. I count myself fortunate to have been listening to him for 50 years.

[@sendhelp7057]

I love how his age doesn’t seem to have affected his mood or performance at all. It’s pretty rare for people to stay „young“ like that even though they’re not, Tom Lehrer is just impressive

[@StarPlatinum7912]

This man basically shaped modern humor

[@katiukulele]

This man made all his music available in the public domain simply for the love of music. He is a treasure and should be remembered be admired as such for THOUSANDS of years to come.

[@viviancallahan1950]

Tom Lehrer is absolutely brilliant. I loved him as a teenager and I love him now.

[@triciad1701]

Thanks for posting! My confessor taught me this song. He loved it. Nothing wrong about this song. Teaches some truth. Now we could add a line about women taking their purses up to receive communion. I told one lady that I forgot my purse, was I supposed to take it up there. Perhaps ppl who bring their cell phones to church could use this ringtone, then I wouldn't get mad. Satire is a dying art, bring it back! Peace!

[@MugsyNJ2]

I've been a fan of Tom Lehrer since the first time I heard one of his songs on the Dr. Demento show back in 1986. To see new footage of him after all this time is really quite amazing.

[@DIGBYS]

Just genius....he is just genius.

[@annbush1826]

How delightful in my aged insomniac wandering to find Tom Lehrer gently poisoning pigeons in the park! As a Catholic when young , The Vatican Rag” still is the most shocking--and I imagine it is his pet as well (based on his Copenhagen closing grin.) The extended adolescence of some of the comments here will be excused by him but not by me.

[@SmashedBottleMan]

Love him.

[@benchmarknerd123]

He's 92 years old now 😳

[@sophiatalksmusic3588]

What a legend. Maybe there'll be someone like him this day and age.

[@richardcleveland8549]

Every time I hear one of his songs, THAT one is my favorite . . . until the NEXT one comes along! But, it's hard to beat THIS one!

[@caroliceicebabymyassjensen5755]

Can you imagine sitting through on of his math lectures? Hell, I’d even pay attention! I am a survivor of new math, WTH is base 8?

[@san2chi]

It's like when he changes the city in his "Pollution" song! He's so brilliant!

[@rickcorsi8333]

Brilliant! Wish he would be writing now more than ever!

[@duncanadelaide4054]

As I understand, he said he stopped because satire became irrelevant when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize

[@Prauwlet213]

Crazy to think he's seventy here, and kicking at 95 in 2023!

[@mrflappie6553]

I never realised how old these songs actually are. Some of Tom's songs sound as if they could have been written yesterday.

[@GrocMax]

You mean, like say.....'Masochism Tango'?

[@WFO_SonicSpeed]

@@GrocMaxyes, that’s quite the song 😂

[@EuRoWeIrD]

He still looks so well for his age he’s also so funny ❤

[@malkies6341]

[@OGSontar]

Ah, the wonderful and super-effective Tom Lehrer Pigeon Removal System. Gotta love it. EDIT: It's 2021 as I write this, and Mr. Lehrer is 92, and presumably still using a smidgen of strychnine and poisoning pigeons in the park.

[@PRR5406]

Delicious commentary on our most twisted senses of humor and intellect. This man is a true treasure in two American centuries.

[@darkmatterhafnium1522]

glad he’s still alive

[@msvick66]

I recall this one and the Masochism Tango on the Dr. Demento radio show. Miss that show.

[@spacemissing]

The Demented Doctor still does his thing as a stream. I haven't listened, but it's there for us when we want it. See www.drdemento.com.

[@malovela]

I love, love, LOVE Tom Lehrer!

[@tee2567]

This maybe my favorite YT video. Even the comments are better than usual.

[@rosemaryspiota9836]

I went to see him at Sydney Town Hall in the 1960s and always love him, listen to his records.

[@DeveusBelkan]

Well now, it's been 25 years since this performance, so he really ought to come out of retirement again for a performance in his 90s! And I am curious if anyone knows the history of this song. When I first heard it I swore it must have been based on the tune of "Come Josephine, In My Flying Machine" but it's hard to find confirmation of that anywhere.

[@teaching_and_learning]

95 years old and still with us as I write this.

[@virtualcynical8515]

It's him, Stephen Fry, Morgan Freeman and David Attenborough I'm worried for. They're all getting on in years, and the World will be a much Sadder Place when they're all gone. We have to enjoy these wonderful guys while they're still alive.

[@GrocMax]

Oh, he regularly plagiarized music and put other words to them, copyright be damned.

[@michelaippolito2417]

This guy is a genius!

[@GabyGibson]

I love this guy so much

[@jojenkins3135]

Thank you Tom Jenkins (my dad) for introducing me to the brilliant Tom Lehrer. Over 45 years of enjoyment from this man.. his quick wit, humour and somewhat odd but wonderful lyrics set me up nicely for frank zappa ... humour definitely belongs in music 👍🏻

[@dieletztekavallerie395]

His voice didn’t change at all. :D

[@BruceWNelsonMangyFetlocks]

Lehrer has been a favorite of mine sing That Was the Week that Was. I was about eight. A few thousand songs later, I still credit this genius for inspiring me to afflict the comfortable through songwriting.

[@abdulazharr]

Only reason why spring is my favourite season

[@robjames5039]

Its just utterly miraculous.

[@josephberger8768]

He was just super!!

[@manicmath3557]

Tom lehrer would be a great grandad to hang out with

[@stregarapunzel]

Pure adoration for pure genius!

[@Popperite]

Magistral!

[@san2chi]

Thanks! You Lehrer scholars really know your stuff! (I realize that, even way back in the day, he was using both "sparrow" and "squirrel." I was just joking around, trying to get a laugh. I never meant to disseminate any misinformation.)

[@bonitobonita9263]

I wish if I were born earlier and able to attend his concert!

[@roberthall6351]

I sent from adolescence to senility hoping to bypass maturity is maybe the funniest thing I've ever heard

[@DavidGeary2013]

Although Lehrer took credit for this song, it is actually an adaptation of the german siong by Gdorg Kreisler, "Tauben vergiften im Park."

[@Partnerfrance]

Heh. I think the jury is out as to just who stole the idea from whom -- but they are great songs both!

[@qwmx]

They both could've written it separately and it accidentally became similar. I accidentally did that to someone before. It seems a bit too coincidental, but when great minds think alike.

[@CopiousJohn]

Wouldn't dates of release settle the argument?

[@0The0Web0]

oh yes there's one thing that makes spring complete :-)

[@magnificentjosh]

30 years on and the idea of poisoning a sparrow in a London park is ridiculous. There aren't any left. Meanwhile, squirrels are everywhere. Mr Lehrer, what have you done?

[@JWerthan]

So now Sondheim is gone, and Lehrer persists. Thank goodness. I hope he is well.

[@johndue2366]

Tom Lehrer is the best... From time to time I listen to his songs about how we people live and misunderstand the world around us. --- I'm certainly not the first that have seen the reference between Tom Lehrer's pigeons and the killing of, and experiments with jews and other 'unwanted' persons in Germany during WWII. Or am I the first? /JD

[@CopiousJohn]

John- I don't know if you're the first or the last, but I'm not seeing it. I don't think any of his songs are *that* heavy. I am respectfully disagreeing.

[@johndue2366]

@@CopiousJohn We can agree to disagree in peace. This seems to be a solution that many has a problem mastering. Do you have suggestions to other, similar performers I should know? With respect JD

[@auskinboy]

and the other thing that everybody hasn't noticed - no sheet music - all done from that phenomenal mind of his.

[@gregoryballestero4369]

I don't know how this song isn't on every karaoke list everywhere just for the comedy of watching people plastered off their face trying to sing this

[@CopiousJohn]

Think about "Alma" or "When You Are Old and Gray" being sung by a drunk.

[@bliggenstrauff]

I remember first hearing this sung by a choir in a competition in new zealand

[@Estabonbon]

lolololol.. when I used to listen to this over 40 years ago on Dr. D..he sang.. "maybe we'll do in a Squirrel or two" :P

[@scrat4all]

Sparrow or squirrel, I don't think it mattered. It was just he thought what worked at the time for New Yawkers.

[@Cheskaz]

To the park!

[@Cheskaz]

ELEVEN YEARS AGO?!

[@TheDisplacerBeast]

Its weird to think that lehrer is till here, but steven is gone. Both amazing, inspirations.

[@barbarawangerud618]

I have all Mr. leherers songs in books from the 1960’s

[@jdog2112rush]

What Sunday, and what park? I’m in.

[@MetFan37]

I think "squirrel" is funnier, but he does admirably at 70 - wish he'd performed more than one song.

[@isaaco5679]

I really hope that he goes to the park and actually feeds the birds! Just to freak people out! Perhaps with just a few stuffed "dead" pigeons scattered around for show! He's currently 98, he could still do this!

[@MichaelHansenFUN]

seat belt? victor borge reference

[@popepiusix]

Isn't the seatbelt reference a throw-back to a picture of him playing the piano on the edge of a canyon? The picture was used in The Remains of Tom Lehrer (which this performance pre-dates) but the accompanying notes suggest it was taken much earlier.

[@qwmx]

For this performance he's on a moving platform. You can see him jerking awkwardly as he's moving and then he stops when he stops moving. That's not camera technique.

[@brooksbrooks6805]

Sounds exactly the same as back in the 60s

[@manfredatee]

He was doing it in '67, too.

[@nealhurwitz]

genius

[@michaeldonahue5068]

Bet we didn't know this:"Lehrer graduated Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Harvard University, magna cum laude,[13] in 1946.[14] At Harvard, he was the roommate of the Canadian theologian Robert Crouse.[15] He received his AM degree the next year and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.[16] He later taught mathematics and other classes at MIT, Harvard, Wellesley, and the University of California, Santa Cruz.[17] Lehrer remained in Harvard's doctoral program for several years, taking time out for his musical career and to work as a researcher at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.[18] Lehrer was drafted into the U.S. Army from 1955 to 1957, working at the National Security Agency (NSA). Lehrer has stated that he invented the Jello shot during this time, as a means of circumventing a naval base's ban on alcoholic beverages.[18] Despite holding a master's degree in an era when American conscripts often lacked a high school diploma, Lehrer served as an enlisted soldier, achieving the rank of Specialist Third Class, which he described as being a "corporal without portfolio".[19] These experiences became fodder for songs, such as "The Wild West is Where I Want to Be" and "It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier".[20] In 2020 Lehrer publicly revealed that he had been assigned to the NSA, since the mere fact of its existence was classified at the time; this left him in the position of implicitly using nuclear weapons work as a cover story for something more sensitive.[21]

[@CopiousJohn]

Thank you Michael. I learned some things there. I was very surprised some years ago to learn he did NOT have his doctorate.

[@teddaugherty5486]

1:41 Oh those CATS royalties...

[@roberthall6351]

Honeslty and i hate swearing (which he cleverly never does) but F**K ME this is genius!!!

[@EPShockley]

I’m glad that Mr. Lehrer spared the squirrels, in this rendition.😉

[@Sora_Halomon]

So I'm thinking, and Tom seems to be on a radical scale, that being either teaching kids new things (e.g. Silent E) or cynical songs about things like death (e.g. Irish Ballad)

[@spacemissing]

Well, he Does lean pretty far to the left...

[@qwmx]

​@@spacemissing Probably. He was mainly anti-war. The rest, I doubt he cares much or at most mildly supports.

[@henryseidel5469]

Reminds me of the Austrian Georg Kreisler, who made a similar song in German - and some more 'Everblacks'.

[@zevfarkas5120]

He spared the squirrels this time. I wonder why.

[@jeffcoat1959]

Maybe to cause even more anxiety in the Audubon Society...

[@caroliceicebabymyassjensen5755]

Is PETA listening? Or having seizures?

[@xavierrrr]

@Vadergeek he really does...

[@AxelWerner]

Well.. even mathematicians and geniuses do need a hobby.

[@theunrealtimemm]

went to camp with, huh? I wonder if Mr. Sondheim was a boy scout. :)