Tom Lehrer
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2020–2025
50:43 · 1.1M views · Aug 19, 2013
A full-length recording of Tom Lehrer's 1967 concert in Copenhagen, mixing his satirical songs with spoken comedy between numbers. It runs about 51 minutes with good audio for its age.
Posted whenever Lehrer comes up, as the best way to see him perform, and treated as a complete stand-up-style set.
4 comments from Hacker News
If you haven't had a chance, give his full performances a listen. He intersperses song and spoken comedy, with the whole arc hanging together masterfully. Think of one of the great stand-up specials. I'd say it "feels very modern," but the truth is that Lehrer (re-)invented the modern form. An Evening (Wasted) with Tom Lehrer (1959, 42m) [LINK] Tom Lehrer Discovers Australia (And Vice-Versa) (1960, 49m) [LINK] That Was The Year That Was (1965, 38m) [LINK] Live in Copenhagen (1967, 51m) this video
If you never got the chance, give his full albums a listen. He intersperses song and spoken comedy, with the whole performance hanging together masterfully. An Evening (Wasted) with Tom Lehrer (1959, 42m) [LINK] Tom Lehrer Discovers Australia (And Vice-Versa) (1960, 49m) [LINK] That Was The Year That Was (1965, 38m) [LINK] Live in Copenhagen (1967, 51m) this video
May he rest in peace. In memoriam, this hourlong recording of a concert in Copenhagen is a joy to watch: this video
Somewhat off topic, but he did a concert in Copenhagen of which there's a full recording on Youtube [1] For something filmed in 1967 the audio quality is absolutely stunning. I wonder what equipment they used? My suspicion is that it's a piezoelectric microphone which had fantastic reputation for picking up a wide range of sound (especially for things like multiple people around a table) but fell out of favour as they worked best with valve amplifiers. [1] this video