“Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.” — Tom Lehrer

“Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.” — Tom Lehrer

It’s his birthday today. Tom Lehrer was a staple in our household. Just like the Raunch Hands were. We had a Tom Lehrer songbook and we’d play it on the piano. I had no context for him. It was like my equal love around the same time of Max Shulman, another “relic” from the generation before, whom I tripped over by accident and adored. All that Cold War paranoia etc. I still understood something about that, Evil Empire “Star Wars”, etc. These peo…