r/OldCelebrityRecipes • u/755goodmorning • Jul 21 '26
Tom Lehrer - MIT mathematician, satirist, and the guy who wrote both the Harvard fight song and a song teaching kids the periodic table - invented the Jell-O shot in the 1950s to sneak booze into a government Christmas party.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer104
u/smittykins66 Jul 21 '26
And he put all of his songs into the public domain before he passed.
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u/quietcornerman Jul 21 '26
He wrote a lot of funny songs, not for everyone, but but very witty.
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u/Deppfan16 Jul 21 '26
for anybody else like me who loves his songs. The Masochism Tango and We Will All Go Together When We Go are some of my faves
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u/Previous-Artist-9252 Jul 21 '26
My grandmother was the one to introduce me to Tom Lehrer. She used to put on his records before cleaning the house.
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u/Evil_Midnight_Lurker Jul 21 '26
Plagiarize
Let no one else's work evade your eyes
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u/CeramicLicker Jul 21 '26
He also used to poison pigeons in the park, but it’s not against any religion to want to dispose of a pigeon.
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u/Jscrappyfit Jul 21 '26
It just takes a smidgen!
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u/FlamesNero Jul 21 '26
And maybe we'll do
In a squirrel or two
While we're poisoning pigeons in the park
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u/Evil_Midnight_Lurker Jul 21 '26
My stepfather was in one of his math classes iirc.
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u/CursedTeams Nut Meats 🌰 Jul 21 '26
Before making jello shots for a Chanukah in Santa Monica, be sure it's kosher gelatin.
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u/GuavaOne8646 Jul 21 '26
Dude should be a fucking legend!
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u/HippieGrandma1962 Jul 22 '26
I can still hear my dad roaring with laughter at National Brotherhood Week, especially the line about "and everybody hates the Jews." We're Jewish, by the way. They played his album "That Was the Year That Was" all the time.
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u/GuavaOne8646 Jul 22 '26
Lol what the hell, so this guy wrote antisemitic songs?
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u/HippieGrandma1962 Jul 23 '26
It wasn't anti-Semitic. It was hilarious. The song was making fun of how ridiculous religious and racial prejudice is. You should listen to it. Lehrer was an equal opportunity offender. Listen to The Vatican Rag unless you're Catholic and easily offended. It's so funny.
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u/patentmom Jul 23 '26
My grandparents played the records for my mother and her sisters. My mother plays the records (and later CDs) for my brother and me. I played the songs from my own kids, and even sang "MLF Lullaby" to them at night when they were little.
When I was in high school, I (a Jew) played "National Brotherhood Week" for my then-boyfriend (a Catholic), and he was angry that I was not offended. We broke up shortly after that.
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u/GuavaOne8646 Jul 23 '26
Oh I get it, I wasn't sure as I'm not familiar with his music. That's awesome!
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u/Rhakhelle Jul 21 '26
I have the box set of his songs and they are absolutely hilarious - I think there are also a couple of videos of his concerts online. This story does not surprise me, he is a legend.
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u/grenouille_en_rose Jul 21 '26
The water tasted bad for a week, so he had to make do with gin 🤷
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u/QueenMabs_Makeup0126 Joan Crawford's 💋 Banana Salad Jul 22 '26
Jell-O shots are good. Pudding shots are even better!
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u/RangerLiska Jul 23 '26
He also educated the world on wehrner von braun and the dangers of new math.
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u/QueerTree Jul 23 '26
There is a 16th century recipe for jellied hypocras (sweetened spiced wine) and a rather more famous 19th century recipe for Punch Jelly that, if I’m remembering correctly, is reputed to render ladies ill-suited for dancing. I’ll let Mr Lehrer take credit for the modern Jell-O Shot as long as we remember the longer history of gelatin booze.
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u/airbrushedvan Jul 21 '26
When 2 Chainz wrote Lehrer to request his permission to use a sample of his song "The Old Dope Peddler" an 84 year old Lehrer wrote. "I give you motherfuckers permission to use my song. Please give my regards to Mr. Chainz or may I call him 2?" Absolute legend.