Funny Musicians: Victor Borge and Tom Lehrer

Long before Weird Al and YouTube, performers were mixing comedy and music for big laughs. This hub is on two of them: Victor Borge and Tom Lehrer.

Born in Copenhagen, Borge trained as a serious musician. He won a scholarship when he was only eight years old, in Copenhagen. He later studied in Berlin.

Once grown and educated, however, Borge preferred music halls and comedy to concert venues. In the 1930s, he got a lot of laughs imitating Adolf Hitler--until Hitler invaded Denmark. Borge fled to the U.S.

Almost immediately, he got gigs on a radio show hosted by Bing Crosby, which led to his own radio show. Borge then opened a Broadway production called "Comedy in Music," which ran an unbelievable 850 performances--a record for a one-man show.

What was so funny about him? Borge had a wonderful way of looking at things with fresh eyes. Sight gags, as well as musical jokes, are common. And like many brilliant people who learn English as a second language, Borge became an absolute master of English. His "Phonetic Punctuation" was one of his most successful routines--watch the video, where he explains it to Dean Martin.

The New York Times(12/25/2000) recalled Borge's"stories about his father, or his grandfather, who invented a soft drink called 3-Up, then improved it to 4-Up and 5-Up, marketed it as 6-Up and died brokenhearted when it was not a success."

By contrast, Tom Lehrer was rarely so gentle--though he could be just as silly.

Many of Lehrer's songs used biting political satire to make their point--such as the faux patriotic ditty at right, "So Long Mom, I'm off to Drop the Bomb!"

Other pieces mixed unlikely musical styles with the last thing you'd expect. Lehrer took the melody from "(I am the very model of ) A Modern Major-General" by Gilbert and Sullivan, for instance, and paired it up with a recitation of "The Elements" (some of the elements were made up.) Or, when poking relatively gentle fun at the Catholic Church, he used a honky tonk ragtime rhythm and called it "Vatican Rag" (Ave Maria, Gee it's good to see ya, doin' the Vatican Rag!)

Lehrer had a dual career: he studied mathematics at Harvard, and taught the subject at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). As a student, he began dashing off song parodies to amuse his friends. After graduating, he produced his own record of songs that made fun of certain genres, especially sentimental ballads (this was in the early 1950s). He was successful and went on tour.

Lehrer expanded his repertoire, adding topics from the news: the Cold War, nuclear proliferation, pollution, etc. He took on intolerance in the song "National Brotherhood Week, with lyrics like:

"National Brotherhood Week, National Brotherhood Week,

It's National Everyone-Smile-At-One-Another-Hood Week.

Be nice to people who

Are inferior to you.

It's only for a week, so have no fear;

Be grateful that it doesn't last all year!"

Victor Borge died in December 2000, at the ripe age of 91--just a few months after the death of his wife of 47 years, Sanna. He continued performing--and doing slapstick--until his last year.

Tom Lehrer is still around, but lies low. He claims to have invented the Jell-o shot. When the Sydney Morning Herald asked him in 2003 if he wanted to write more satires, he replied, "I don't want to satirise George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporise them."

Well, maybe he's not lying too low.