Paul Winik of Boston · Public domain

Tom Lehrer wrote pithy, dark-humored songs that parodied popular musical forms and became a cult phenomenon in the 1950s and 60s, later turning explicitly political for the American version of the satirical show That Was the Week That Was. In the early 1970s he largely stepped back from performing to teach mathematics and musical theater history at UC Santa Cruz, a second career he pursued for decades alongside his songwriting legacy.