Here's a great article by Ben Smith about Tom Lehrer, the reclusive writer-performer of many brilliant tunes. (Well, when you think about it, not that many…but a lot more than most songwriters manage in their lives.) Lehrer was — and the past-tense seems appropriate, though he is still alive — a wickedly funny man.
One slight quibble with the article, which was brought to my attention by Mark Thorson: Smith says the man's last public performance was on a fundraising tour for George McGovern in 1972. Ah, but here's the man performing in a very public place in 1998 at a tribute to Cameron Mackintosh. Yes, that's Stephen Sondheim doing the intro…