Latest news with #WeirdAlYankovic
USA Today
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Tom Lehrer cause of death: What did the singer-songwriter die of?
Rest in Peace to the great Tom Lehrer, who helped put the periodic table of elements to song! 🎶 Before there were satirical songwriters like Weird Al Yankovic, there was Tom Lehrer, who wrote delightful and funny songs like Poisoning Pigeons in the Park and The Masochism Tango. He was hilarious and brilliant. On Saturday, Lehrer died in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Per USA TODAY, his friend David Herder confirmed the news to various publications. So what was the cause of death? We don't have that information yet. All we know is that he died at the age of 97. And what we can do is spend some time listening to some of his best songs and to pay tribute to the brilliance that was Tom Lehrer. What are Tom Lehrer's best songs? Here are a couple: Very upset to hear of the passing of Tom Lehrer at the age of 97. I sang and performed this song at my high schools talent show when I was 15. All the teachers stood there aghast, then everyone laughed like hell. An absolute genius and one of my favourite satirists ever. So good.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Late night hosts unite to support Stephen Colbert with Coldplay kiss cam spoof after cancellation
Fresh from announcing the cancellation of his show last week, late-night host Stephen Colbert was joined by a star-studded line-up of celebrity guests to spoof the network on Monday. Colbert revealed last week that CBS would be axing The Late Show from May 2026, a move the network said was 'purely a financial decision' but which came just days after its parent company Paramount agreed to pay $16m to Donald Trump after he complained that a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris last year was manipulatively edited. On Monday's show, the host addressed the situation by saying: 'Some people see this show going away as a sign of something truly dire… We here at The Late Show never saw our job as changing anything other than how you felt at the end of the day. 'Or rather, changing how you felt the next morning, when you watched on your phone, which is why broadcast TV is dying – you're part of the problem, look in the mirror. 'Point is, I don't want this show to be associated with making you sad or anxious. So I thought: music, OK? That makes people happy, right? So instead of me talking, here with a song to cheer you up are two musical greats.' He duly welcomed on stage 'Weird Al' Yankovic and Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda to perform Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida,' setting up a parody of the viral video that exposed an affair between a tech company CEO and his head of HR after they were caught embracing on the jumbotron during the band's gig in Boston last week. Yankovic and Miranda broke off their performance to draw attention to the studio audience, prompting the camera to roam around the Ed Sullivan Theater and pick out the likes of Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen sitting together, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers sharing a beer, Adam Sandler and Christopher McDonald eating popcorn shrimp and John Oliver and Jon Stewart waving wildly. The camera finally landed on an animated cartoon version of Trump hugging the Paramount logo before the pair awkwardly separated on realizing they were being watched, just as Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot had in the viral 'kiss cam' video. Colbert then hurriedly read aloud a corporate memo ordering Yankovic and Miranda to end their performance, saying the call was strictly a 'financial' decision that had already cost the network '$40 million to $50 million.' The host also addressed the cancellation in his opening monologue, by saying: 'It sunk in over the weekend that they're killing off our show… but they made one mistake, they left me alive. Now, for the next 10 months, the gloves are off.' He went on to read aloud a Truth Social post from Trump in which he wrote: 'I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. He has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.' Colbert responded: 'How dare you, sir? Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism?' He then turned to the studio's 'Eloquence Cam' and said simply: 'Go f*** yourself.' On Trump's comment that Kimmel was 'next,' Colbert said: 'Nope, no, no. Absolutely not. Kimmel, I am the martyr. There's only room for one on this cross.' He went on to make good on his promise that the gloves are off by commenting in reference to the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein furore: 'The only other story out there, it's kind of a small one. The president was buddies with a pedophile.' Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Comedian, soldier, and mathematician Tom Lehrer dies at 97
Tom Lehrer, the social satirist and mathematics professor who used music to poke at the world, died this weekend at the age of 97. Known for songs such as 'The Vatican Rag,' 'Poisoning Pigeons in the Park' and 'The Elements,' his music remained comedy staples for decades after he recorded them and influenced performers such as Weird Al Yankovic. He also was a former enlisted soldier, whose time in the U.S. Army influenced much of his musical repertoire. The mathematician and satirist died on Saturday, July 26 at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to his friend David Herder. Thomas Lehrer was born April 9, 1928. He studied piano as a child and, as a prodigy, attended Harvard at the age of 15. He earned a bachelor's and a master's degree in mathematics and became a teacher, along with working as a researcher at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. He also began recording music, often comedy songs with a satirical bent, selling copies as word of mouth began to pick up. And then he was drafted. The songwriting mathematician with a master's degree joined the U.S. Army as an enlisted soldier in 1955. He spent his two years in the Army secretly working for the National Security Administration, which was classified at the time. He reached the rank of Specialist Third Class — or as he later remarked, 'corporal without portfolio' — and left the Army in 1957 to go back to teaching and recording. Lehrer began touring and recorded more albums, featuring some of his most iconic songs, such as 'The Masochism Tango,' 'Send the Marines' and 'We Will All Go Together When We Go.' He also worked as a songwriter and performer for several television shows before stepping back from the music scene in the 1970s to focus on academics. He wrote comedic songs, but almost all of them had a dark edge. Death and conflict played a common role in his lyrics, with the threat of nuclear war and annihilation in particular hanging over his work. During the Space Race he also took the time to lambast Werhner von Braun, the Nazi rocket scientist brought over by the military in Operation Paperclip and a major leader at NASA. 'Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?'/'That's not my department,' says Wernher von Braun,' Lehrer sang. Top Stories This Week Culture Top Air Force enlisted leader apologizes for uniform slip-up Top Air Force enlisted leader apologizes for uniform slip-up By Jeff Schogol Culture An Army pilot and mechanic switched units for a week. Here's how that went. An Army pilot and mechanic switched units for a week. Here's how that went. By Patty Nieberg News Air Force Global Strike Command suspends use of M18 pistol after airman's death Air Force Global Strike Command suspends use of M18 pistol after airman's death By Jeff Schogol His time in the Army influenced his works. In his 1959 live album 'An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer,' he joked that, now a civilian again, he is 'now, of course, in the radioactive reserve'; it was after all the 1950s and soldiers were regularly involved in rather large nuclear tests. 'And, the usual jokes about the Army aside, one of the many fine things one has to admit is the way that the Army has carried the American democratic ideal to its logical conclusion, in the sense that not only do they prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, creed, and color, but also on the grounds of ability,' Lehrer said as an introduction to his song 'It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier,' which he said he wrote during his service and claimed to have submitted it as a contender for the Army's official song. The track poked fun at all walks of soldiers, from intellectuals to school dropouts to career-minded officers and bad mess cooks. His military career also had one notable distinction. While in the Army and assigned to a naval base in Washington, D.C., Lehrer claims to have helped invent the modern version of the Jell-O shot. Versions had existed for years, but according to Lehrer, he combined alcohol with pre-flavored Jell-O mix. It was Christmas and he helped through a party. 'The rules said no alcoholic beverages were allowed. And we wanted to have a little party, so this friend and I spent an evening experimenting with Jell-O. It wasn't a beverage,' he told SF Weekly in 2000. 'We finally decided that orange Jell-O and vodka was the best,' he continued. Lehrer retired from teaching in 2001. He viewed his musical career as brief, noting he only wrote and recorded 37 songs in two decades. However his songs inspired several comedians and musicians, including Weird Al Yankovic. On Instagram, Yankovic wrote 'My last living musical hero is still my hero but unfortunately no longer living. RIP to the great, great Mr. Tom Lehrer.' Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Stephen Colbert has ideas about why Paramount might be short on cash
Stephen Colbert returned to the stage of the Ed Sullivan Theater last night, speaking publicly for the first time since sharing the news that The Late Show would be history come May 2026. 'Cancel culture has gone too far,' Colbert joked at the top of his monologue. But overall, Colbert used the stage to continue to mock his parent company Paramount and Donald Trump. 'Over the weekend, it sunk in that they are killing off our show. But they made one mistake: they left me alive. And now for the next ten months the gloves are off.' Looking directly into the camera, Colbert told President Trump, 'go fuck yourself.' 'People have been speculating about the timing of this decision from Paramount,' Colbert said, referencing his criticism of the network last Monday. 'CBS, who I want to reiterate have always been great partners, put out a statement saying very nice things about me and about the show, and thank you to them for that' Colbert continued. 'They clarified that the cancellation was 'purely a financial decision'… but how could it be a financial decision when it was number one in ratings?' he said, going on to reference the supposed losses of $40 million. 'I could see us losing $24 million, but where would Paramount have possibly spent the other $16 million—oh, yeah.' Later, Colbert welcomed who else but 'Weird Al' Yankovic and Lin-Manuel Miranda to the stage to perform 'Viva La Vida' by Coldplay. Not a parody of 'Viva La Vida,' just the actual song as the camera shifted to the audience to parody last week's viral, marriage-ruining kiss cam. The bit brought in cameos from Anderson Cooper, Andy Cohen, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Christopher McDonald and Adam Sandler before depicting an animation of Trump and the Paramount logo. And once the spotlight shifts to them, the song is canceled, for financial reasons. Colbert's two main guests for the evening, Sandra Oh and Dave Franco, also both praised the host at the top of their interviews, something we'd wager we'll be seeing a lot more of between now and May. 'I am so sorry and saddened and properly outraged for the cancellation of late night here,' Oh began, voice somewhat shaking. 'Not only for yourself and for this entire family here, but for what it means [for] where we are in our culture, and what it means for free speech.' Oh then wishes a plague on both the houses of CBS and Paramount. Franco referenced the situation less directly, simply calling Colbert an 'absolute legend' and saying that everything he touches turns to gold. More from A.V. Club Eddington breaks COVID cinema out of quarantine E! News gets the axe again Infamously thin-skinned president takes South Park's bait Solve the daily Crossword
Straits Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Funnyman Weird Al Yankovic enjoys rock-star moment at sold-out Madison Square Garden debut
Find out what's new on ST website and app. Weird Al Yankovic performing during his show at New York's Madison Square Garden on July 12. The comedy musician has sold more than 12 million albums. NEW YORK – When Weird Al Yankovic, America's foremost song parodist for the past 40 years, took the stage for his first Madison Square Garden show on July 12, his accordion got its own ovation. 'Are you ready to polka ? ' he shouted, and the sold-out crowd cheered as he dived into an altered medley of hits. With videos and elaborate costumes, the Bigger & Weirder 2025 Tour showcased the comedy musician's enduringly singular, lampoonery-filled pop-culture stardom. Along with his signature instrument, he played the keyboard, melodica and harmonica. And with a tight backing band – many of the members have been with him for decades – he performed some of his biggest numbers: his first single My Bologna from 1979 (to the tune of The Knack's My Sharona); Like A Surgeon (a la Madonna's Like A Virgin, but in scrubs) and Smells Like Nirvana, in full Kurt Cobain grunge regalia. At 65, Yankovic still commands the stage like a natural-born rocker, with high kicks and the panache to pull off what few other artistes can (including a fat suit). During Eat It, a riff on Michael Jackson's Beat It, audience members – many in Hawaiian shirts and sporting curly locks – were on their feet. Even a seen-it-all security guard danced. For White & Nerdy, Yankovic arrived via scooter, to the thump of Chamillionaire's Ridin'. Father-son pairs, arm-in-arm, knew every lyric. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore S'pore's domestic recycling rate drops to all time low of 11% Singapore HDB launches 10,209 BTO and balance flats, as priority scheme for singles kick in Business Singapore's digital banks finding their niche in areas like SMEs as they narrow losses in 2024 Asia Japan Prime Minister Ishiba to resign by August, Mainichi newspaper reports World Trump says US will charge 19% tariff on goods from Philippines, down from 20% Singapore Two found dead after fire in Toa Payoh flat Singapore 2 foreigners arrested for shop theft at Changi Airport Singapore Ports and planes: The 2 Singapore firms helping to keep the world moving He has sold more than 12 million albums and won five Grammy s. He had a No. 1 album in 2014 with Mandatory Fun. His career has, surprisingly, continued to surge. Amid the jokes during his Madison Square Garden show, he took time to savour his achievements. 'Oftentimes , b ig moments in your life come and go so quickly that you can't really enjoy them while you're in them,' he said, pausing as the arena's house lights rose. The tour, with a Star Wars-themed finale involving storm troopers and R2-D2, is his biggest production ever. But it is not all pastiche: He did some original (and funny) numbers, and a cover of Paul Simon's You Can Call Me Al that showed off Yankovic's tenor and rhythm. His 2014 song Word Crimes – a parody of Blurred Lines that criticises bad grammar ('I don't want your drama/If you really wanna/Leave out that Oxford comma') – is like an ethos: Get the words right. That's joy. NYTIMES
