Also he worked most of his life as one of the most highly regarded mathematicians in the country. Music and comedy were just a hobby.
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Just to add: part of what made his comedy work so well was that he was also an absolutely brilliant composer and musical theorist. Graduate level musicology students study his work, and he taught masters’ classes at elite conservatories.
jul 28, 2025, 12:13 am • 5 1 • view
BtB good guys episode?
jul 27, 2025, 11:46 pm • 0 0 • view
Seems more fitting as A Cool People who did Cool Things episode.
jul 27, 2025, 11:50 pm • 4 0 • view
I'm sad he's gone but man- what a life. You can't do it much better than he did.
jul 27, 2025, 11:46 pm • 813 9 • view
when did you first hear about him?
jul 27, 2025, 11:56 pm • 0 0 • view
Yeah, my wife gave me the news and I was like "hell of an innings" and have just been singing snatches of his songs since. What a guy.
jul 27, 2025, 11:51 pm • 7 0 • view
👍 👏 💪
jul 28, 2025, 1:00 am • 0 0 • view
saw an amazing story about him earlier today. he planted a joke in a paper he wrote for nsa that went unnoticed for ~60 years bsky.app/profile/opal...
jul 27, 2025, 11:59 pm • 18 1 • view
Behind the Best Buds episode?
jul 28, 2025, 8:39 am • 8 1 • view
And he was universally regarded as being a Mensch. Just a good dude
jul 27, 2025, 11:48 pm • 18 0 • view
Truly the menschest of mensches.
jul 27, 2025, 11:50 pm • 7 0 • view
Gonna have to crank National Brotherhood Week in tribute
jul 28, 2025, 12:50 am • 0 0 • view
My dear old dad in England played me all his songs. They were same age. His work is amazing in the way it hasn't aged. Still funny and relevant
jul 28, 2025, 12:51 am • 2 0 • view
Plus he was super old too. We can each only hope to die in your 90’s after a distinguished career and beloved by millions
jul 27, 2025, 11:49 pm • 68 2 • view
Always knew him from the many times this was played in chemistry. Lovely fellow. youtu.be/AcS3NOQnsQM?...
jul 28, 2025, 11:54 pm • 0 0 • view
One of the things that makes me love him is that he was one of those true masters of a particular art who had zero qualms about giving it up once it stopped being interesting/fun for him.
jul 27, 2025, 11:50 pm • 5 0 • view
I love how the dude was all "I'm now an internationally renowned musician and songwriter, so it's time to go back to my true calling: solving for x."
jul 28, 2025, 12:11 am • 15 0 • view
Nominative determinism is no joke.
jul 28, 2025, 1:13 am • 2 0 • view
And an NSA codebreaker.
jul 27, 2025, 11:52 pm • 1 0 • view
Also invented jello shots youtu.be/NS3pN7hFJss?...
jul 28, 2025, 12:22 am • 9 0 • view
One of the last Renaissance men. My mother used him as an example of how nerds are actually the most awesome people and that we should celebrate our weirdness but not to anyone's detriment. RIP
jul 28, 2025, 12:56 am • 2 0 • view
It was a hoot when I was younger reading through one of his old mathematics papers and realizing it was by that Tom Lehrer.
jul 27, 2025, 11:47 pm • 5 0 • view
bsky.app/profile/wilw...
jul 27, 2025, 11:57 pm • 2 0 • view