Q 01/05

Which party drink did Tom Lehrer say he invented to beat an alcohol ban at a military base?

A) The Jello shot

B) The boilermaker

C) The mudslide

D) The piña colada

Answer · why

A) The Jello shot

The Jello shot, by his own account, came out of his Army years of 1955 to 1957, when he was a drafted enlisted man who already held a master's degree.

Q 02/05

Which rapper sampled Tom Lehrer's 1953 song The Old Dope Peddler on a 2012 debut album?

A) Kanye West

B) 2 Chainz

C) 50 Cent

D) Lil Wayne

Answer · why

B) 2 Chainz

2 Chainz used it on Based on a T.R.U. Story, and Lehrer said he was very proud to be sampled sixty years after recording the song.

Q 03/05

Which Harry Potter star sang Tom Lehrer's The Elements on The Graham Norton Show in 2010?

A) Rupert Grint

B) Robert Pattinson

C) Daniel Radcliffe

D) Matthew Lewis

Answer · why

C) Daniel Radcliffe

Daniel Radcliffe recited every word by heart on the chat show, leaving fellow guests Colin Farrell and Rihanna unsure what to make of the feat.

Q 04/05

Tom Lehrer joked that satire became obsolete when which statesman won the Nobel Peace Prize?

A) Yasser Arafat

B) Menachem Begin

C) Mikhail Gorbachev

D) Henry Kissinger

Answer · why

D) Henry Kissinger

Henry Kissinger received the 1973 prize, and Lehrer made the remark that year, though he later called it an off-hand line and not his real reason for ...

Q 05/05

Which future Broadway composer spent boyhood summers at the same Maine camp as Tom Lehrer?

A) Jerry Herman

B) Stephen Sondheim

C) John Kander

D) Leonard Bernstein

Answer · why

B) Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim was a camper at Camp Androscoggin in Wayne, Maine, the boys' camp Lehrer attended as a camper and later as a counselor.