Thanks to Carla Milarch and MLive for another Tomfoolery mention! “Fun fact: Lehrer's career as an academician largely influenced is work as a songwriter. Considered a child prodigy, he entered Harvard College at the age of 15. As a mathematics undergrad, he began to write comic songs to entertain his friends, including ‘Fight Fiercely, Harvard’ (1945). He was also a Harvard doctoral student for several years, but took time out for his musical career and to work as a researcher at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Starting in 1962, he taught in the political science department at MIT, and in 1972, he joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz, teaching a course called ‘The Nature of Mathematics’ to liberal arts majors. (He called it ‘Math for Tenors’) He also taught a class in musical theater. In 2001, Lehrer taught his last mathematics class (on the topic of infinity) and retired from academia, but he reportedly still ‘hangs out’ around the University of California, Santa Cruz.”

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http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/10/on_stages_cabaret_at_univerist.html