Yet, in truth, satire—at least satire of great quality—lives just as long as any other kind of art. It keeps its objects alive by lampooning them and, wrapping itself around the subject, fossil-like,

Brief though his career as an entertainer was, Tom Lehrer inscribed his signature on a brainy, no-holds-barred brand of political and social satire whose influence could be discerned decades later in the likes of Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah, and Samantha Bee.