Review: Bobby Underwood Is Hilarious in THANK YOU, TOM LEHRER at City Winery

When the world shut down during the COVID-19 Pandemic, many artists' livelihoods were simultaneously turned off. At the same time, a pilgrimage began of musicians, vocalists, dancers, and more turning to growing their social media presences, or overall ‘on-tape’ libraries, since we were all secluded at home, so what more was there to do? I myself started filming songs to upload to my Instagram profile, and one of my favorite songs that I posted was "Poisoning Pigeons In The Park” by Tom Lehrer. In such a time of darkness, I found it witty and funny. So when Bobby Underwood and Zalmen Mlotek brought Thank you, Tom Lehrer to City Winery in Manhattan on December 28th and December 29th, I was brought right back to the world of that scintillating and clever wordsmith, Tom Lehrer.

Tom Lehrer predominantly wrote during the 1950’s and 1960’s, but the audiences at Thank You, Tom Lehrer transcended all generations. Even those in their 90s made an effort to be at this afternoon of dry, droll, and hilarious banter that dove into both the life and music of Mr. Lehrer. With a fully packed house, Bobby Underwood (our host, narrator, and main performer) set up the entire performance for success. With a hint of Trans-Atlantic flair and a perfect demeanor that was a cross between Danny Kaye, Fred Astaire, and Ray Walston (extra points if you know all three names), Bobby made sure that the audiences understood that some lyrics may be out of date, and sure to “offend the ears of 2025”. But at the same time, morbid jokes and vernacular were very much a part of the essence of Tom’s work.

Zalmen Mlotek (left) and Bobby Underwood (right)" height="1200" src="https://cloudimages2.broadwayworld.com/upload13/2403663/IMG_8328.jpg?format=auto&width=1400" width="743" />

Zalmen Mlotek masterfully played through all of Tom’s repertoire on the piano, from “Pollution”, to “The Vatican Rag”, even participating vocally with Bobby at times. The two of them together took us through Tom’s life (being born on the UES), and how Tom had personally introduced each of these songs (as in the lead in to pieces). And with Bobby’s flair for comedy through straightface and minimalism, he executed Tom Lehrer’s material to a T. No punches were pulled with Tom’s jokes, which made them all the more so effective. Bobby and Zalmen even requested that audiences participated in certain songs, but also made sure that post-mortem, Tom still got his humorous say by reciting one of his quotes: if you’re the type of person inclined to audience participation, we’d like to ask you to leave.

What truly made the show special was the human connection surrounding the entire work. Bobby told a story about his mother studying at Harvard, and how her Master’s thesis (who, by the way, was in the audience; the mother, not the thesis) was inspired by a Tom Lehrer song. Bobby and Zalmen had wanted to create this show for a long time and started planning it in January of 2025. They sent an email to Tom (whose email address was as comically eye-rolling as his lyrics), telling him they had created this show to celebrate his 97th birthday, and while Tom couldn’t make it himself, he was incredibly grateful. Words like ‘grateful’ and ‘magnanimous’ would most definitely be apt words for Mr. Lehrer, who in 2022 put all of his songs into the public domain. The show debuted in April of 2025, and Tom himself passed away 3 months later in Cambridge (and because of that, perhaps his ghost is still singing “Fight, Fiercely, Harvard”). When I asked Bobby what made this show so special for him, he said, “Two of Tom Lehrer's songs I love the most -- and I truly love them all -- are 'Lobachevsky' and 'The Elements.' The latter because I love singing patter and I like a quick education, and that song delivers both. 'Lobachevsky' is his first song I remember hearing (around age 7 or 8) and it reminded me of Count von Count, my favorite character from Sesame Street. I love quirky characters, and I love doing accents, and that song hooked me into Tom Lehrer's oeuvre.”

Tom’s songs are as witty now as they were 50 years ago, and sometimes just as hard to sing. Just consider “The Elements”, which is wordier than “Trouble”, “Modern Major General”, and “Both Sides of the Coin” all rolled into one. But Bobby and Zalmen breeze through all this material with such enthusiasm and gusto you can’t help but smile. Celebrating the man who may have potentially also created the Jell-O shot, Thank You, Tom Lehrer returns to the City Winery on February 16th, 2026, after which they will open in Boston.

P.S.- Maybe the more this show plays, there might be an Off-Broadway revival of ‘Tomfoolery’, for which Bobby and Zalmen would be an excellent choice of consultants.

Learn more about Bobby Underwood on his website at www.underwoodbobby.com