The Wisdom Channel YouTube truth

Putting up the Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel on YouTube in July 2007 was initially a wrong move. It was totally stupid to publish some rare video material that wasn't out on DVD. But by April 2010 the DVD was finally released. It's a comedy sensation, please buy it HERE!

The Ampex Quadruplex recording

Why were these twelve videos considered so rare? Because few whole Lehrer performances were ever recorded to video. A lot of the shows in which he appeared are lost. This was the time when Kinescope (Telerecording) or the Ampex Quadruplex two inch video tapes ruled the broadcasting world.

Lehrer appeared on a few late night American talk shows, like "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson". He was usually recorded on the same Ampex equipment as was used to record the performance on YouTube. Virtually all of Carson's pre-1970 shows, including his debut as host and Tom Lehrer's appearances, were lost to history when, following standard procedure at the time, the extremely expensive videotapes were reused.

Ampex Quadruplex video tape recorder

In England, the Lehrer BBC peformances, along with a lot of other classics, disappeared.

As Ampex videotape in the 1960s could be used up to 100 times, this meant that tapes were reused and programmes could be recorded over each other. It was during this decade that many programmes now considered to be 'classics' were recorded over and lost. But not in the NRK in Norway. They kept their Ampex tapes.

You can watch the old Ampex two-inch format in use here:

Read more about the Ampex Quadruplex videotape format on Wikipedia, here or on another page here. You can read about Kinescope or Telerecording here.

The other formats from 1967 to now

The Lehrer performance was preserved by the NRK via copying to Bosch Fernseh (BCN 1" SMPTE type B) one-inch video tape. Read more HERE. The present and original copy is stored in the Sony Digital Betacam format. Scroll down a page and read more about "digibeta" HERE.

The problem with Tom Lehrer was that he stopped performing in the Ampex years (1960's), and that a complete Lehrer concert was never directly recorded on less costly video tape formats.

A tape sleeping in the archives

The present day Sony Digital Betacam copy of the original Ampex recording is sleeping very well in the NRK archives.

But that doesn't matter anymore, because now the performance is available for everyone to buy. That's wonderful news! You can buy your copy HERE but it will also appear on Amazon.com.

This historic concert remains one of Lehrer's last full concert appearances. He retired into a more quiet life as a lecturer and professor, teaching mathematics at different universities.

There are also plenty of good audio CD's available. And the audio quality on Tom Lehrer's CD's is far superior to the low-fi sound you will hear on YouTube. Use the menu and read the music page. And just to remind you: Don't forget that April 2010 DVD release. You might think you've seen the best of Lehrer on YouTube, but you'd be wrong. The best of Tom Lehrer in front of a camera is available to buy HERE.