Lentorama 2009: Great(?) Moments in Catholics on Television

Sometime in 1965: Tom Lehrer debuts "The Vatican Rag" on That Was the Week That Was

Based on a British show of the same name, TW3 was the first notable attempt to televise a satirical news program on US network TV. It was a qualified success, as its notable cast (including Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Alan Alda and Buck Henry) didn't keep it from a short run, airing from January 1964 to May 1965 on NBC.

One of the contributors to the show was Tom Lehrer, a Harvard-educated musician and mathematician who specialized in parodies using well-known tunes with new lyrics. He contributed several songs to the program, and in honor of Vatican II he came up with "The Vatican Rag," which really doesn't have much to do with the council but is pretty damn funny regardless.

You can watch his performance of the song here.