One of the great privileges of a lifetime was knowing him, very slightly, through dinner parties together at the home of a common friend in Cambridge. Lehrer was (like me) somewhat hard of hearing. And aging and cynical to boot, at that time. So instead of any praise of his songs, which he detested speaking of, I went into some indirect 'source criticism.' Speaking of the comic and social-critical satiric achievements of Mencken, and Ring Lardner, and S.J Perelman, and Peter de Vries, &tc &tc.
That opened him up! He began speaking, guardedly and carefully, but honestly, of those and others among his intellectual & stylistic sources for his songs.
I had won his trust. We continued that dialogue across several more dinner parties by that same hostess.
He was a joy. A curmudgeon by that time in his life, but a joy if you could find how to speak with him, and listen to him, and give him some things back that he found interesting and not stupid.