The Late Musical Satirist Who (Maybe) Invented The Jell-O Shot

It would be an understatement to say that Tom Lehrer, who died in July 2025, led an interesting life. He's best known for his musical comedy, which alternated between macabre balladry (on songs like "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" and "I Hold Your Hand In Mine") and merrily acerbic social commentary on matters such as Operation Paperclip ("Wernher von Braun") and nuclear Armageddon ("We Will All Go Together When We Go"). Lehrer was a child prodigy who got a degree from Harvard at the age of 19, worked as a longtime math professor, and likewise for the National Security Agency back when the NSA's mere existence was top secret. (How secret? His cover story was that he was working for the nuclear program.) On top of all that, if Lehrer was to be believed, he invented the Jell-O shot.

The story goes that Lehrer was attending a Christmas party at a naval base in Washington, D.C. and wanted to get around a rule that prohibited alcoholic drinks. So he experimented with a friend of his and mixed vodka with Jell-O, resulting in something that will get you drunk without technically being classified as a drink. Although these experiments weren't exactly conducted with scientific rigor ("Obviously, you can't experiment too extensively, because you soon lose your powers of discrimination," deadpanned Lehrer), he and his friend settled on vodka and orange Jell-O and offered these liquored-up treats to the party. And so a proud new tradition was born — well, maybe.

Anyone who's studied food history will tell you that the invention of a given dish (or cocktail, in this case) is rarely straightforward. In the days before mass communication, it's entirely possible that several different people came up with something independently, as is the case with onion rings. So while we have no reason to doubt that Lehrer pulled off the vodka-based caper of the century, he can't take sole credit for the Jell-O shot — he admitted as much himself.

There's a recipe from the 1862 book "How to Mix Drinks" by Jerry Thomas which described how to make "punch jelly," an alcoholic take on orange or lemon jelly. The concept of incorporating alcohol into jelly dates back as far as medieval times, although this would be an extravagant dish for royalty (and a precursor to mid-century Jell-O salads) rather than succor for college students. With that said, though, there's a difference between "gelatin with liquor" and a Jell-O shot, and the latter would, indeed, be codified around the same time as Lehrer's supposed invention. While he didn't singlehandedly invent the Jell-O shot, he certainly played a role in making it the college party staple it is today. So why not knock one back in his honor while listening to old favorites like "The Vatican Rag" or "The Masochism Tango?" Just be sure to avoid a major pitfall which causes homemade Jell-O shots to fail.