- Irwin Corey
Infobox Comedian
name = “Professor” Irwin Corey
imagesize = 140px
caption =
pseudonym =
birth_date = birth date|1914|7|29|mf=y
birth_place =Brooklyn, New York
death_date =
death_place =
medium = stand-up,film ,television
nationality = American
active = 1938 - present
genre =Wit /Word play ,Improvisational comedy ,Satire , Character comedy
subject =
influences =Charlie Chaplin ,The Marx Brothers
influenced =Lenny Bruce ,Mort Sahl ,Shelley Berman ,Jonathan Winters ,Bob Newhart ,Tom Smothers [ [http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/linernotes/tom_smothers.html Jerry Jazz Musician. "Tom Smothers Interview". Jerry Jazz Musician, 2002.] ]
spouse = Fran (1940? - present)
notable_work=
website = [http://www.irwincorey.org/ www.irwincorey.org]
footnotes ='Professor' Irwin Corey (born
July 29 ,1914 inBrooklyn ,New York ) is an Americancomic ,film actor andleft-wing political activist , who is often billed as 'The World's Foremost Authority'. He is credited with inventing his unscripted,improvisation al style ofstand-up comedy atEnrico Banducci 'sSan Francisco club thehungry i .Lenny Bruce once described Corey as "one of the most brilliant comedians of all time".Personal life
Irwin Corey was born in 1914 in
Brooklyn ,New York . Born into a poverty-stricken household, his parents were forced to place him and his five siblings in theHebrew Orphan Asylum of New York , where Corey remained until the age of 13, when he rode the rails out to California. During theGreat Depression , he worked for theCivilian Conservation Corps , and while working his way back East, he became a featherweight Golden Gloves boxing champion.Corey has always supported left-wing politics, and has appeared in support of Cuban children,
Mumia Abu-Jamal , and theAmerican Communist Party , which resulted in his eventual Hollywoodblacklist ing in the 1950s, the effects of which he says still linger on to this day (Corey never returned to "Late Night with David Letterman " after his first appearance in 1982, which he claimed was a result of the blacklist still being in effect. [ [http://nypress.com/14/45/news&columns/feature.cfm Knipfel, Jim. "Who Am the World‘s Foremost Authority?". New York Press, 2001.] ] ). During the 1960 election, Corey campaigned for president on Hugh Hefner's Playboy ticket [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/nyregion/14comedian.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=irwin+corey&st=nyt&oref=slogin Kilgannon, Corey. "A Distinguished Professor With a Ph.D. in Nonsense ".The New York Times , 2008.] ] .He accepted the
National Book Award Fiction Citation on behalf ofThomas Pynchon for "Gravity's Rainbow " in 1974. He is also briefly mentioned in Chapter 22 of the Robert A. Heinlein novel "Friday", but as "the World's Greatest Authority."Professor Corey resides in the Murray Hill neighborhood of New York City.
Career
Comedy
In 1938, Corey was back in New York, where he got a job writing and performing in "
Pins and Needles ", a musical comedy revue about aunion organizer in the garment trade in New York. He was fired from this job (he has said) for his union organizing activities -- the irony of which was not lost on him. Five years later, he was working on another review, "New Faces of 1943" and appearing at theVillage Vanguard , doing his stand-up comedy routine. He was drafted duringWorld War II , but was discharged after six months, after (according to Corey) convincing an Army psychiatrist that he was a homosexual.From the late 1940s he cultivated his "Professor" character. Dressed in seedy formal wear and sneakers, with his bushy hair sprouting in all directions, Corey would amble on stage in a preoccupied manner, then begin his
monologue with "However..." He created a new style ofdoublespeak comedy; instead of making up nonsense words like "krelman" and "trilloweg," like other comics, the professor would season his speech with many long and florid, but authentic, words. The professor would then launch into nonsensical observations about anything under the sun, but seldom actually making sense. Changing topics suddenly, he would wander around the stage, pontificating all the while. His very quick wit allowed him to hold his own against the most stubborn straight man,heckler or interviewer.One notable fan of Corey's comedy was
Ayn Rand . [ [http://www.facetsofaynrand.com/book/chap3-humor.html Sures, Charles and Mary Ann. "Facets of Ayn Rand". Ayn Rand Institute, 2001.] ] , and influential theatre criticKenneth Tynan once wrote of the Professor inThe New Yorker , “Corey is a cultural clown, a parody of literacy, a travesty of all that our civilization holds dear, and one of the funniest grotesques in America. He is Chaplin’s tramp with a college education” [ [http://www.irwincorey.org/bio.html The Official Biography of Professor Irwin Corey. irwincorey.org, 2001.] ] .As of 2008, at 93 years old, the Professor still performs his stand-up routine.
Film and Television
Corey appeared occasionally in 1950s television as a
character actor . He is memorable in an episode of "The Phil Silvers Show " titled "Bilko's Grand Hotel," in which Corey plays an unkempt Bowery bum being passed off as a hotelier by Sgt. Bilko. The Professor was a frequent guest comic onvariety show s and a guest panelist ongame show s during the 1960s and 1970s.Corey became so synonymous with comic
erudition that, when aRhode Island TV station wanted a spokesman to explain changes in network affiliations, Corey got the job. Lecturing with pointer in hand, Corey manipulated magnetic signs to demonstrate how TV schedules would be disrupted. By the end of the announcement, the visual aids were in shambles and the professor, as usual, had meandered from his original point.Corey often appeared on
Steve Allen 's late night show, syndicated by Westinghouse, "The Steve Allen Show " (1962-64), whereon he would end his rambling stand-up routine with Allen literally chasing him off the stage."Professor" Irwin Corey's stage persona bears some similarities to that of "Professor" Stanley Unwin.
Corey has appeared in Shakespearean theater; he was one of the gravediggers in a production of "
Hamlet ". He is seldom seen on stage today, something he attributes to lasting effects of his 1950sblacklisting .Filmography
*"
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion " (2001)
*"Jack" (1996)
*"Stuck on You! " (1983)
*"Car Wash" (1976)
*"Fore Play " (1975)
*"How to Commit Marriage " (1969)References
External links
* [http://irwincorey.org/ Official web page]
*imdb name|id=179782|name=Irwin Corey
* [http://www.irwincorey.org/routines.html National Book Awards speech]
* [http://nypress.com/14/45/news&columns/feature.cfm New York Press: Who Am the World’s Foremost Authority?]
* [http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/2274-PROF.-IRWIN-COREY-CELEBRATES-95TH-BIRTHDAY-AT-THE-PLAYERS-CLUB.html Cinema Retro covers Prof. Irwin Corey's 95h birthday party at The Players club]
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