“The World’s Foremost Authority” 93-Year Old Comic Legend Professor Irwin Corey

Professor Irwin 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 clown with a college education.

He established his "professor" character — wearing black tails, a string tie, sneakers and a scarecrow hairdo — back in the 1940s and used it on television and in comedy clubs, nightclubs and concert halls worldwide. He was a talk show and sitcom staple and a skilled actor who said he began on Broadway in 1943 and whose film career includes work with Jackie Gleason and Woody Allen.

"Professor Irwin Corey may not be a familiar name to the young people of today, but he’s a landmark. Beginning in the 30s, he singlehandedly, I dare say, invented improvisational comedy as we know it. Corey doesn’t script his act-he just goes onstage and riffs. But he more than riffs. As ‘The World’s Foremost Authority,’ he lectures in a rambling mishmash of important-sounding double-talk (injected with wise one-liners) that at least seems to be about something very important.” — Jim Knipfel

“One of the most brilliant comedians of all time” — Lenny Bruce