July 29: The World’s Foremost Authority

Professor Irwin Corey, the World’s Foremost Authority, was born on this date in 1914 in Brooklyn. Kenneth Tynan described Corey and his routine of double-speak pontificating as “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.” Corey was born into such poverty that he was surrendered by his parents to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York, where he lived until 13, when he became a tramp and rode the rails to California. During the Great Depression, he worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps and became a featherweight Golden Gloves boxing champion. Corey became a very popular improvisational comedian (his routines begin with him saying, “However . . .”) and made frequent appearances on The Tonight Show and The Steve Allen Show. He has also been a lifelong leftist who has performed for many political causes.

“What was the question?” —Irwin Corey

Watch a video clip from Irwin Corey’s 100th birthday party at The Actors Temple in NYC (January 29, 2014) in which he names his four favorite comedians:

Watch a clip of Professor Irwin Corey, 94, perfroming at The Cutting Room in New York City in 2008: