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brooklynite

(94,520 posts)
Tue Feb 7, 2017, 10:41 AM Feb 2017

Irwin Corey, comic who styled himself the Worlds Foremost Authority, dies at 102

Source: Washington Post

Irwin Corey, the comic maestro who endeared himself to generations of audiences as the World’s Foremost Authority, whose nonsensical monologues aped blowhard pundits, pompous academics and other know-it-alls, died Feb. 6 at his home in Manhattan. He was 102.

His son, painter, songwriter, singer and comedian Richard Corey, quipped that his father died “peacefully, at home, surrounded by his son.”

Under the moniker Professor Corey, the self-described rebel comedian spent eight decades perfecting a mock-intellectual routine laced with malapropisms and non sequiturs.

...snip...

On an election-year outcome, he once pronounced: “I’m sorry, the returns are fragmentary, but the indication is that there will be a turnout that won’t come up to the expectations of those who, through their own analyses, have proved the percentages will only relate to the outcome.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/irwin-corey-comic-who-styled-himself-the-worlds-foremost-authority-dies-at-102/2017/02/07/b39560ae-ed36-11e6-b4ff-ac2cf509efe5_story.html?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.678344309900




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Irwin Corey, comic who styled himself the Worlds Foremost Authority, dies at 102 (Original Post) brooklynite Feb 2017 OP
Oh, NOoooo Sherman A1 Feb 2017 #1
Damn Rustyeye77 Feb 2017 #2
He was truly funny world wide wally Feb 2017 #3
From 1966... PoliticAverse Feb 2017 #4
He was probably kskiska Feb 2017 #5
102! Wow! A good life well lived :) Javaman Feb 2017 #6
Just saw him in "Curse of the Jade Scorpion" Maeve Feb 2017 #7
Old videos of him and one new one csziggy Feb 2017 #8
"Corey died on February 6, 2017, according to his long-time friend, actor Larry Storch." FreeStateDemocrat Feb 2017 #9
I thought they both were gone.. coco22 Feb 2017 #25
"...surrounded by his son." Nice one, Richard! randome Feb 2017 #10
Didn't realize how old he was! BumRushDaShow Feb 2017 #11
Holy shit was he still alive? He beat Abe Vigoda's ass. edbermac Feb 2017 #12
Oh, man... I love this guy! klook Feb 2017 #13
No one like him, ever. Thank you, Klook! n/t Judi Lynn Feb 2017 #23
R.I.P. - another lost that defined my generation packman Feb 2017 #14
RIP. Wow 102! benld74 Feb 2017 #15
Professor Irwin Corey. Funny, funny guy. Paladin Feb 2017 #16
... 2naSalit Feb 2017 #17
loved his schtick.... dhill926 Feb 2017 #18
All hail, Professor Corey. LudwigPastorius Feb 2017 #19
So touching.... Thank you, thank you, thank you. n/t Judi Lynn Feb 2017 #24
Graciousness Red Mountain Feb 2017 #27
"Remember, wherever you go there you are!" Floyd R. Turbo Feb 2017 #20
His obit should begin with "However, " Gidney N Cloyd Feb 2017 #21
I think he's been reincarnated. NT mahatmakanejeeves Feb 2017 #22
Shame on me. NanceGreggs Feb 2017 #26

Javaman

(62,521 posts)
6. 102! Wow! A good life well lived :)
Tue Feb 7, 2017, 11:16 AM
Feb 2017

I loved his humor. Rest in peace Mr. Corey, you gave me many many laughs!

Reading his wiki bio, Damn! he was the real deal. Another damn fine leftist gone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irwin_Corey

 

FreeStateDemocrat

(2,654 posts)
9. "Corey died on February 6, 2017, according to his long-time friend, actor Larry Storch."
Tue Feb 7, 2017, 11:37 AM
Feb 2017

Larry Storch is 94 and he was another amazing maniac when the camera started rolling.

 

randome

(34,845 posts)
10. "...surrounded by his son." Nice one, Richard!
Tue Feb 7, 2017, 12:05 PM
Feb 2017

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

klook

(12,154 posts)
13. Oh, man... I love this guy!
Tue Feb 7, 2017, 12:39 PM
Feb 2017

I have the LP of I Feel More Like I Do Now -- like everything he did, it's insanely hilarious.



From his web site:

Professor Irwin Corey accepts the National Book Award Fiction Citation for Thomas Pynchon and Gravity's Rainbow

Thursday, April 18, 1974, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York

Ralph Ellison's introduction:
Thank you, Jack, my apollogies if we're as...if you were as confused as I was. The jury has determined to divide the prize between two writers. To Thomas Pynchon, for GRAVITY'S RAINBOW which bridges the gap between the two cultures and puts the world of manipulation and paranoia within the perspectives of history. To Isaac Bashevis Singer for A CROWN OF FEATHERS and a life-time of distinguished work revealing a skeptical, philosophical and mischievous obsession with human and demonic character. I present this not to Mr. Singer, but to Mr. Pynchon.

Professor Irwin Corey:
However... accept this financial stipulation - ah - stipend in behalf of, uh, Richard Python for the great contribution and to quote from some of the missiles which he has contributed...Today we must all be aware that protocol takes precedence over procedure. However you say - WHAT THE - what does this mean... in relation to the tabulation whereby we must once again realize that the great fiction story is now being rehearsed before our very eyes, in the Nixon administration... indicating that only an American writer can receive...the award for fiction, unlike Solzinitski whose fiction doesn't hold water. Comrades - friends, we are gathered here not only to accept in behalf of one recluse - one who has found that the world in itself which seems to be a time not of the toad - to quote even Studs TurKAL. And many people ask "Who are Studs TurKAL?" It's not "Who are Studs TurKAL?" it's "Who am Studs TurKAL?" This in itself as an edifice of the great glory that has gone beyond, and the intuitive feeling of the American people, based on the assumption that the intelligence not only as Mencken once said, "He who underestimates the American pubic - public, will not go broke." This is merely a small indication of this vast throng gathered here to once again behold and to perceive that which has gone behind and to that which might go forward into the future...we've got to hurdle these obstacles. This is the main deterrent upon which we have gathered our strength and all the others who say, "What the hell did that get?" - We don't know. We've got to peforce withhold the loving boy... And as Miller once said in one of his great novels- what did he ... that language is only necessary when communication is endangered. And you sit there bewildered, and Pinter who went further said "It is not the lack of communication but fear of communication." That's what the Goddamn thing is it's we fear - communication. Oh - fortunately the prize has only been given to authors - unlike the Academy Award which is given to a female and a male, indicating the derision of the human specie - God damn it! But we have no paranoia, and Mr. Pynchon has attained, and has created for himself serenity, and it is only the insanity that has kept him alive in his paranoia. We speak of the organ...of the orgasm...Who the hell wrote this? And the jury has determined to divide the prize between two writers - to Thomas Pynchon for his GRAVITY'S RAINBOW. Now GRAVITY'S RAINBOW is a token of this man's genius...he told me so himself...that he could...in other words, have been more specific, but rather than to allude the mundane, he has come to the conclusion that brevity is the importance of our shallow existence. God damn. Ladies and Gentlemen. To the distinguished panel on the, on the dais and to the other winners, for poetry and religion and science. The time will come when religion will outlive its usefulness. Marx, Groucho Marx, once said that religion is the opiate of the people. I say that when religion outlives its usefulness, then opium...will be the opiate...Ahh that's not a bad idea... All right...However, I want to thank Mr. Guinzburg, Tom Guinzburg of the Viking Press, who has made it possible for you people to be here this evening to enjoy the Friction Citation - the Fiction Citation. GRAVITY'S RAINBOW - a small contribution to a certain degree, since there are over three and a half billion people in the world today. 218 of them ... million live in the United States which is a very, very small amount compared to those that are dying elsewhere...Well, I say that you will be on the road to new horizons, for we who live in a society where sex is a commodity and a politician can become a TV personality, it's not easy to conform if you have any morality...I, I, I said that myself many years ago...But I do want to thank the bureau...I mean the committee, the organization for the $10,000 they've given out...tonight they made over $400,000 and I think that I have another appointment. I would like to stay here, but for the sake of brevity I, I must leave. I do want to thank you, I want to thank Mr. TurKAL. I want to thank Mr. Knopf who just ran through the auditorium* and I want to thank Brezhnev, Kissinger - acting President of the Unites States - and also want to thank Truman Capote and thank you. _________________________________________________________________________
* referring to the streaker who ran nude across the stage.
( transcribed by Richard Corey)

Paladin

(28,254 posts)
16. Professor Irwin Corey. Funny, funny guy.
Tue Feb 7, 2017, 12:52 PM
Feb 2017

We used to watch him on Ed Sullivan's show. Glad he lived so long.

dhill926

(16,337 posts)
18. loved his schtick....
Tue Feb 7, 2017, 01:20 PM
Feb 2017

he was old when I was young....and now I'm old. Had no idea he was still alive...until now of course...

LudwigPastorius

(9,139 posts)
19. All hail, Professor Corey.
Tue Feb 7, 2017, 02:29 PM
Feb 2017

He had a unique ability to authoritatively plagiarize integrated models and synthesize them, through cognitive disequilibrium, into new mythopoetical realities.

The clairvoyance of his nihilism was nearly simpleminded in its omniscience, reaching a conceptualist paradigm of consensus throughout multiple modalities.

May his spirit continue to disintermediate intrinsic meaninglessness across all spatial and temporal scales within the Zone of Proximity.


Red Mountain

(1,732 posts)
27. Graciousness
Tue Feb 7, 2017, 09:42 PM
Feb 2017

I will include him in my daily WTF? prayers in the hopes of including his multidimensional wisdom in my decision making processes.

Damn. Hope it works.

NanceGreggs

(27,814 posts)
26. Shame on me.
Tue Feb 7, 2017, 09:07 PM
Feb 2017

I'd assumed he'd passed years ago.

I was introduced to The Professor back in my teen years, when he was a frequent guest on late-night shows like Steve Allen's.

One of my favourite "bits" was when he came out on stage, walked around in silence for a good four or five minutes, and then started his lecture with the word "However ...."

A great comedic talent. RIP, Professor.


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