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 Worlds 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: Im sorry, the returns are fragmentary, but the indication is that there will be a turnout that wont 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
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)He was always one of my favorites.
I always enjoyed Professor Irwin Corey!
RIP
Rustyeye77
(2,736 posts)world wide wally
(21,742 posts)RIP
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)kskiska
(27,045 posts)Kellyanne Conway's inspiration, but then again, he made more sense than she does.
Javaman
(62,521 posts)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
Maeve
(42,282 posts)Funny to the end--thank you for the long run, sir!
csziggy
(34,136 posts)Professor Corey as never seen on television!
FreeStateDemocrat
(2,654 posts)Larry Storch is 94 and he was another amazing maniac when the camera started rolling.
coco22
(1,258 posts)I was watching f troop the other days and wondering,any pics?
randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]Never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]
BumRushDaShow
(128,908 posts)R.I.P.
edbermac
(15,939 posts)I am soooo old.
klook
(12,154 posts)I have the LP of I Feel More Like I Do Now -- like everything he did, it's insanely hilarious.
From his web site:
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)
Judi Lynn
(160,527 posts)packman
(16,296 posts)benld74
(9,904 posts)Paladin
(28,254 posts)We used to watch him on Ed Sullivan's show. Glad he lived so long.
2naSalit
(86,580 posts)I didn't realize he was still alive after all these years. RIP, sir.
dhill926
(16,337 posts)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)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.
Judi Lynn
(160,527 posts)Red Mountain
(1,732 posts)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.
Floyd R. Turbo
(26,546 posts)Gidney N Cloyd
(19,834 posts)mahatmakanejeeves
(57,425 posts)NanceGreggs
(27,814 posts)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.