Professor Irwin Corey

Irwin Corey
Corey in a 1963 television appearance
Born	(1914-07-29)July 29, 1914 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	February 6, 2017(2017-02-06) (aged 102) Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Years active	1938–2013
Genres	Wit/Word play, improvisational and character comedy, satire
Spouse	Fran Corey (m. 1941; her death 2011)
Children	2
Website	www.irwincorey.org

"Professor" Irwin Corey (July 29, 1914 – February 6, 2017) was an American stand-up comic, film actor and activist, often billed as The World's Foremost Authority. He introduced his unscripted, improvisational style of stand-up comedy at the San Francisco club, the hungry i. Lenny Bruce described Corey as "one of the most brilliant comedians of all time".

Corey was born on (1914-07-29)July 29, 1914 in Brooklyn, New York. Poverty-stricken after his father deserted the family, his mother was forced to place him and his five siblings in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York, where Corey remained until his early teens. He then rode in boxcars out to California, and enrolled himself at Belmont High School in Los Angeles. During the Great Depression he worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps and, while working his way back East, became a featherweight Golden Gloves boxing champion.

Corey supported Communist/Socialist left-wing politics." He appeared in support of Cuban children, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the American Communist Party, and was blacklisted in the 1950s, the effects of which he stated lingered throughout his life. (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.) During the 1960 election, Corey campaigned for president on Hugh Hefner's Playboy ticket. During the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Corey endorsed Vermont United States Senator Bernie Sanders for the nomination and presidency. Corey was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson during the late 1960s and early 1970s.