Have you taken any classes with the professor?
“The World’s Foremost Authority” was born in Brooklyn in 1914, and believe it or not, is still going. This is despite living through World Wars, the Depression, the blacklists he was put on for being supportive of Cuban kids and communists, and panhandling for charity in the Queens Midtown Tunnel.
When I was growing up, the Professor would make appearances on variety and talk shows. He seemed like a silly, crazy old man speaking mostly nonsense. Hosts would find their sets destroyed, or would chase him off the stage. What a great role model!
Here he is on the Smothers Brothers show in 1966, when he was “young.”
A more extended, more recent conversation, in 2009. Still sharp!
Heavy Dude
I haven’t see the clips yet, but was reminded of this gem. Professor Corey accepting the National Book Award Fiction Citation on behalf of Thomas Pynchon for Gravity’s Rainbow.
It’s a stemwinder..a rant, a zone of its own…and something else…
“… 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…”
http://www.irwincorey.org/routines.html