"Professor" Irwin Corey is the World's Foremost Authority on…well, I never knew what. Or cared. After all, just being the World's Foremost Authority is an achievement unto itself, isn't it? Are you the World's Foremost Authority on anything? I always found the man very funny, especially in the days when talk show hosts didn't insist on having every second of their program planned and scripted down to the nth degree. Corey — the man who once said, "If we don't change our direction soon, we run the risk of ending up exactly where we're heading" — is eighty-something years of age and, according to my pal Larry Steller, just as incoherently hysterical as ever.
Larry was prompted to go see the Prof, who performs every Sunday evening at the New York Comedy Club, because I posted a link to www.irwincorey.com. The original idea was to get a whole group together but Larry was only able to drum up one friend and, as it happened, the two of them comprised the entire audience. Larry files this report…
Richard Corey [son of Irwin] did a funny-enough warm-up and intro, centered around an impression of Andy Kaufman doing an impression of Elvis, which Richard said he had done so many times it had now become an impression of himself doing an impression of Andy Kaufman doing an impression of Elvis. He then started to introduce The Professor, but was harangued off-stage by Corey, correcting him with such timely advice as "You've already established that there are no ladies present, so why do you persist in saying 'Ladies and Gentlemen' when there are only these two gentlemen here?"
So Corey got his laughs before taking the stage, and it just got better. It was a fun, exciting and wonderfully unique night for me that had to be no-fun and demoralizing for Corey — he had an audience of two — yet he gave it his all. He went on with the show, peppering his act with appropriate lack-of-audience jibes, and gave as good a show as I had hoped, with a solid performance worthy of a full house. And that is the measure of a true professional. I will loudly sing the man's praises from now on, because no one would have blamed him if he'd given a lesser performance.
Me again. Corey's playing Sunday night dates at that club for a few more weeks. If I could get back to New York in that time, I'd be front-and-center for one of them. If you're in the vicinity, take my place.