Pat McCormick

Veteran comic Pat McCormick was one of those second-tier funnymen whose careers enjoy great longevity on the stand-up and TV variety circuits but fall just short of making it to the all-stars. As a gag writer, however, he reigned supreme. Pat was born on June 30, 1927, in Lakewood, Ohio. Already a king-sized presence in high school, he proved himself a championship hurdler. Shortly after World War II he entered the Army. Discharged in 1948, he had initial designs on a law career but dropped out of Harvard Law School to work in advertising in New York City. On the sly he started writing comedy material for stand-up artists and for TV, forming a duo comedy act in the process with comedian-turned-writer Marc London, whom he had known from his days at Harvard. In the meantime Pat began writing special material for the likes of Phyllis Diller, Jonathan Winters and Henny Youngman. Pat's big break came when he was hired by Jack Paar to write for his family talk show. This created a chain rea