Professor Backwards

James Edmondson, Sr., known onstage as Professor Backwards, was a vaudeville comic who performed on television from the 1950s into the early 1970s. His résumé includes spots on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Dean Martin Show, and The Mike Douglas Show. In addition to ordinary stand‑up, his routine highlighted his skill at writing scripts upside‑down or reversed, spelling and speaking words backwards, and reading an inverted blackboard with perfect accuracy.