R.I.P. Phyllis Diller

The words that come to my mind when one says “Phyllis Diller” are:

• Funny
• Loud
• Sassy

Mrs. Diller passed away today at the age of 95.  Her rise to stardom started when she would complain to her fellow laundromat ladies about being poor and unhappy.  She would have them cracking up laughing with her now famous witty one-liners.  Her husband at the time, whom she nicknamed “Fang”, told her that she should get paid to make people laugh – she had talent!

She would tell jokes, one after another, with her audience rolling on the floor in laughter.  One of her favorite jokes was:

“I realized on our first wedding anniversary that our marriage was in trouble. Fang gave me luggage. It was packed. My mother damn near suffocated!”

A famous quote from Phyllis:

“Housework can’t kill you, but why take a chance?”

Phyllis would always make fun of her looks as part of her many acts.  “The ugly jokes would remain a part of my act because my image was already so well established,” she wrote in her autobiography. “Audiences had bought into it because, facially at least, it had been the truth, and for them it would continue to be the truth.”

The world has lost a funny, funny lady – R.I.P. Phyllis Diller!

photo credit: Jeff Tidwell via photo pin cc