EPISODE · Nov 11, 2020 · 15 MIN
Phyllis Diller
from Now I've Heard Everything · host Bill Thompson
Like many of my fellow Baby Boomers, I grew up watching Phyllis Diller on TV and in movies. She was one of America's first female stand-up comedians, inspiring the likes of Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr, and Ellen DeGeneres, among others. Diller was known for her wild outfits, her even wilder hair, her self-deprecating humor, a cigarette always in a long holder, and her jokes about her long-suffering husband whom she nicknamed Fang. Phyllis Diller wrote a memoir in 2005. She was too frail at that point, in her late 80s, to go on a book tour, so I interviewed her byphone.
What this episode covers
Like many of my fellow Baby Boomers, I grew up watching Phyllis Diller on TV and in movies. She was one of America's first female stand-up comedians, inspiring the likes of Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr, and Ellen DeGeneres, among others. Diller was known for her wild outfits, her even wilder hair, her self-deprecating humor, a cigarette always in a long holder, and her jokes about her long-suffering husband whom she nicknamed Fang. Phyllis Diller wrote a memoir in 2005. She was too frail at that point, in her late 80s, to go on a book tour, so I interviewed her byphone.
NOW PLAYING
Phyllis Diller
No transcript for this episode yet
Similar Episodes
Mar 3, 2026 ·44m
Feb 21, 2026 ·30m
Feb 4, 2026 ·18m
Dec 17, 2025 ·30m
Dec 11, 2025 ·26m
Dec 11, 2025 ·29m