Funny lady

We lost another pioneering giant-in-her-field this week. Phyllis Diller died Monday at age 95. Like Julia Child, Diller was a woman who found her calling somewhat late, but once discovered she jumped in all the way. And we were the better for it.

Diller succeeded in a field that was not just dominated by men, it was exclusively inhabited by them. Her comedy routines were the 1950s showbiz equivalent of a woman wearing the eye-popping green jacket of the Augusta National Golf Club.

Oh, wait…

Actually, since she made a point of covering up her good looks with seriously ugly clothes and fright-wig platinum, teased hair, that green jacket might have been a good prop for her.

She also cracked masses of one-liners deprecating her domestic abilities (she was actually quite the gourmet cook), her fashion sense (“I used to work as a lampshade at a whorehouse. I couldn’t get one of the good jobs"), her husband (okay—that one was deserved) and everything she encountered. She refused to be out-cracked by any male comic, and she prevailed.

Because of her relentless resilience, women are now able to stride the boards pretty much at parity with the funny men.

Without wearing a butt-ugly green jacket.

I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite dillerisms:

“I was the world’s ugliest baby. When I was born, the doctor slapped everybody.”

“The only thing domestic about me is I was born in this country.”

“They say housework can’t kill you, but why take the chance?”