Phyllis Ada Diller (née Driver; July 17, 1917 – August 20, 2012) was an American stand-up comedian, actress, author, musician, and visual artist, best known for her eccentric stage persona, self-deprecating humor, wild hair and clothes, and exaggerated, cackling laugh.

Diller was one of the first female comics to become a household name in the U.S., credited as an influence by Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr, and Ellen DeGeneres, among others.

Some of her credits include Night Gallery, The Muppet Show, CHiPs, The Love Boat, Cybill, and Boston Legal, plus 11 seasons of The Bold and the Beautiful.

[5][15][16] During World War II, Sherwood worked at the Willow Run B-24 Bomber Plant, in Ypsilanti Charter Township, Michigan.

[19] Diller began working as the women's editor at a small newspaper,[20] and as an advertising copywriter for an Oakland department store.

[22][21] Diller also worked as a copywriter, later, director of promotion and marketing,[14] at KSFO radio in San Francisco[23] and a vocalist for a music-review TV show called Pop Club, hosted by Don Sherwood.

'[20]At age 37, on March 7, 1955, at the North Beach, San Francisco basement club,[26] The Purple Onion, she made her professional stand-up debut.

With no female role models in a male-dominated industry, she initially used props and drew from her educational and work background as a basis for satire, spoofing classical music concerts and advice columns.

Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, and Jonathan Winters were early influences, but Diller developed a singular comedic persona — a surreal version of femininity.

[31] Multiple bookings on the Jack Paar Tonight Show led to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which brought her national prominence as she continued to perform stand-up throughout the U.S.[29][32] Starting in 1959 and throughout the 1960s, she released multiple comedy albums, including the titles Wet Toe in a Hot Socket!, Laughs, Are You Ready for Phyllis Diller?, and The Beautiful Phyllis Diller.

[35] In the early '60s, Diller performed at the Bon Soir in Greenwich Village, where an up-and-coming Barbra Streisand was her opening act.

[12] She was offered film work and became famous after co-starring with her mentor Bob Hope, who described her as "a Warhol mobile of spare parts picked up along a freeway.

[40] Diller continued to work in film, making an appearance as Texas Guinan, the wisecracking nightclub hostess in Splendor in the Grass.

(opposite Richard Deacon), as the second to last in a succession of replacements for Carol Channing in the title role, which included Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Betty Grable, and Pearl Bailey.

Her successful career as a voice actor continued when Diller guested as herself in "A Good Medium is Rare," a 1972 episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies.

Among her other animated films are The Nutcracker Prince (1990, as Mousequeen), Happily Ever After (1990, as Mother Nature), and Casper's Scare School (2006, as Aunt Spitzy).

"[31] The 2004 documentary Goodnight, We Love You: The Life and Legend of Phyllis Diller, directed by Gregg Barson, was shot on the night of her last performance.

Rip Taylor, Don Rickles, Roseanne Barr, Red Buttons, Jo Anne Worley and Lily Tomlin are featured, discussing Diller's comedy legacy.

In January 2012, she recorded a version of Charlie Chaplin's song "Smile" with Pink Martini's Thomas Lauderdale for the album Get Happy.

Diller had studied the piano for many years and was an accomplished player but decided against a career in music after hearing her teachers and mentors play with much more skill than she thought that she would be able to achieve.

[54][55] Diller credited much of her success to a motivational book, The Magic of Believing[56] (1948) by Claude M. Bristol, which gave her confidence at the start of her career.

On July 11, 2007, USA Today reported that she had fractured her back and had to cancel an appearance on The Tonight Show, during which she had planned to celebrate her 90th birthday.

On May 15, 2012, Diller conducted her final interview accepting the "Lifetime Achievement" award from her hometown of Lima, Ohio, as part of a panel of comedians.

[66] As a pioneering woman in the stand-up field, she inspired many female comedians including Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin,[27] Ellen DeGeneres,[67] Margaret Cho and Roseanne Barr.

[60] Barr, who listened to Diller's records as a child, called her a true artist and revolutionary, saying, "It was timeless, that wacky, tacky character she created; the cigarette holder was genius, paradoxically regal.

"[68] Fellow comic Joan Rivers paid tribute to Diller's early-career woman's point of view, saying, "She was the first one that there was such rage and such anger in her comedy.

"[69] An obituary in Queerty noted her popularity with gay audiences calling her a "strong-willed entertainer who challenged the status quo regarding gender and sexuality."

"[3] In 2021, Ginger Minj portrayed Diller in the Snatch Game of Love on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.

"[4] In 2003, after hearing of the donation of Archie Bunker's chair to the Smithsonian Institution, Diller opened her doors to the National Museum of American History.

In 2011, the Albert H. Small Documents Gallery at the National Museum of American History displayed Diller's file and some of the objects that became synonymous with her comedic persona—an unkempt wig, wrist-length gloves, cloth-covered ankle boots, and a bejeweled cigarette holder.