Legendary Comedian Phyllis Diller Dies Just 5 Years Shy of 100
- Posted on August 20, 2012 at 6:45pm by
Mytheos Holt
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Phyllis Diller, a comedienne whose career spanned over half a century, died in her sleep today, according to reporting from the pop culture website TMZ. She was 95 years old, had reportedly suffered ill health for some time, and passed surrounded by her friends and family.
Diller began her career in the 50′s, rising up the ranks of the entertainment industry until in the 60′s, she was given her own television show, even as Diller still made regular appearances on variety programs like the Ed Sullivan Show:
During the 70′s, Diller became a fixture roasting celebrities with hilariously pointed abuse. Funnily enough, one of Diller’s especially notable targets was Ronald Reagan, whom she roasted years before he even assumed the Presidency:
Diller’s full, mature career continued from this point well into the mid 2000s, when Diller even appeared in the bawdy documentary “the Aristocrats,” so named because of the continuously mutating, ludicrously offensive joke whose variations it was meant to chronicle. Diller managed to deliver a fantastic rendition of the joke, despite being in her 80′s, defying dignity and venerability as only a comedian could.
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Comments (52)
Freebird
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 11:42amHere’s a few zingers that Phyllis was famous for.
Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest home.
Burt Reynolds once asked me out. I was in his room.
I’ve been asked to say a couple of words about my husband, Fang. How about short and cheap?
It’s a good thing that beauty is only skin deep, or I’d be rotten to the core.
You know you’re old if they have discontinued your blood type.
Rest In Peace. Thanks For All The Laughs.
Report Post »THX-1138
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 10:26amShe was a class act.
For you youngsters out there, get a taste : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLwpBLzepEM
Enjoy.
Report Post »RRFlyer
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 9:14amLove Phyllis.
I will never understand the Blaze writers. She dies “just 5 years shy of 100” Why couldn’t they just say she was 95″ She was also just 105 years shy of 200. Or how about just 15 years past 80?
Report Post »What stupid writing.
septictank
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 7:43amRest in peace dear funny lady and thank you for your many years of enjoyable humor and entertainment!
Report Post »deloclem
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 2:27amI remember Phyllis Diller best from when she starred in a sit-com back in the mid 60′s, “The Pruitts of South Hampton.” It was hilarious! She was so funny and never used profanity, unlike many of today’s comedians, and she was still just as funny.
Report Post »Mil-Dot
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 7:44amI usually don’t kick he dead, but Phyllis Diller was a maniacal progressive commie freak. Some of the things she has said about Christains and conservatives was simply vile and deranged. But, it is not my place to judge the soul of another. I cannot anyway.
Report Post »Sharlene
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 12:29am@dean024 Back then they were classy, now they are obnoxious.
No they are not. They were pure comedy without using the filthy four letter words that many present day so called comics use.
Could it be that you don’t recognize great comedy unless every other words is a filthy four letter
Report Post »word ??????????
scruffycat
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 12:27amMy brain was developed enough by about 1958 to start to remember stuff and to have things like TV start to make sense, ha thats a joke actually, anyway there was Phyllis Diller being weird. I remember her appearances on Rowan and Martin’s Laughin. We used to have a carpet shop near hollywood and celebs would stop by and buy carpet to be installed. And I remember some not so good rumours about Lucille Ball but only good things about Phyllis Diller. So long Phyllis…
Report Post »American_Woman
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 12:06amThanks Blaze for paying tribute to a wonderful, smart, and funny woman :)
Report Post »Thank God she will live on through old clips like the ones you included here!
Condolences to her family.
lukerw
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 11:42pmOK… What’s the punch-line?
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 12:33amOnce, I saw her Die on Stage… about 50 years ago!
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 12:34amShe was… never Shy!
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 12:35amA Legend… in her own mind!
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 12:37amShe could do 100… in 5 years, easy!
Report Post »marybethelizabeth
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:30pmThere is a strong physical resemblance between Phyllis Diller and Mytheos Holt.
Report Post »Dejavu
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:37pmAnd there’s a strong resemblence between you and a warthog.
Report Post »wvgirl
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:44pmAre there no editors on this site? I could make no sense out of most of this article, except that Phyllis Diller passed away. I don’t mean to pick or pretend to be the grammer police, but a lot of the articles on here are so difficult to follow, what with incorrect spelling, commas missing, incorrect tense usage. Aren’t there computer programs for these things now?
That being said, I am sad to see Phyllis Diller has passed. I thought she was a “hoot”.
Report Post »wvgirl
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:46pm@DEJAVU:
Now that’s funny. I don’t care who you are. Phyllis is cackling right now. :)
Report Post »LuvsYeshua
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 11:01pmWVGirl, you do have a point. I know we’re nitpicking here, but for a simple article it seems to lack a certain amount of readability. There are too many commas and the sentences seem a bit choppy, dangerously approaching run-on status. Also, who uses the word “funnily”?
There‘s the extent of my ’literary outrage’. Now back to things that matter….
Report Post »NOTYERHUCKLEBERRY
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:00pmSo sad. Another of the great one has passed on. Comedy will never be the same.
Report Post »midwesthippie
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 10:51pm…thanks phyllis…for being a decent human being…most on this website don’t get it. but when you do what you love in life, life is good…
Report Post »TAXEVERYONE
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 11:09amAgreed, she was a great entertainer.
Report Post »Also agree that most of the posting and people doing the posting on this site has been low class lately.
Beck and the people running this site set the tone. Too bad.
TRONINTHEMORNING
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 8:49pmDiller was killer! Not a mean bone in her body; though, when I was a kid, she scared me. LOL!
Report Post »Want our country back
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 8:33pmWe’ll miss you classy lady, RIP
Report Post »marybethelizabeth
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:40pmWhich is why I don’t understand Mr. Holt taking a shot at her, saying she lost her dignity for appearing in The Aristocrats movie.
All because she was at a roast of Ronald Reagan?
What a little weasel Mr. Holt is.
Report Post »Dejavu
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:53pm@Mary the warthog….get a grip you evil, vile person. As a warthog, you know you looooove weasals. Aren’t they your favorite snack?
Report Post »marybethelizabeth
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 10:17pmDejavu aka Mrs. Holt: If that was my son, I would use a pseudonym too.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 8:28pmI grew up watching this “old broad” as she would say. I remember the stories of “Fang” and her uncanny sense of humor.
RIP Phyllis Diller (Driver).
Report Post »JACKTHETOAD
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:31pmFang indeed. She was awesome! I still remember the cigarette holder and the offhand delivery too. I started missing her when…I stopped seeing her. R.I.P. Phyllis. Hooray for Fang! I‘ll bet he’s happy too.
Report Post »Maxim Crux
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:53pmFunnies woman in the world. Her and Bob Hope were the greatest team. I miss the days of clean, great comedy.
Report Post »Texas Hills Patriot
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:53pmA classy, funny lady who will be missed.
Report Post »EBL
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:29pmThose Dean Martin roasts were hilarious.
Report Post »PATTY HENRY
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:36pmBYE BYE FUNNY LADY. RIP okay? thanks for the laughs!
Report Post »deano24
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:36pm@EBL “Those Dean Martin roasts were hilarious.”
Back then they were classy, now they are obnoxious.
RIP Mrs. Diller.
Report Post »momrules
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:55pmJust out of curiosity I tuned into the Comedy Central roast of Rosanne Barr. The filth that was spewed was awful, vile and not in the least funny but that audience was laughing it up. I was appalled and very quickly left for better viewing of ANYTHING but that.
I long for the days of Phyllis Diller and her contemporaries when comedians were funny and not vile.
Report Post »EBL
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:29pmhttp://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2012/08/rip-phyllis-diller-dead-at-95-years-of.html She cracked me up with her wit and self depreciating humor. She was a class act. RIP Ms. Diller.
Report Post »nobull14
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:23pmShe will be missed I remember as a kid watching her in the bob Hope movies among other things .
Report Post »riseandshine
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:21pmBlaze writer…..just say 95.
Report Post »db321
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:27pmReally – she was 95 – short of nothing.
Report Post »MrButcher
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:43pmshe was also 105 years short of 200!!
Now that would be something!
Report Post »PokeySD
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 8:21pmI agree, 95 is a lot of years to live, don’t overdramatize by saying “just 5 years short of 100!” Most of us reading can subtract all by ourselves. This is almost as irritating as “the length of two football fields.” Is that endzone to endzone, or goal post to goal post? Or “…twice in as many days.“ It takes twice as few words to just say ”in two days.” I could go on, but I won’t.
Report Post »crazyrightwingmom
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 8:22pmBut she was six years short of 101!!!
Report Post »Ben__Franklin
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:04pmDon’t forget she did a guest appearance on Scooby-Doo!! RIP Phyllis!
Report Post »db321
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:26pmShe made me laugh with Clean Humor – She was a good one. Thanks for the Memories.
Report Post »THXll38
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:26pmOne of my favorites! Man that show brings back memories since my son started watching it.
Report Post »RightThinking1
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 6:54pmDiller could be ribald, without being ‘dirty’, a quality lost in today’s comedians.
Report Post »As an aside, Scott Mckenzie died today also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdvCqUguIh8
Two different generations.
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 6:53pmHuh, just 5 years shy of 100, that means Brietbart died just 58 years shy of 100. Great lady, I have loved her my whole life, she provided endless laughs and was a great patriot. The world is a little less funny today, but there is one heck of a laughfest going on in heaven. I bet Bob Hope was the first one to great her.
Report Post »SCREW-WINDOWS
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:07pmWhat a combo Phyllis Diller & Bob Hope god I miss the old times.
Report Post »pissantno.10
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 7:08pmya she will be missed and i hope like you say bob was there to bring her home
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 6:52pmShe will be missed. They just don’t make them like her anymore. R.I.P Phillys.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on August 20, 2012 at 6:51pmBye Phyllis….you were really funny !
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