The Comedian
In 1955, the playground at Edison Elementary School, in Alameda, California, would have been a rollicking place. One of the moms just knew how to get a laugh, she always had the ladies rolling. She was the housewife from Ohio, the one with five kids. The one with the husband who wasn’t so great.
Soon, Mrs. Phyllis Driver Diller would be known for other things. The Gong Show, for one. Laugh-In, Hollywood Squares, those Bob Hope movies, the tv specials, the USO shows. Hell, she even had a memorable turn in Scooby-Doo. Of course, that kind of journey doesn’t just happen. It takes piano lessons, a woody station wagon, the support of the PTA, a working phone line, and a half dozen or so Sherwoods. Here, the story of how Phyllis Diller got her start.