Encore Presents Stand-Up Comedy

STAND-UP COMEDY

Our Encore series explores the connection between food and the performing arts.

In honor of National Tell A Joke Day (August 16), we’re sharing how food has played a role in the life of famous comedian, Phyllis (Driver) Diller.

Comedienne Phyllis Driver, better known by her stage name of Phyllis Diller, took the stage in a time where female comics were a rarity. Best known for her eccentric stage persona, her self-deprecating humor, her wild hair and clothes, and her exaggerated, cackling laugh, Diller was a groundbreaking standup comic – one of the first female comics to become a household name in the U.S. She paved the way for Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr, and Ellen DeGeneres, among others, who credit her influence.

With the encouragement of her husband, Diller made her debut as a stand-up comedian in 1955 at age 37 in the basement of the San Francisco

North Beach club, The Purple Onion. Her two-week booking stretched to 89 consecutive weeks! To make it in a man’s world, she made jokes about things that would be nonthreatening – motherhood, housework, and cooking.

Despite her comedy act describing how terrible she was in the kitchen, Phyllis Diller was a really wonderful cook, with recipes of hers printed in books and magazines for many years. In a recorded interview with Roseanne Bar, the two met at Diller’s home, preparing spaghetti with ingredients fresh from the garden.

What Diller was really famous for was her chili. It was so good, it was put in cans and sold in grocery stores as Phyllis Diller’s Philli Dilli Chilli and she was touted as the Crusader for Great Tasting Food. The label described it as filler-free (“It took Diller to remove the filler”) with all natural ingredients, no sugar, preservatives, or unpronounceable ingredients. In 1989, another comedian, David Letterman, made fun of her chili during a skit of terrible grocery store finds. Her chili was actually quite good – Letterman never tasted it but the skit did get Diller some free publicity!

Don’t be surprised to find us honoring Phyllis Diller this month with dishes like pickled onions (as homage to her start at The Purple Onion), spaghetti, and chili. We hope to have your mouth smiling inside and out! EXCLUSIVE