A few non-joking words about the great comedienne Phyllis Diller, who died yesterday at at 95:
One final thing.
The vast majority of people who are in entertainment (including me) are not “famous,” but many keep busy. Of the famous ones, it is not a given that money, adulation and popularity means the entertainer is a nice person. I tell people all the time of two instances that were great contrasts.
The first was of a famous TV star (who will remain nameless) who did a book signing about 20 years ago in L.A. I was contracted to appear with my characters in my other incarnation and walk around the store and mix with customers as they waited to sign the book. The store’s staff and p.r. team could not stand this person. He was arrogant, stuck-up and when a customer wanted a picture of him, her and me with my characters he said absolutely not. NO picture.
The second was of Margaret Cho. I was on her VHI reality show “The Cho Show” three years ago in a segment where I taught her, her elderly mother and her comedic sidekick how to do ventriloquism. It aired quite a bit on VHI. The staff producing the show absolutely adored her and I liked her very much as a person when the cameras were on (which was most of the time in the reality show) and off (less time). Whenever they talked about “Margaret” that day it was with not just respect but affection.
Phyllis Diller fit into that category. Over the years I heard nothing but good things about her — as a person, as a comedian, as a woman pioneering in stand up comedy, as a comedy writer and editor. She was a class act.
And it’s fitting that she came from “The Greatest Generation” because in so many ways, she was one of the greatest.
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.