Book: The Joys of Aging and How to Avoid Them

The Joys of Aging and How to Avoid Them by Phyllis Diller with illustrations by Norman Klein was published by Doubleday and Company, Inc. in 1981. Throughout her career Phyllis Diller wrote three other comedy books (Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints, The Complete Mother, and Phyllis Diller’s Marriage Manual) as well as an autobiography (Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse: My Life in Comedy).

Phyllis Diller (1917-2012) began her comedy career in the 1950s at the age of 37 and broke barriers in the comedy world to become the first solo female comic to be a household name. She developed a stage persona of an incompetent housewife and dressed in outlandish outfits with wild hair. Her material focused on self-deprecating jokes that tackled the idealized image of American mothers and homemakers. She also created many mythical personas for her stage act including her “husband” Fang, her “neighbor” Mrs. Clean, and her “mother-in-law” Moby Dick.

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