Fame & Fortune: Phyllis Diller
Here's a twist: She did stand-up for financial stability
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Bankrate: So you did nothing to secure your financial future until your 80s?
Phyllis Diller: No. Well,
except at first, I had a real good lawyer who had my best interest at heart, and
I that's when I owned parts of buildings, and this that and the other. He was
always looking for something good. But then that relationship got loose and went
away. Bankrate: Your son is a banker.
I was going to ask if he got any of his financial interest from you, but now I'm
going to flip that. Did you learn about finance from him? Phyllis
Diller: No, nothing. We don't ever talk about it. What he is good at is
creating money for the bank. Bankrate:
In addition to comedy, you're also an acclaimed painter and concert pianist. With
all your performing, how did you fit those into your life? Phyllis
Diller: Well, for 10 years, I did appear with 100 of our very best symphonies.
In my past, I have been a compulsive worker. During the 10 years I played piano,
I had to rehearse, I had to practice daily to keep it up, and I fit that all in
with the other stuff. It all fit in, but I never became comfortable with the concert
piano, because you'd have to do it completely with nothing else going on to become
comfortable. Also, I wrote a whole hour, an act for the symphony audience, which
was a completely different act than for the cabaret or concert audience. I did
that for 10 years, along with the other things. Bankrate:
You've been retired from stand-up since 2002. Do you miss it? Phyllis
Diller: No. Bankrate: How
do you do something you love for 47 years, and then just stop, and not miss it? Phyllis
Diller: I go out to dinner every night with brilliant people, and I'll
tell them a joke that puts them right under the table. Bankrate:
So it's almost like you went back to where you were before you were performing. Phyllis
Diller: Exactly. A nonperformer who knows how to tell jokes. Bankrate:
Since you retired, how have you been spending your time?
Phyllis Diller: I play gin
every day. A game I invented, Diller's Gin. I play with Elliott
Gould, George Chakiris and whole bunch of ladies. I play this gin
game with my assistant every day.
Bankrate:
This is a life you're enjoying? Phyllis
Diller: Every Monday, my son the banker comes for lunch, and then we play
gin, and we almost expire laughing. Because between us, we have family jokes --
all you have to do is say a name and we laugh. It's highly competitive. We play
for a penny a point. | 
