Marketing the Persona

The jokes in Phyllis Diller’s Gag File, which she describes as “a thousand one-liners,” reached audiences through her lively stand-up performances. But she found yet another outlet for the material by publishing it in a series of books on aspects of domestic life. The first was Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints in 1966. This was followed a year later by Phyllis Diller’s Marriage Manual, then 1969’s The Complete Mother, and 1981’s The Joys of Aging & How to Avoid Them.