On Monday morning, Phyllis Diller, was found dead at her Los Angeles home, having passed away 'peacefully in her sleep' at the age of 95. Diller, a roaringly funny, trailblazing comedienne, has an extensive résumé in need of no qualification.

Even into her elderly, feeble years, she stayed fierce, endearing, and thoroughly watchable. My introduction to her work came rather late—when I was 17 and had just rented the
She, like the other comedians interviewed for the movie, riffs on the classic improvisational 'Aristocrats' joke. On the DVD's special features, there is a deleted scene in which Diller takes a break to tell a Monica Lewinsky joke. In that short bit, she is effervescent, quietly captivating, and, most shockingly, she manages to keep the joke (a Lewinsky joke) from sounding unpardonably dated.

Therein lies what made me such a fan in the first place: It wasn't her big, outlandish moments (as great as they frequently were) that really made her shine—it was the fact that she could floor you with the small moments and the little things, and make it look like a cakewalk all the while.

The following is by the late author Christopher Hitchens (to whom we bid farewell late last year) back in December 2008, in which he writes about a Christmas card he received from Diller. I mean this in only the best of senses: The anecdote tells you everything you need to know about the woman:
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