We just heard the news about Phyllis Diller's passing at age 95, and we're heartbroken. She was a pioneering female comedian who inspired pretty much every other funny woman who's taken the stage since the 60s, and she will be dearly missed. Also, in case you didn't know, she began her comedy career here in the Bay Area, working first at KROW radio in Oakland in 1952 and then launching her first local TV show, "Phyllis Dillis, the Homely Friendmaker" on Bay Area Radio-Television (BART) while living in Alameda. She later made her name appearing on the Jack Paar Show, and Groucho Marx's quiz show You Bet Your Life. (See her first appearance on that show below.)

In the 60s and 70s she appeared all over TV, and was a regular on Dean Martin's Roast show, roasting everyone from Ronald Reagan to Joan Collins, a clip from which you can see above.

Below, in a clip from PBS, see Diller with a pixie haircut trying to deliver her first joke to a national TV audience, on You Bet Your Life.