The group's first significant break came in the summer of 1957 when comedienne Phyllis Diller had to cancel an engagement at The Purple Onion, a small San Francisco night club, and Werber talked the management into hiring the untested trio for a week.
The film is intercut with reminiscences by Bill Cosby, Maya Angelou (who started at Banducci's club performing Caribbean songs and patter with a Caribbean accent) and Phyllis Diller.
Between 1965 and 1969 he worked extensively in the Los Angeles recording studios, principally for NBC, where he played in the television orchestras for The Pat Boone Show, The Jerry Lewis Show, The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Smothers Brothers Show, and The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.
He impersonated many famous actresses and singers including Pearl Bailey, Josephine Baker, Tallulah Bankhead, Fanny Brice, Carol Channing, Cher, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Phyllis Diller, Hermione Gingold, Hildegarde, Eartha Kitt, Ethel Merman, Barbra Streisand, Kay Thompson, and Mae West.
Phyllis Diller | Phyllis Schlafly | Barry Diller | Phyllis Treigle | Phyllis Curtin | Phyllis Hyman | Phyllis Reynolds Naylor | Phyllis Dixey | Phyllis Dare | Phyllis Bottome | Phyllis Avery | Phyllis Smith | Phyllis Newman | Phyllis King | Phyllis Coates | Phyllis Chesler | Phyllis Bedells | Phyllis Wallbank | Phyllis Tickle | Phyllis Thede | Phyllis Sellick | Phyllis Rose | Phyllis Pearsall | Phyllis Nelson | Phyllis Mundy | Phyllis Munday | Phyllis McDonagh | Phyllis McCarthy | Phyllis Konstam | Phyllis Kahn |
Among the overseas guests she has appeared with are Phyllis Diller, George Burns and Danny La Rue.
Over the years Cassella has interviewed comedy legends such as Phyllis Diller, Bea Arthur and Joan Rivers, as well as performers such as William H. Macy, Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, Robert Downey, Jr., Laura Linney, Eartha Kitt and k.d. lang.
The episode featured guest performances by Jon Benjamin, Max Burkholder, Phyllis Diller, Phil LaMarr, Joe Lomonaco, Tamera Mowry, Anne-Michelle Seiler, Tara Strong, Nicole Sullivan, Gore Vidal, Gedde Watanabe, and Wally Wingert along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series.
The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell is a 1968 film directed by Frank Tashlin and starring Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, and Jeffrey Hunter.
It combined actual voices with his animated caricatures of Jack Benny, George Burns, Phyllis Diller, George Jessel, Jack E. Leonard, Groucho Marx, the Smothers Brothers, Flip Wilson and Henny Youngman.