The Phil Hendrie Show
From Hendriepedia
The Phil Hendrie Show was a comedy talk radio program syndicated throughout North America on Premiere Radio Networks and on XM Satellite Radio. It was known for outrageous guests, all whom are fictional and voiced live by the host, Phil Hendrie.
Though Hendrie often alluded to the fact that he was doing the voices, listeners were invited to call and many are duped into believing that the guests on the show are real. He rapidly switches back and forth between a studio microphone and a conventional telephone, creating the illusion that his "guest" has called into the show. Adding to the illusion, the telephone line often features prerecorded background noises from various locations.
The show has run since August 1990. In April of 2006, it was announced that the show was coming to and end, the final broadcast was on June 23, 2006.
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Show History
Hendrie began doing voices on his program at KVEN in Ventura, California during the Gulf War when he created Raj Fahneen, an Egyptian who demanded that George H. W. Bush bow down to Iraqis. After leaving KVEN in 1992, Hendrie did a short stint as morning drive host at WSB-AM in Atlanta before moving to WCCO-AM in Minneapolis. Phil left WCCO-AM on March 12, 1994 and moved to WIOD in Miami. He garnered a large fan base there, and released three "Best Of" CDs. In 1996, Hendrie moved to KFI in Los Angeles to further develop his show and reach a larger audience.
Early in his program's syndication, Hendrie was reluctant to reveal that he was the voice behind his outrageous "guests." The only notification to those listeners was the occasional "It's a goof" mumbled at the start of the show. He discovered, however, that once listeners knew the truth, his show's ratings went up sharply, and he now discusses the behind-the-scenes details of his show more openly. In 2005, he even engaged in several live "webcasts", where an admitted 15,000+ paid subscribers to his website could witness Hendrie doing the show on a video feed.
In February of 2005, Hendrie's flagship station became XTRA Sports 570 (KLAC), deemed a better fit for his show's mostly male audience.
On April 27, 2006, it was revealed that Hendrie would be leaving radio to pursue a career in television. His last radio show was June 23, 2006.
Phil Hendrie returned to radio almost exactly a year later in June 2007 with The New Phil Hendrie Show with Talk Radio Network.
Main Theme of Show
The Phil Hendrie Show's main theme is that people hear what they want hear (discussed by Phil many times when he was at KFI). This main idea plays out every show when callers and Phil's guests fail to communicate. People's tendency to hear what they want to hear leads to several symptoms contributing to the death of talk radio (for example, "chronic callers").
Show format
When Hendrie has one of his "guests" on, the opening segment is usually cordial, and presents an unusual premise for discussion. In the second segment, a new outrageous element is usually brought in to the ongoing discussion, and callers are introduced. The callers are usually angry and outraged at what the guests are discussing, and the guest usually responds in a caustic manner. In the third segment, a third and final surprise enters the conversation and often a hilarious crescendo pitch is reached that leaves callers exhausted and enraged and listeners laughing. The caller and guest converse in downright bellicose tones, which often becomes a surreal good cop/bad cop routine as Hendrie hangs-up on his guest and apologizes to the caller.
Typically, two hours of the three hour show are devoted to character-based comedy segments, where the fake guests, voiced by Phil, interact with real callers. The remaining hour is devoted to Phil's commentary on the topics of the day, and to short comedy bits that could not occupy a full hour of the show. Sometimes, two hours are used for commentary and shorter bits, and only one hour of a fake guest is performed. Hendrie's other segments include "How to Read a News Story," "Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell (a schtick on the real Art Bell)", "Phil's Mailbag," "Flashback Requests", "Bud Dickman's Radical NASCAR Accidents", "Phil Explains the Bullcrap with Frodo the Puppet," and "Life Imitates Phil," a segment where an outrageous stunt that had been invented on his program was later duplicated in real life.
Phil is joined in the studio by Bud Dickman, a slightly mentally-retarded intern voiced in a relatively cartoonish tone by Hendrie. According to the character's backstory, his brain damage is the result of a motorcycle accident that sent him head first through an oak tree near Ojai, California. Bud often antagonizes Phil into beating him senseless or to the point of tears by making bad jokes, or ratting him out to programming director David G. Hall (a fictionalized version voiced by Hendrie) when the host says something that could be metaphor for sex or genitalia. Hendrie has admitted on several occasions that this "sidekick" is something of a safety-net, bailing him out of long rants or unsuccessful bits. At the same time, Bud has become one of the shows' most beloved characters, and there was a fan uproar when Phil "fired" him briefly in 2004. Bud has also been "killed" at least once by Phil, only to reappear moments later saying he got better.
Often during some segments of the show, Hendrie provides his own personal opinions and commentary on his life, career, and various news stories. The number of these segments devoted to political commentary increased following the September 11, 2001 attacks, as he has become a staunch supporter of President Bush's war on terrorism. A longtime Democrat and staunchly liberal on a number of issues, Hendrie has strongly voiced opposition to the Democratic Party as of late, accusing it of having lost touch with its core constituents and failing to adequately engage with a philosophy to win the war on terror. Beginning in January 2004, however, The Phil Hendrie Show decreased the number of "serious" segments in Hendrie's own voice and returned to the commentary-through-satire which originally made him famous.
Hendrie often promotes My Friend's Place, a resource center for homeless youth based in Hollywood, California, and donates all the proceeds from the sales of his "Best Of" CDs to the center.
