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The Phil Hendrie Show is a comedy talk radio program. The show is syndicated throughout North America on Talk Radio Network. It is known for outrageous guests, all of whom were fictional and voiced live by the host, Phil Hendrie.

Though Hendrie often explained that he was doing the voices, listeners unfamiliar with the show's format were duped into believing that the guests on the show were real and were invited to call in to engage in conversation with the "guests". Hendrie rapidly switched back and forth between a studio microphone and a conventional telephone, creating the illusion that his "guest" had called into the show. Adding to the illusion, the telephone line often featured recorded background noises that simulated various locations, such as a bowling alley, the kitchen of a restaurant, or, on at least one occasion, a washroom. Hendrie commented many times on the air that the actual point of the show was the callers' reaction to his "guests", not the guests themselves, and that he was merely illustrating his perception about the ignorance of talk radio listeners.

The show ran for nearly 16 years, from August 1990 to June 23, 2006, when Hendrie announced his retirement. Reruns continued on KLAC in Los Angeles through November 2006 and CKTB until April 2007.

In June 2007, Hendrie announced he was returning to the airwaves, via the Talk Radio Network, starting almost exactly a year from the day of his retirement (June 25) in a later time slot (10 PM-1 AM PT). This incarnation of the show was originally more political and issues oriented than its previous versions. Within a few weeks of the show's re-launch, his old mock guests returned to the show, but they no longer interact with the listeners, and often don't stay on for more than one segment of the program. Within a month of the show's relaunch, Hendrie's show had already achieved forty affiliates.

Contents 1 Show history 2 Show format 3 "Guests" 4 Online fan community 5 External links 6 References

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 an evening 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. Hendrie hosted the afternoon drive-time slot, and further developed his characters' personalities, adding their lasting traits. He garnered a large fan base there, and released three "Best Of" CDs, all of which benefited the Miami charity organization Center One. In 1996, Hendrie moved to KFI in Los Angeles to further develop his show and reach a larger audience. In September 1999, Hendrie became syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, and eventually reached around 100 affiliates.

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 began discussing 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 2005, Hendrie's show moved to XTRA Sports 570 (KLAC), deemed a better fit for his show's mostly male audience. John Ziegler, a local Los Angeles conservative talk show host, moved into his slot on KFI. [1].

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.

He left this note on his web site June 25, 2006 --

My brothers and sisters,

What a great night Friday night was. We had a few tears. Bud belched. R.C. called in as he spanked the night away. It was a beautiful thing. All of the e-mail we have received tells us that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, no longer content to smile slightly at a nicely delivered line on "Two and A Half Men," or go "Oh, oh," at the network approved lesbian reference on "Joey." No, this is the new American, an American who demands the deep, pee-drenchment of the belly laugh, tears streaking, muscles gone, car into light pole. We have endeavored to bring you just that for over 16 years. With the shower of dung you face every day, you deserve it. By God, you will continue to get it. The effort does not end. It transmutes. It moves beyond radio now. It goes to the small and the large screen, God-willing. It will go into print. Wherever the body-convulsing, endorphin-releasing laugh is needed, we will go. You need it. I need it.

You see, it wasn't really about radio. It has always been about the laugh. The real gut laugh. The laugh that erupts so unexpectedly you break wind or drop hints of mud. Sure I put it crudely, but the laugh is not a judgment. The laugh knows no border or race or law. The laugh goes where it wants to and can be found anywhere at anytime. As we demonstrated on the radio show and will soon demonstrate elsewhere, the laugh may come barging into the home of a senior citizen, blind from glaucoma. (Harvey Weirman) It may be found at a barbecue gathering of recently released child-molesters (Herb Sewell) It might come creeping around the corner as a neighbor saws down another's treehouse, with a wheelchair-bound child inside (Steve Bosell) Or it might leap, gazelle-fashion, into a situation where a developmentally-disabled man crawls through a phone line to strangle and dismember a radio station program director.

Thank the heavens for the laugh. As I grew up and came to love this honest, beautiful expression of truth, I swore an oath that I would seek its extremes, come what may, because in the end I knew it was a curative, a medicine, an elixir of such potency it could give us all a glimpse of immortality. There are a few experiences in life that enable us to lose all fear. One of them is when we are caught in the embrace of a brief-staining, spit-spewing, shrieking, strangling laugh that comes from the recognition of truth.

I could go on, but why? You are here because you get it. Know that you are at the front. You are point men and women. There is no battle though. It is a march. It cannot be stopped. We now know that truth can be found in the pure laugh and as we tramp on, howling and wetting ourselves, others will join us until that day, that great day when we finally make the mental hook-up, the eye-opening deja vu that the laugh is, indeed, what separates us from the animal. And then we will know that animals are garbage that should be ground into sausage or stunned with prods until they too get with it finally and start........to laugh.

Amen,

Brother Phil First Church of Pant Stain Almorado, California June 25, 2006

When Hendrie had one of his "guests" on, the opening segment was usually cordial, and presented an unusual premise for discussion. In the second segment, a new outrageous element was usually brought into the ongoing discussion, and callers were introduced. The callers usually expressed outrage at the guests, and the guest typically responded in a caustic manner. In the third segment, a third and final surprise entered the conversation and often a hilarious crescendo pitch was reached that left callers exhausted and enraged and listeners laughing. The caller and guest conversed in downright bellicose tones, which often became a surreal good cop/bad cop routine as Hendrie hung up on his guest and apologized to the caller.

Typically, two hours of the three hour show were devoted to character-based comedy segments, where the fake guests interact with real callers. The remaining hour was 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 were used for commentary and shorter bits, and only one hour of a fake guest was performed. Hendrie's other segments included "How to Read a News Story," "Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell (an impersonation of radio host 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 made up on the program was later duplicated in real life.

Phil was joined in the studio by Bud Dickman, a slightly mentally-retarded intern voiced in a relatively cartoonish Kermit the Frog-like 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 antagonized Phil 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" was something of a safety-net, bailing him out of long rants or unsuccessful bits. At the same time, Bud had become one of the shows' most beloved characters, and there was a fan uproar when Phil "fired" him briefly in 2004. Bud had 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 provided 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 in recent years, 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. The 2007 revival of the program resembles primarily these "serious" segments.

In earlier shows, particularly during Hendrie's stint at WIOD in Miami, Hendrie would field questions and complaints in a one-on-one format with callers, pretending to be station manager Bob Green, the station's rabbi, or in one case, "Manager of Accounts" at Century Village, a local retirement community.

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.

The show featured dozens of recurring fictional personalities.

Main article: List of characters on The Phil Hendrie Show

Phil Hendrie once had an active online fan community consisting of dozens of fan sites providing difficult-to-find audio from Phil's pre-syndication days. But in late 2001, Premiere Radio Networks began a legal campaign to shut down all fan sites hosting audio (including pre-syndication audio) of The Phil Hendrie Show. Audio is now available via "Backstage Pass" subscriptions to Hendrie's website.

The community of Hendrie fans in general, but especially those online, have reacted mildly toward the new version of The Phil Hendrie Show, if not negatively. While some see the new TRN show as the return of a great all-around talk radio host, many others simply see it for its lack of the elements in Hendrie's previous PRN show.

There is a Wiki pertaining to all things Phil and The Phil Hendrie Show; the link can be found below.

• The Phil Hendrie Show - Official site with subscription service.
• Phil Hendrie News Site - Fan site/forums.
• Hendriepedia - Phil Hendrie Wiki
• Phil Hendrie Host Page at Talk Radio Network