Phil Hendrie
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Philip Stephen Hendrie (born September 1, 1952, Arcadia, California) was the host of The Phil Hendrie Show, a comedy talk radio program that was syndicated throughout North America on Premiere Radio Networks and on XM Satellite Radio. While The Phil Hendrie Show became renowned for its unique and controversial guests, those guests were not real people at all—they were fictional characters]] created and voiced by Hendrie himself.
Hendrie has also performed voices on the animated FOX sitcoms King of the Hill and Futurama, and in the 2004 film [[Team America: World Police]]. In Spring of 2006, he had a supporting role in the live-action NBC sitcom Teachers, which was cancelled after 6 episodes due to low ratings.
Hendrie was married in 1997 to former radio talk show host Maria Sanchez. Hendrie helps raise Sanchez's four children from a previous marriage. The wedding was held at the Queen Mary and was broadcast live on KFI. He moved to Minneapolis and then to Miami where he further developed his show. The show then moved to KFI in Los Angeles and has since been nationally syndicated to approximately 100 radio stations. In February 2005, Phil moved from his flagship station, KFI, to XTRA Sports 570 AM, a sports talk radio station also centered in Los Angeles.
In early 2006, it was announced that he would be ending The Phil Hendrie Show, feeling he'd reached the limits of what he could do in "terrestrial talk radio". Barring an appropriate offer from either of the two satellite radio companies, Hendrie expects to shift his career focus to acting. His last radio broadcast was June 23, 2006. [link]
Views and Blog
While The Phil Hendrie Show focused primarily on comedy and satire, Hendrie has never shyed away from discussing his personal life or political views. Since the events of September 11, 2001, he began devoting entire hours of his show to political discussions instead of the usual character bits.
Hendrie considers his views unique for modern talk radio: on one hand, he is a registered Democrat who vocally supported Bill Clinton, voted for Al Gore over George W. Bush in 2000 and both Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale over Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Hendrie is also adamantly pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. At the same time, he is extremely supportive of the Iraq War as well as the War on Terror. He voted for and supported President George W. Bush in the 2004 election, chiding Democrat John Kerry as trying to be "all things to all people" and cautioning listeners that Bush would in time be viewed as one of the greatest American presidents. These views caused a significant stir among his fanbase, and tended to dominate his show throughout 2002 and 2003. Hendrie eventually started a blog, titled and located at [www.georgebushisgod.com] (seemingly to incite those who felt he was moving too far to the right). The blog came down after a few weeks, partly because Phil was tired of squabbling with readers.
Hendrie has since renounced using his radio program for political ranting, saying that he didn't want to be "another white man all mad and ready with the answers" in a 2006 live chat with fans.
vs. Tom Leykis
Phil Hendrie and fellow radio talk show host Tom Leykis have had a longstanding feud. Leykis has accused Hendrie of setting-up and paying callers, while Hendrie regularly imitates Leykis and brutally skewers his program. After Hendrie changed stations from top-rated KFI to KLAC, Leykis was quoted as saying "Why don't you imitate this one, Phil? 'You're fired!'" [link]. Hendrie's send-up of Leykis, a character named 'Combover Boy,' has in turn become a recurring character, who gives absurd romantic advice and nonsensical opinions on current events - frequently alluding to incestuous desires, homicidal tendencies, and closeted homosexuality.
External links
- [Phil Hendrie's home page]
- [SweetFeatheryJesus Fan Forums]
- [Wiki Exclusively Devoted to the Phil Hendrie Show, its Terms and Characters]
- [Phil Hendrie and Teachers Information Site]
- [Phil Hendrie fan page]
- [Radio Provocateur] (LA Weekly article on Hendrie; JUNE 11 - 17, 2004)
- [The Many People of Phil Hendrie] (Billboard Radio Monitor news article, March 22, 2005)
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