Phil Hendrie

Infobox actor
name = Phil Hendrie


caption = Phil Hendrie
birthdate = September 1, 1952
birthplace = Pasadena, California

Philip Stephen Hendrie (born September 1, 1952) is best known as the host of "The Phil Hendrie Show", a comedy talk radio program that is syndicated throughout North America on Talk Radio Network. While "The Phil Hendrie Show" became renowned for its unique and controversial guests, those guests are not real people at all—they are fictional characters created and voiced by Hendrie himself.

Hendrie has performed voices on the animated FOX sitcoms "King of the Hill" and "Futurama", and as I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. and the Terrorist in "". In Spring of 2006, he had a supporting role in the live-action NBC sitcom "Teachers".

Hendrie was married in 1997 to radio talk show host Maria Sanchez. Their wedding was held at the Queen Mary and was broadcast live on KFI. Hendrie moved from Minneapolis and then to Miami where he further developed his show. The show then moved to KFI in Los Angeles and was nationally syndicated to approximately 100 radio stations. In February 2005, Hendrie was moved from his flagship station, KFI, to XTRA Sports 570 AM, a sports talk radio station also centered in Los Angeles.

In early 2006, Hendrie announced that he was retiring from radio; yet the retirement proved to be temporary. He said that he felt he had reached the limits of what he could do in “terrestrial talk radio” and expressing a desire to shift his career focus toward acting. On June 4, 2007, it was announced that Phil Hendrie would return to radio June 25, 2007 from 10 PM to 1 AM PST on Talk Radio Network, with shows airing weeknightly. The new incarnation of Hendrie’s program is a combination of character voices from his old show and lighthearted political commentary.

Views and blog

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, both Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale over Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, and Michael Dukakis over George H.W. Bush (although Hendrie claims “I had to hold my nose when voting for Dukakis”). Hendrie is also adamantly pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, and pro-amnesty for illegal immigrants. 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 stir among some of his fans and tended to dominate his show throughout 2002 and 2003. Hendrie eventually started a blog, titled and located at [http://www.georgewbushisgod.com www.georgewbushisgod.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 Hendrie 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.

His views for the 2008 Election remain known; he supports Obama, as noted on his September 11th, 2008 broadcast.

Acting career

During his short retirement, Hendrie had several acting jobs.

Hendrie played a starring role in NBC’s short-lived midseason replacement sitcom, "Teachers", in the spring of 2006. He has also completed pilots for "Three Strikes" and "Giants of Talk Radio".

Hendrie has also completed a role as the nets coach in the Will Ferrell film, "Semi-Pro".

Hendrie also guest starred in two episodes of "The Unit" that originally aired October 10 and October 31, 2006. He played the part of a radio talk show host on a military base.

Hendrie has also guest starred in several episodes of Matt Groening’s cartoon show "Futurama", voicing different members of a hippy family known as the Waterfalls. He has also frequently done voice work on "King of the Hill".

"The Phil Hendrie Show" is downloadable in MP3 format, starting with his October 5, 1999 show, at [http://www.Philhendrieshow.com Phil’s official web site] . (You must be a paid member.)

Hendrie in the Blogosphere

Hendrie has maintained several blogs, including www.georgewbushisgod.com and, later, www.herbsewell.blogspot.com (named after one of his more infamous characters, a paroled child molester).

External links

* [http://www.philhendrieshow.com/ Phil Hendrie’s home page]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/19990209124845/kfi640.com/usguys/phil.html Phil Hendrie's page on AM-KFI Los Angeles - Archived December 1998]
* [http://www.newphilhendrieshow.com/ Home page for "The New TRN Show"]
* [http://www.philhendrienews.com/ Phil Hendrie News and Fan Site]
* [http://www.hendriepedia.com/ Hendriepedia—Phil Hendrie Wiki]
* [http://www.fhwrdh.net/philhendrie/ Phil Hendrie fan page]
*imdb name|id=1042825|name=Phil Hendrie
* [http://www.radiotapes.com/ Radiotapes.com: featuring an aircheck of Phil Hendrie’s final show on WCCO-AM/Minneapolis–St. Paul]