Phil Hendrie

Phil Hendrie is a comedian, actor, and radio host. He is best known for his nationally syndicated radio show called "The Phil Hendrie Show". He recently retired from his radio show to pursue acting, and has appeared on the Unit for CBS and starred in Teachers, the short lived NBC comedy. He also does voice acting, and has done voices for Futurama, King of the Hill, and the movie Team America.

The Phil Hendrie Show is a comedy talk radio program syndicated throughout North America on Premiere Radio Networks and on XM Satellite Radio. It is known for outrageous guests, all whom are fictional and voiced live by the host, Phil Hendrie.

Though Hendrie often alludes to the fact that he is doing the voices, listeners are 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 would be coming to and end, with a final broadcast on June 23, 2006.

Phil Hendrie is returning to radio on June 25th, 2007. Stay tuned for more info. 

 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 was changed to XTRA Sports 570 (KLAC), after KFI replaced him with John Ziegler. Zielger was deemed a better fit to follow the John and Ken show, since both share similar auidences.

On April 27, 2006, it was revealed that Hendrie will be leaving radio to pursue a career in television. His last radio show will be June 23, 2006.

Phil Hendrie has announced he is returning to radio on the Talk Radio Network, no other details are known at this time.