I first heard him on KFI AM640 More Stimulating Talkradio. His show replaced Ask Mr. KFI around the end of September 1996. Even though I lived in the San Jose area (nearly 500 miles away from the broadcast antennae) I could still pick up KFI at night and found his show by accident ("Who is this? What happened to Mr. KFI?").
Since moving here to England in 2001 I've not followed the show...and just this moment found out through Wikipedia his last show was 23 JUNE 2006. SAY WHAT???!?!
He'll be back---barring an early death. He's got nowhere else to go. Doesn't have the face or talent for tv/film acting. His radio celebrity has obviously gone to his head---that, and just the madness of living in LA-LA Land (the land of greedy venture capitalists & their yes-men who hound people into making ridiculous career changes).
The good news---whether or not he returns to radio---is that there are literally thousands of hours of mp3's of his shows on the web. You have to hunt for them via Usenet and DC++ (and other filesharing programs), but they're out there.
Yea, through fileshares I heard some of his post-911 shows and was shocked by his support of rightwing-republican platforms. Shocked by his support of "our troops" and his shitting upon anyone who pointed out what a turdfest the Bush administration is. I mean, I don't like Michael Moore, either, but at least he's not a rightwing republican whacko and has made a few well-placed digs at those who are.
My favourite Hendrie characters were Jeff Dowder, David G. Hall, Jay Santos (of the Citizen's Auxillary Police) and RC Collins.
Well now, while he's away I wonder if anyone will step up to the plate and have a go at the kind of gig he did. Surely there are others who could...
Wikipedia reports that his tv show Teachers was cancelled after 6 shows. Maybe after a few more cancellations he'll get back into his groove (perhaps on the same satellite network as Howard Stern??).
Man, he was the best radio dude I had EVER heard---and I had been listening to talkradio for many years. No one even came close to entertaining me better than he did. I mean, sometimes, while laying on my bed listening to his show with headphones on, I would literally have to hold onto my balls while laughing my ass off lest said balls were to get sucked up into my body because of my doubling up with laughter. He would sometimes be firing on all 12 cylinders while in character and just murder some jack-ass caller calling into take on one of his "guests". Those were the best bits: Listening to the outrage of some of those holier-than-thou callers (usually women and minority males).
Hmmm...Phil quitting radio for "acting". And he swore he never would. Shows you just what Big Money can do.
Fuck a duck.
