Fluxblog
August 9th, 2005 3:25pm


The Word Is That He Was Delta Force

Thanks to WFMU‘s Aircheck program, I’ve recently been introduced to the brilliance of syndicated radio host Phil Hendrie. Hendrie’s show airs on mostly AM stations throughout the United States, but is inexplicably unavailable in the New York area except on satellite radio. Hendrie’s show is in many ways very similar to the comedy sketches by Tom Scharpling, Jon Wurster, and Andy Earles on The Best Show On WFMU, but rather than working with a partner, he manages to play both the guest and the straight man in his bits, alternating between his default radio host voice and the character so convincingly that there is never any shortage of suckered audience members calling in to express their outrage and spar with the character. Though both programs are mainly concerned with finding humor in characters driven by extreme selfishness, vanity, and self-delusion, Hendrie consistently keeps his premises and characters right on the edge of believability, whereas the Best Show gives itself license to take bits in occasionally surreal and cartoonish directions.

Phil Hendrie “David G. Hall Wants More Female Listeners (August 14, 2001)” – In this sketch, fictional Vice President of Syndication for the Phil Hendrie show David G. Hall calls in to tell Phil about his proactive plans to increase his female audience, which amounts to a series of staggeringly sexist suggestions which result in Phil’s audible discomfort with the new corporate demands and the understandable outrage of several female callers.

Phil Hendrie “Bobbi Dooley on the American Flag (September 24, 2001)” – By all accounts, Bobbi Dooley is Hendrie’s most popular recurring character. Dooley is the shallow and overbearing president of the Western Estates Homeowners’ Association, a gated community in Southern California. Her husband Steve often cuts in with comments from the background, and she is prone to mindblowing levels of condescension and smugness. In this skit, Bobbi chastises people for not flying flags of the appropriate size in the wake of 9/11.

Phil Hendrie “R.C. Collins on Teen Sex (May 24, 2001)” – R.C. Collins is another popular recurring character, but tends to be far less defined than Dooley or Hall. The character is consistently a squeaky-voiced teenager, but his political views and situation in life change radically from sketch to sketch, ranging from him being a buff jingoistic military school student to a Satan-worshipping goth kid to a terminally ill cancer patient. In this sketch, R.C. talks about being one of the rare teenagers to actually go all the way and have sex, as well as voicing his deep resentment of the “Baby Bomber” generation.

(Click here for new Phil Hendrie broadcasts, podcasts, and archived audio in the paid membership area.)

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