Documentary ‘Hendrie’ honors an unheralded radio legend
The man with a one-of-a-kind radio schtick gets his due in a new film
Hendrie, the new documentary about Phil Hendrie that arrives this week, has two key points to make: Hendrie is a massive talent who had a far-reaching influence on the world of comedy, and for whatever reason, he never really earned mainstream fame and respect he probably deserved.
The film, directed by Patrick Reynolds, arrives on VOD this Friday. It’s relatively lo-fi and no-frills, running about 70 minutes and featuring mostly interviews with Hendrie himself — mainly as he drives around his California hometown in a Cadillac Eldorado — and some surprisingly A-list talking heads. There’s plenty of footage of Hendrie in action and occasional animated depictions of his bits. But it’s a worthwhile examination of a guy whose name you should know.
If you’re unfamiliar with Hendrie’s act, he came with a wild radio schtick that no one else attempted before or since Hendrie, the host, interviewed outrageous guests who said wild and controversial things. He encouraged listeners to call in and argue with the guests.
The twist? None of the guests were real, and Hendrie did all the voices himself, often performing (and improvizing) both sides of the conversation. David Foster Wallace discussed Hendrie in a famous magazine article, describing his format as “a cruel and complicated kind of meta—talk radio… a bit like the old Candid Camera if the joke perpetrated over and over on that show were convincing somebody that a loved one had just died.”
Based most of the time in Los Angeles and often nationally syndicated, Hendrie got his start in 1990, at a time when the radio form was being reinvented by the likes of Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, and Doug “The Greaseman” Tracht (Greaseman is briefly seen in the documentary; from his baby-talk schtick to his firing over racist jokes, to his recent re-discovery by hipster comedy podcasters, I’d watch a feature-length doc about that guy too.)
Hendrie kept the act on nationally syndicated radio until 2006, and it has existed in various forms since, both with and without the characters; Hendrie now hosts a podcast.
One thing is made clear by the doc: While he may not be a household name, comedy professionals, to a man, all seem to be huge Hendrie fans. Comedy stalwarts like Judd Apatow, Kevin Pollak, The Simpsons writer Dana Gould, and Bill Hader appear in the film, testifying to their love for Hendrie’s show and confessing that he inspired their own bits.
And you can see Hendrie’s influence everywhere, from that SNL bit where Jimmy Fallon did the voices of a whole morning show crew to Carl Gerbschmidt, an insane (and very fictitious) Green Bay Packers fan who appeared as a caller on Minnesota’s sports radio station KFAN for a couple of decades.
I’m a longtime admirer of Hendrie’s style of humor. However, I’ve probably only listened to his show a handful of times over the years, so I’d admit I’m part of the problem when it comes to his ongoing obscurity. But hopefully, this documentary can give this brilliant man the recognition he richly deserves.