Radio Hendrie made a demo tape and got his first DJ job at
WBJW in
Winter Park, Florida a city just outside Orlando, in May 1973. In 1978, he left WORJ in Orlando to do evenings at WNOE-FM in the
French Quarter of
New Orleans. He would go on from there to spin records up until 1988 in Miami. The show remained nationally syndicated on 120 radio stations until 2006. On April 27, 2006, Hendrie announced he was leaving radio to pursue his acting career on a full-time basis. At the time, Hendrie was working on
NBC's sitcom
Teachers as cynical history teacher Dick Green. His last day on air was June 23, 2006. On June 4, 2007, it was announced that Phil Hendrie would return to radio June 25, 2007, via national syndicator
Talk Radio Network (TRN), with shows airing nationally Monday through Friday from 10 PM to 1 AM Pacific Time on 100 radio stations. The show was a straight talk show until September 14, 2009, when he welcomed back his cast of characters, bringing back his original brand of radio theater. "Radio needs alternative programming, like my show, now more than ever," said Hendrie. "Having the advantage of communicating compelling and outrageous points of view through these characters is an opportunity no other host has." On Saturday, November 20, 2010, KFI in Los Angeles announced that Phil Hendrie and his cast of voices were joining the station's weekend lineup. Heard Saturdays on KFI, Hendrie did a local show for the station while doing his national show Monday through Friday. On February 23, 2012, Hendrie announced to his fans via Twitter and the show's website that February 25, 2012, would be his last KFI show. Hendrie said, "This was not an easy decision because I'm going to miss everyone at KFI big time. However, doing a show like mine six days a week is murder." In mid 2013, Hendrie announced he was leaving TRN. In 2014 Hendrie announced he would be leaving over-air broadcasting for good. He then switched to an all-digital format of his show that was listenable online, airing Monday-Friday at 9a.m. Pacific time, accessible from his website or via the smartphone application
TuneIn. The show was then podcast for free within hours, available for a period of five days. Today, the show is available in podcast form on-demand seven days a week from Hendrie's website,
PodCast One and various other internet and podcast platforms.
Acting From 1999 to 2009, Hendrie voiced characters on the hit animated TV series
King of the Hill. He also voiced a variety of characters for several episodes of
Futurama from 2000 to 2002 and played three characters on the 2009 feature-length video
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder. From 2001 to 2002, Hendrie appeared in the TV series
Andy Richter Controls the Universe and in
Judd Apatow's TV movie
North Hollywood. He played Judge McCarthy on
Richard Appel's A.U.S.A. in 2003. From 2006 to 2007, Hendrie had a recurring role in David Mamet's series
The Unit and appeared in five episodes. Other TV series included NBC's sitcom
Teachers, wherein as part of an ensemble cast he played the part of school teacher Dick Green for the full season; and
The Replacements, wherein he appeared in two episodes as the mayor. He was also in the 2006 TV movie
Three Strikes. In 2008, Hendrie played the
New Jersey Nets coach in the comedy film
Semi-Pro starring Will Ferrell. Also that year, Hendrie had parts in the TV movies ''Mike Birbiglia's Secret Public Journal
and Giants of Radio
. He also appeared in the Modern Family'' season 3 episode "
Me? Jealous?". In the summer of 2011, Hendrie filmed a part for
Judd Apatow's motion picture
This Is 40, which was in theaters in December 2012. In 2012, he played the recurring character Joe Napoli on three episodes of
New Girl. Other television work in 2012 included recurring parts on six episodes of
Napoleon Dynamite and a role in an episode of ABC's Emmy Award-winning TV series
Modern Family. Also out in 2012 was the film
Last Call, in which Hendrie was cast as the liquor company representative, Mulvahill. In 2013, Hendrie contributed voice work for the Adult Swim cartoon
Rick and Morty. In 2014, Hendrie played a fictionalized version of himself in the TV series
Maron, and narrated a segment of the
Comedy Central program
Drunk History on the show's episode featuring the story of the late
Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye. In 2015, Hendrie joined
F is for Family to play various background characters., and later year that made his debut on the
Cartoon Network's Adult Swim series
Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell as the voice of Cerberus. In 2016, Hendrie was featured on
Disney's animated series
The 7D as a Park Ranger and as a Chef - the dialogue for both roles being entirely improvised by Hendrie. In 2018, he voiced the male Action Police officers on
Unikitty!. In 2019, Hendrie rejoined the cast of
Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell - created by
Dave Willis and
Casper Kelly - with the on-screen role of "Stan the Man". Later that same year, Hendrie played the role of Mr. Grayson in the
ABC sitcom
The Conners. Also in 2019, Hendrie was set to play the lead as an "insane" grandparent in the CBS’ multi-camera comedy,
Our House, opposite of
Katherine Heigl and
Malcolm Barrett. Recorded in late 2019 and broadcast in 2020, Hendrie voiced the "Universe Simulator" and a variety of other characters on the
Netflix animated series,
The Midnight Gospel. Other than Duncan Trussell, Co-Creator and star of The Midnight Gospel, Hendrie is the only other voice actor to appear in each episode of the debut season. In 2020, Hendrie performed the voice of
Albert Einstein in the hit
CBS sitcom,
Young Sheldon and cast as Police Captain Entenille in a 2024 horror comedy film
Destroy All Neighbors.
Digital Hendrie created his website in 1999 during his syndication deal with Premiere Radio Networks. In 2006, he acquired ownership of the website. On March 26, 2010, Hendrie launched his revamped website with new features like "Backstage Pass" and "Phollow Phil." In August that same year, Hendrie launched a podcast version of his national radio show on iTunes for his Backstage Pass subscribers. In 2012, Hendrie extended his brand to Pandora with a collection of comedy bits featuring such characters as Jay Santos, Chris Norton, Bobbie Dooley, David G. Hall and Ted Bell. In 2013, it was announced that Hendrie partnered with LEG Digital and Courtside Media's Launchpad Digital Media to increase his growing digital fan base. As of 2014, Hendrie created an all-digital audio show available on-demand seven days a week from The Phil Hendrie Show website, in podcast form on
PodCast One, and via various other internet and podcast platforms. In addition to the free daily podcast released Monday through Friday,
The Phil Hendrie Show offers an all-access subscription known as a "Back Stage Pass" (or "BSP"), providing access to over 50,000 hours of digital audio shows and archived radio broadcasts. As evidenced by "The BSP Map" that is accessible on the show's website, The Phil Hendrie Show has a global reach and is supported by an international subscriber base. ==Recognition & Honors==