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Looking for some quality comedy entertainment to check out?
Who better to turn to for under-the-radar comedy recommendations than comedians?
You might not have heard of Phil Hendrie, but youve certainly heard of his fans.
Hes on with those yammering right-wing dimwits on KFI.
And that his show completely deconstructs what the rest of them are doing every day just makes me laugh.
Hendrie got his start in radio back in the 70s.
Out of boredom, he started making up characters to bait people into calling in to voice their outrage.
Hendries fake talk show lived alongside Rush Limbaugh on KFI in Los Angeles.
Hendrie has since quit terrestrial radio, making entire shows out of whole cloth for his podcast audience.
Jon Glasercame to Hendrie as so many other have: off the recommendation of comedy cognoscenti.
Like Hendrie, Glaser isnt scared of coming off unlikable.
Tell me what you like about Phil Hendrie.The first thing is that he is just so incredibly funny.
The idea he has, the execution of it is impeccable.
Hes a very subtle but very strong performer.
Its a very specific sensibility that just appeals to me.
He can be equal parts subtle and big.
The stuff that for me is very inspirational was from a long time ago.
I got turned on to him back in 97, when I lived in Los Angeles.
I remember sitting in my car late at night and listening to one of his shows.
This was before the internet.
And it was just so funny.
And then I bought a bunch of his CDs.
Theyre still on my computer.
I counted I have 99 clips from these old CDs, probably going back to 97 or 98.
They are just so funny.
Really hard laughs at some of this stuff.
Ive mentioned him to a bunch of people over the years.
None of them have heard of him, which is always surprising to me.
I think a lot of people in comedy know who he is.
He seems like one those people who gets cast by their fans.
He seems like someone who industry people know, but has never made that mainstream transition.
Why do you think that is?I really dont know.
Maybe because its a specific thing hes doing, with radio?
But I really dont know, because its genius comedy.
The execution is good, the ideas are good, but theyre such simple ideas.
God, they just kill me.
He has this character,Jeff Dowder.Hes kind of almost like a surfer guy.
I dont know if this stuff is available online.
He keeps it pretty tight behind the paywall.Theres some stuff on YouTube.
Hes playing a dumb guy and he does it so well.
And you obviously have to be very smart to play dumb and have it succeed.
Its crazy, because in scenes like that, hes not just playing a dumb guy.
Hes playing up to four people of varying intelligences.Its so impressive and so seamless.
Ive seen a couple of the clips online, and watching him do it is amazing.
Its so dry sometimes, but the comedy is just massively strong.
The other thing that appeals to me is that hes such an effortless performer.
Hes not a sweaty performer.
He really takes his time.
You dont feel like youre listening to someone thats panicked at all.
Have you watched many of the clips of him on YouTube?Ive seen a couple of clips.
Even that is so great.
To watch it is something else.
All that stuff is so incredible.
Its incredible to watch; its brilliant to listen to.
More people need to know who he is.
Have you heard his drive-time morning zoo thing, Skippy and Frank?
I believe so.The one where he blows half his face off?
Okay, no, I dont think I got that far.Ho-lyshit.
First of all, hes doing an absolute dead-on parody of these guys.
And at this point, thats almost been done to death.
Its almost not funny anymore to do a morning-zoo guy.
But again, this was from the late 90s.
Where he goes with it …
I just gave the joke away.
Basically, they do this stunt, after all this stupid bullshitty morning-zoo chitchat.
And theyre very, very different.
He blows half his face off.
[Imitates sound of a person with half his face missing talking]Goddammit!
Certainly some of them do.
This was after he was paralyzed after falling off his horse.
Right.Part of the joy is hearing these callers losing it.
Depending on the premise, getting frustrated or annoyed.
Or in this case, losing her mind at the idea of it.
And he just keeps pushing the simplest things.
She keeps saying, Have you seen a Christopher Reeve movie?
Have you seenSuperman?And people are screaming I DONT CARE!
And that character, Margaret, whenever she does her little mmhmm, its so good.
A lot of Phil Hendrie characters, and a lot of Jon Glaser characters, are unlikable.
How do you approach characters that start from an unlikable place?You have to start off good.
Certainly the writing has to be good.
It can certainly ride that line.
The Christopher Reeve thing is a pretty rough subject matter, but he handles it so well.
Because otherwise it could be potentially mean, and pranky.
I dont necessarily view what hes doing as pranky.
To me hes putting the onus on his characters being so ridiculous, and just clueless.
Well, on the podcast its just him.
There arent … laypeople?
Normies dont call in anymore.
And the comedy is still there.That whole Skippy and Frank thing, no one calls in for real.
Its all this conceptual piece, and its so funny.
Theres another one I have where no one calls in.
Its just this one old woman character, calls in to complain.
And he just keeps going with it and going with it.
Well, I try.Actually, can you say that again?
I derailed my own train of thought by saying that to you.
Sometimes well use a graphic, [and] it will come in at a moment that feels comedic.
Those moments really make me laugh.
People will think,Oh, theyre still trying to present this as this gear show.
How many of those lifestyle-magazine shows have you watched, to get the vibe down?Probably zero.
I really watch so little TV.
I was not looking to parody something specifically.
I just wanted to make the show however it was.
It really evolved from the pitch to the pilot to the series.
Originally I didnt even see it as a comedy show.
And then it just became more and more scripted and much more comedic.
Now its a predominantly scripted comedy show.
It still has reality elements of course, but its really become a show I didnt envision at first.
What motivated that change?The idea was fairly loose when I pitched it.
It sort of defined itself as it unfolded.
Because it was so vague, as we kept working on it, it took more shape.
Last question: Who holds the megaphone when you shout Gear!
and do they have ear protection?
Because its pointed right at their face.There are multiple people who hold the megaphone.
Originally it was one guy, Tim, who was an actual crew guy.
He did the bulk of it in the first season.
This season, there are more people holding it.
But there is an episode where we do a story line about Tim.
I can tell somethings wrong, and I start talking to Tim about it.
Thats the photography episode.
We do get to see a whole episode about the megaphone guy.
And no, theyre not wearing headphones.
Because we do all the megaphone effect in post.
Im still screaming, and its annoying, but its not amplified.
