Losing His Voice

Phil Hendrie is quitting radio to concentrate on acting. Hendrie has a brilliant show where voices he performs call in (to Hendrie himself) and say outrageous things. The real fun begins when listeners who are not aware it's a put-on call in and interact with these fake characters.

It all requires tremendous talent, since Hendrie has to differentiate his real voice with his fake call-in voice. And after he pulls that off, he makes the content compelling. The concept works perfectly on radio, where sound alone rules.

Right now he's featured in the sitcom Teachers, playing history teacher Dick Green. (Believe it or not, my high school gym teacher was named Dick Green.) Shelley McCrory, a veep at NBC, says "while his [sic] is a huge loss for radio, it’s a big win for television.” Sorry, I've seen him act. He's nothing special in that arena, but he's irreplaceable in radio.