Old school Phil Hendrie - Best Show influence?

[mackro]

Maybe this should go on a Longmont Potion Castle thread...

I love love love the first volume of Longmont Potion Castle.  It took prank calls to the next level as far as experimentation in the antagonizing.  The second volume was like a non-sequitir coda to the first volume, taking other calls, and grinding them up in a blender, so you had 10-15 second clips of insanity.

But listening to later stuff, LPC didn't have anything new to offer, IMHO. I couldn't listen to 10 years of Longmont Potion Castle.

This is totally the "their earliest stuff was better" cliche, and it's completely true with LPC.

[heliumsocket]

Wow mackro, I'm like 180 degrees from how you feel.

I love LPC, but I've always found Volume 1 almost unlistenable. I guess it's because of the mix of the uber-low fidelity recordings, and just that he was so young and barely not laughing during a lot of the calls. You can tell he's just some punk trying to mess with his teachers and authority figures, and those kinds of calls never appealed much to me. Also, the weird sound effects between calls remind me of "Life Remote Control" in Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Volume 2 is almost 100% him calling the meat packing place, which gets tired pretty quick, too.

I don't feel like he became comfortable and found his voice until the third album. That's when he first started messing around with long-form calls (like the vitamin salesman telemarketer who calls him -- HOLY CRAP), celebrities, three way mashups, and weird effects. That's when things started getting really surreal and interesting to me.

Volumes 3-5 + Late Eighties Vein are all classics to me, and most of the tracks from them are burned into my brains.

[mackro]

Wow mackro, I'm like 180 degrees from how you feel.

I love LPC, but I've always found Volume 1 almost unlistenable. I guess it's because of the mix of the uber-low fidelity recordings, and just that he was so young and barely not laughing during a lot of the calls. You can tell he's just some punk trying to mess with his teachers and authority figures, and those kinds of calls never appealed much to me. Also, the weird sound effects between calls remind me of "Life Remote Control" in Exit Through the Gift Shop.

The LPC guy was totally being a brat/punk, no denying that! There's still a part of me that can enjoy that when a good prank is done well. That said, he wasn't calling teachers or authority figures as much as just other random retail locations in suburban Denver and known bullies -- which doesn't make it ethically better, granted.  I guess I've dealt with prank calls when I was in college radio, and just knew how to not be bothered by them, or play along. Whereas the reactions here are very serious and enraged (in fairness, they have a right to be), especially the ones by the hyper-testosteroned bullies. ("YOU WANNA DANCE? LET'S DANCE!", is a line my friends repeat to each other to this day.)   Also, LPC's approach to non-sequitirs and running with them is a talent I can never have, which is probably why it was so impressionable.  My favorite ones are the ones calling Mr. Undubachy & Associates.

Volume 2 is almost 100% him calling the meat packing place, which gets tired pretty quick, too.

Agreed. It works much better as a total shuffle play mind-F more than anything funny.

I don't feel like he became comfortable and found his voice until the third album. That's when he first started messing around with long-form calls (like the vitamin salesman telemarketer who calls him -- HOLY CRAP), celebrities, three way mashups, and weird effects. That's when things started getting really surreal and interesting to me.

Volumes 3-5 + Late Eighties Vein are all classics to me, and most of the tracks from them are burned into my brains.

You know, I will give the later stuff another shot, because I like your passion for it here.

See, I had seen a video tape that came out later, and it was just a less funny version of the earlier stuff. But your descriptions infer a comedic maturity which may have bypassed me the last time I listened. Thanks for replyin'!

[mackro]

That said, we might be confusing releases here. Volume 1 *cassette* is apparently quite different than the Volume 1 *CD* (or self titled) on the Vinyl Communications label, which is a best-of containing the peaks of the first three or four cassettes,I believe?

You're talkin' CDs here, correct?

[Wes]

But since he devolved into a conservative radio host - correct me if I'm wrong but I believe he was scared by 'the events on 9/11' into becoming a right winger, which to me is the mark of a complete coward.

It was the events of The Cloverfield that did it for me.

[fish]

LPC:  It's all pretty good on some level.  The later releases, to me, seem a bit less inspired at times, and the earlier ones can get repetitive, but there's definitely gold on all of them.  I could do without any of the metal interludes though. 

The early cassette releases have the trippy Mr. Brainwash stuff, whereas the best-ofs are more straightforward calls.  I like the cassette releases more because they seem to work better as a unit, even if you wind up skipping some gibberish tracks.

[DJ Clem]

Anyone heard the proto-Neil Hamburger CD "Great Phone Calls"? It's hit-or-miss, but some of the hits are brilliant.
"Ya got dat pick-a-potato?"

I know nothing about Hendrie's politics; I'd never heard of him before a recent episode of WTF with Mort Maron. There are a couple of podcasts that compile some of the better call-ins, and they're pretty great. His juggling of the multiple voices is impressive.

[fish]

Great Phone Calls has some good stuff.  But, what does this refer to?

There are a couple of podcasts that compile some of the better call-ins, and they're pretty great.

[Paul DeLouisiana]

Sorry to steer things back to Hendrie but I subscribed to his tw podcasts and they have some good audio clips of fake callers. Does anyone know how much of the full show is a joke? Is it just these short clips?

[DJ Clem]

@fish: I was referring back to Phil Hendrie; there are two podcasts of his older "classic" phone calls.

[fish]

@fish: I was referring back to Phil Hendrie; there are two podcasts of his older "classic" phone calls.

Sorry if I was confusing. I meant what are these Phil Hendrie podcasts you're talking about, and do you maybe have a link?

[Paul DeLouisiana]

@fish: I was referring back to Phil Hendrie; there are two podcasts of his older "classic" phone calls.

Sorry if I was confusing. I meant what are these Phil Hendrie podcasts you're talking about, and do you maybe have a link?

I think you can listen on his official website. Blocked at work, pretty sure it's philhendrie.com. Or search it in the Itunes store.

[Mr. Spacely]

Anyone heard the proto-Neil Hamburger CD "Great Phone Calls"? It's hit-or-miss, but some of the hits are brilliant.
"Ya got dat pick-a-potato?"

I know nothing about Hendrie's politics; I'd never heard of him before a recent episode of WTF with Mort Maron. There are a couple of podcasts that compile some of the better call-ins, and they're pretty great. His juggling of the multiple voices is impressive.

I almost drove off the road once when he had on a "guy" who was petitioning his local state senator for more wagon trails and helicopter pads because he only commuted via covered wagon or helicopter.

[Steve in North Hollywood]

I still catch a little of Hendrie's show once or twice a week.  He's still on in L.A. on AM1150.  I was introduced to him AFTER being introduced to the Best Show.  I would listen to Best Show while chained to a computer on the graveyard shift.  I introduced my pal, Adam, to the Best Show and he asked me if I'd ever heard of Hendrie and we both became fans of both shows. 

Tom mentioned in his post that he thinks Hendrie went right wing after 9/11, (I haven't heard any of his older stuff) but the guy definitely seems to have leftist leanings these days.

I don't think his show and Tom's show are too similar.  The characters that call in to Hendrie's show tend to use a lack of reason and logic as the source of their comedy.  Where as the characters that call in to Tom's show use their own despicable deeds as the source for their comedy, which is then peppered with references to nearly forgotten pop-culture icons.

I enjoy Hendrie's show because it's good for laughs.  But The Best Show on WFMU is good FOR LIFE.

[paul]

LPC is the best!!! i named my band Helium Ointment in tribute.

and yeah, i say 3 + 4 are the total classics, and the rest are great too.

don't see a whole lot of overlap between that type of humor and the best show, tho.