Tony Hendra

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Tony Hendra (born 1941) is an English satirist and writer, who has worked mostly in the United States. Educated at St Albans School (where he was a class-mate of Stephen Hawking) and Cambridge University, he was a member of the Cambridge University Footlights revue in 1962, alongside John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Tim Brooke-Taylor.

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[edit] Comedy career

In 1964 Hendra moved to America, where he worked successfully as a comedian (appearing frequently on the Merv Griffin Show and the Ed Sullivan Show).

[edit] National Lampoon

He wrote for National Lampoon magazine from its beginning in 1970 and became an editor the following year, co-creating its first album Radio Dinner 1972 with Michael O'Donoghue on which he performed a celebrated parody of John Lennon entitled "Magical Misery Tour' In 1973 he produced directed and co-wrote with Sean Kelly, the Lampoon's hit off-Broadway revue Lemmings starring John Belushi, Chevy Chase and Christopher Guest in their first major roles. Hendra was an Editor of the Lampoon from 1971-1975; and ran the magazine as Co-Editor with Sean Kelly from 1975-1978.

[edit] Freelance editor

After leaving the Lampoon in 1978 Hendra embarked on a successful freelance career as editor, first with the celebrated parody Not the New York Times (Editor with Christopher Cerf, George Plimpton, and Rusty Unger) published by Larry Durocher and Josh Feigenbaum, created in the NY newspaper strike of 1978 selling 300,000 copies in three weeks. In 1982 he helped create Off the Wall Street Journal and Off the Wall Street Journal II (1983) as Editor-in-Chief. The two parodies sold a total of 700,000 copies. Other parodies followed: The Irrational Inquirer, Playboy the Parody and Not the Bible (with Sean Kelly) (1983)

The success of these and other parodies put Hendra on the cover of Newsweek (April 25th 1983) with Sean Kelly and Alfred Gingold.

Hendra was Editor in Chief of Spy Magazine 1993-94.

[edit] Television and movies

From 1979-1984 Hendra co-created and co-produced the British television satirical show Spitting Image for which he was nominated for a British Academy Award in 1985.

His most notable acting role was starring in This Is Spinal Tap, as the band's manager, Ian Faith. He also appeared as a British double agent in Jumpin' Jack Flash with Whoopi Goldberg. He has appeared in numerous films and dramatic TV series including "Miami Vice" "The Bill Cosby Mysteries" "Law and Order - Criminal Intent" "Life with Mikey" with Michael J Fox smongst others.

In 1997 Hendra co-wrote with director Ron Shelton The Great White Hype a satire of racism in boxing, starring Samuel Jackson, Daman Wayans, Jamie Foxx, Jeff Goldblum and Peter Berg.

Hendra received international acclaim for his 2004 memoir Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul which spent more than three months at the top of the NYT Non-Fiction Bestseller list and has been translated into 12 languages, selling more than 500,000 copies worldwide.

[edit] Books

  • The Messiah Of Morris Avenue (2006) Hendra's first novel depicts the second coming of Christ in a future United States ruled by the religious right.
  • Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul (2004)
  • Brotherhood (A photographic tribute to the NYFD heroes of 9/11), with foreword by Frank McCourt. (The book sold over a quarter million copies, all proceeds going to the families of the fallen firefighters. (2001)
  • The GIGAWIT Dictionary of the E-nglish Language (2000)
  • The Book of Bad Virtues (1994)
  • Brad '61: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man with Roy Lichtenstein (1993)
  • Born to Run Things: An Utterly Unauthorised Biography of George Bush (1992)
  • Tales From the Crib (with Bob Saget) (1991)
  • The 90's: A Look Back co-edited with Peter Elbling. Designed by Paula Scher, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagram (1989)
  • Going Too Far The Rise and Demise of Boomer Humor 1955-1980 (1987)
  • The Sayings of Ayatollah Khomeini Trans. The Little Green Book of Ayatollah Khomeini (Paris). (Editor) (1980)
  • The 80's: A Look Back at the Tumultuous Decade 1980-1989 (1979) with Christopher Cerf and Peter Elbling, New York Times Top Ten bestseller.

[edit] Controversy

One of Hendra's three daughters, Jessica Hendra, has published a memoir, How to Cook Your Daughter, (ghost-written by Blake Morrison of the USA Today, publisher Judith Regan, Reganbooks 2005) in which she claims she was sexually abused by Hendra as a young girl. Hendra has categorically denied the allegations.

[edit] External links

Award-winning articles in Harpers Magazine by Hendra] on bullfighting and the Spanish Civil War and his memoirs of life in comedy.

Languages