Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941), known professionally as Dr. Demento, is an American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present. Hansen created the Demento persona in 1970 while working at Pasadena, California, station

KPPC-FM KROQ-FM (106.7 Hertz, MHz) is a commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronou ...

. He played "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvus on the radio, and DJ "The Obscene" Steven Clean said that Hansen had to be "demented" to play it, and the name stuck. His weekly show went into syndication in 1974 and was syndicated by the

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The compan ...

Radio Network from 1978 to 1992. Broadcast syndication of the show ended on June 6, 2010, but the show continues to be produced weekly in an online version. Hansen has a degree in ethnomusicology and has written magazine articles and liner notes on recording artists outside of the novelty genre. He is credited with introducing new generations of listeners to artists of the early and middle 20th century whom they might not have otherwise discovered, such as

Harry McClintock Harry Kirby McClintock (October 8, 1882 – April 24, 1957), also known as "Haywire Mac", was an American railroad man, radio personality, actor, singer, songwriter, and poet, best known for his song "Big Rock Candy Mountain". Life Harry McC ...

Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gun ...

, Jimmy Durante, Benny Bell,

Rusty Warren Rusty Warren (March 20, 1930 – May 25, 2021) was an American comedian and singer, specializing in sex-related themes and such songs as "Bounce Your Boobies" and " Knockers Up!". Early life Warren was born in New York City in 1930 and adopted s ...

Yogi Yorgesson Harry Stewart (October 21, 1908 – May 20, 1956), born Harry Skarbo, was an entertainer, singer, comedian, and songwriter. He was best known for his portrayal of Yogi Yorgesson, a comically exaggerated Swedish American.Nervous Norvus,

Allan Sherman Allan may refer to: People * Allan (name), a given name and surname, including list of people and characters with this name * Allan (footballer, born 1984) (Allan Barreto da Silva), Brazilian football striker * Allan (footballer, born 1989) (Al ...

Ray Stevens Harold Ray Ragsdale (born January 24, 1939), known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian, known for his Grammy-winning recordings " Everything Is Beautiful" and " Misty", as well as novel ...

Candy Candido Jonathan Joseph “Candy” Candido (December 25, 1913 – May 19, 1999) was an American radio performer and voice actor. He was best remembered for his famous line "I'm feeling mighty low". Early and personal life Born on Christmas Day in ...

, Stan Freberg, and

Tom Lehrer Thomas Andrew Lehrer (; born April 9, 1928) is an American former musician, singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician, having lectured on mathematics and musical theater. He is best known for the pithy and humorous songs that he recorded in ...

. He helped bring "Weird Al" Yankovic to national attention.

Early life

Hansen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of an amateur

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

. He claims to have started his vast record collection as early as age 12, when he found "that a local thrift store had thousands of old 78 RPM records for sale at 5 cents each." He attended

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, where he was promoted to Program Director of KRRC in 1960 and

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

in 1961. He wrote his senior thesis on Alban Berg's opera ''

Wozzeck ''Wozzeck'' () is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama '' Woyzeck'', which the German playwright Georg Büchner left incomplete at ...

'' and Claude Debussy's opera '' Pelléas et Mélisande''. He graduated in 1963, and later studied at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, from which he earned a master's degree in

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

and ethnomusicology. After earning his master's degree, he lived for two years "in a big house on a hill" in

Topanga Canyon Topanga () (Tongva: ''Topaa'nga'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located in the Santa Monica Mountains, the community exists in Topanga Canyon and the surrounding hills. The narrow s ...

with members of the rock band

Spirit Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

. He also served briefly as a roadie for Spirit, and for

Canned Heat Canned Heat is an American band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. The group is noted for its efforts to promote interest in blues music and its original artists and rock music. It was founded by two blues enthusiasts Alan Wilson and Bob ...

, before being hired as an A&R man, or talent scout, for

Specialty Records Specialty Records was an American record label founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by Art Rupe. It was known for rhythm and blues, gospel, and early rock and roll, and recorded artists such as Little Richard, Guitar Slim, Percy Mayfield, and Lloyd Pr ...

. The Doctor began his weekly radio show while working for Specialty, and he later worked for

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. He was responsible for preparing many of the "Warner Brothers Loss Leaders" compilation albums of

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

issued by Warner Bros. in the 1970s, which featured new artists and new material from established Warner Brothers Records artists. These were advertised on the inner sleeves of WB's current releases—and were only available by ordering direct from WB using a coupon printed on the record sleeve—and were priced at $1 per LP. Most of these releases were 2-LP sets, so they were priced at $2 at a time when a "double LP" typically carried a $9.98 list price. Using his real name of Barry Hansen, he also contributed many articles on rock music to magazines including ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

,'' ''

Down Beat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' and ''

Hit Parader ''Hit Parader'' was an American music magazine that operated between 1942 and 2008. A monthly publication, it focused on rock and pop music in general until the 1970s, when its focus began turning to hard rock and heavy metal. By the early 1980s ...

'', liner notes on various late-1960s and early 1970s albums, and in 1976 contributed the chapter on "Rhythm and Gospel" in ''The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll''.

Career

The Dr. Demento radio show

Hansen created the persona of Dr. Demento in 1970 while working at

KPCC (FM) KPCC (89.3 FM) – branded 89.3 KPCC – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, primarily serving Greater Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. KPCC also reaches much of Santa Barbara, Ventura Coun ...

in Pasadena, California. The positive listener response to the offbeat novelties that Hansen included in his rock oldies show led to his eventually turning it into an all-novelty show. At the end of 1971, he moved to KMET in Los Angeles. From 1972 to 1983, he performed a four-hour live show on KMET. From about 1974 on, the local Los Angeles market was the full 4 hours and the nationally syndicated show was cut to 2 hours. The show became a two-hour live show on KLSX and, after that station converted to a talk-only format in 1995, moved again to KSCA, where it remained until that station changed to a Spanish-language format, in February 1997. His weekly show went into national syndication in a two-hour all-novelty format in 1974, produced by his manager Larry Gordon of Gordon/Casady and during 1978–92 was syndicated by the

Radio Network. The Westwood One period marked the height of the show's national popularity; it was carried in most major radio markets, airing mainly on FM rock stations, usually late on Sunday evenings. The producer Westwood One assigned to work with Hansen from 1978 to 1982 was Lynnsey Guererro, a former track star from UCLA and Senior Producer at the company. In 1982, he handed off the show to a new producer from San Diego, professional journalist Robert Young. It was under Young's guidance that the show gained in popularity, mainly due to his willingness to foster relationships with national media and with nationally known and up-and-coming artists, including John Mammoser,

Judy Tenuta Judy Lynn Tenuta (November 7, 1949 – October 6, 2022) was an American comedian, actress, and comedy musician. She was known for her whimsical and brash persona of "The Love Goddess", mixing insult comedy, observational humor, self-promotion, ...

Emo Philips Emo Philips (born Philip Soltanec February 7, 1956) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, writer and producer. His stand-up comedy persona makes use of paraprosdokians spoken in a wandering falsetto tone of voice. The confused, childlike deli ...

, Pinkard and Bowden, Wally Wingert, and Mark Davis (

Richard Cheese Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine (or simply Richard Cheese) is a cover band and comedy act, performing popular songs in a lounge/swing style. Lounge singer Richard Cheese is a character created and portrayed by Los Angeles-based act ...

). Young accompanied Dr. Demento to Portland, Ore.; Dallas, Texas; New York City; San Diego; Montreal; Phoenix; and other cities to do live performances and PR Events, taking photos, setting up interviews and even 'running the board' at some of the live shows. He left the radio network in 1990 during a business downturn. In January 2014 Young released an e-book titled "Producing Demento," about his memories of working on the show. From 1992 to 2000, the show was syndicated by On the Radio Broadcasting. Hansen, under the name "Talonian Productions," handled syndication himself from 2000 until discontinuing syndication in 2010 (though Hansen did not reveal he was Talonian until being forced to respond to significant criticism of the company in 2007; this despite the fairly obvious fact that Talonian had no involvement in any other show than Dr. Demento). Between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s, Hansen continued to do live broadcasts on KMET and other Los Angeles area stations, in addition to his weekly taped syndicated show. He also made occasional television appearances, on such shows as ''

The Gong Show ''The Gong Show'' is an American amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976, through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976 to ...

'' (on the 1988-89 revival), '' Bobby's World'', ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'', and on the Barnes and Barnes music video for " Fish Heads". The syndicated radio show normally started with an hour of randomly chosen records and listener requests. The second hour was normally mostly devoted to a specific theme (cars, sports, pets, romance, movies, etc.) with a final segment taken up by a "The Funny Five" countdown of the most requested songs. There were also shows devoted to holidays and seasonal events, with the most important being the Halloween and Christmas shows (Hansen produced multiple Christmas shows during the

holiday season The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late Novembe ...

consisting solely of novelty Christmas music), because of the large number of novelty records those holidays have inspired. The final radio episode each year was the Funny 25, a countdown of the 25 most requested novelty songs that year (see below). For most of the syndicated show's history, Hansen produced 52 original weekly shows every year; repeat broadcasts were rare. The program's opening theme is an instrumental version of "

Pico and Sepulveda "Pico and Sepulveda" is a 1947 song by Freddy Martin and his orchestra. Composed by Eddie Maxwell (Eddie Cherkose) and Jule Styne (Ambassador Records, 1947 — b/w "She of the Coffee Brown Eyes"), it features a Latin-style beat, and Martin used th ...

" recorded for the show by The Roto Rooter Good Time Christmas Band (during the early years on KMET, it had been “Sugar Blues” by Clyde McCoy). The same Los Angeles area group recorded some of the musical teasers used on the show, such as "It's time for number one...." The other "countdown" intros come from "Barstow" by the American maverick composer

Harry Partch Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century com ...

. Hansen's opening line, "Wind up your radios," refers to the rare 78rpm novelty records from the days of wind-up phonographs that he has featured on the show, especially in its early years. The closing theme is "Cheerio, Cherry Lips, Cheerio," a 1929 vocal by

Scrappy Lambert Harold "Scrappy" Lambert (May 12, 1901 – November 30, 1987, in New Brunswick, New Jersey) was an American Big band, dance band vocalist who appeared on hundreds of recordings from the 1920s to the 1940s. At Rutgers University he was a cheer ...

(recording under the name Gordon Wallace), which Hansen tells listeners he discovered in a thrift shop. The Doctor closes each show with "Stay Dement-ed!" Whimsical Will (real name: William Simpson) produced a weekly "Demented News" for the show since the late 1980s. He also has recorded false comedy interviews "break-in" style, following Dickie Goodman, including "Hey Dickie" (1989), which is available on iTunes. Starting in the late 1980s, the show began to lose affiliates, a victim of media consolidation and other changes in the radio industry that were pushing many alternative rock stations and individualistic broadcasters off the air. In 1992,

dropped the show which was immediately picked up by another syndicator, On the Radio Broadcasting. This allowed the syndicated show to air records which were popular on the local Los Angeles show, but Westwood One would not allow, such as "It's A Gas" by

Alfred E. Neuman Alfred E. Neuman is the fictitious mascot and cover boy of the American humor magazine '' Mad''. The character's distinct smiling face, parted red hair, gap-tooth smile, freckles, protruding nose, and scrawny body, first emerged in U.S. iconog ...

and "Moose Turd Pie" by

Utah Phillips Bruce Duncan "Utah" Phillips (May 15, 1935 – May 23, 2008)
, KVMR, Nevada City, California, May 24, 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2008 ...

. It also allowed Whimsical Will's Demented News, a fixture of the local Los Angeles show, to also air on the national show. In 2000, Hansen formed Talonian Productions to syndicate the show himself. According to Hansen, the show steadily lost advertisers, and as such, he had to restructure the distribution of the show from the usual

barter In trade, barter (derived from ''baretor'') is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists disti ...

system to a system in which stations pay a rights fee for the program (though he apparently made exceptions in some major markets, such as WLUP in Chicago). He stated in October 2007 that "unless the show's financial situation changes soon, I will be unable to continue the show much longer." After approximately two and a half years, and no significant change in the show's financial situation, the Dr. Demento official website announced on June 6, 2010, that the show that aired that weekend would be the final broadcast in the terrestrial radio version; however, new episodes of the online streaming version would still continue to be produced for the foreseeable future, with new episodes posted every Saturday. In addition, according to the site, "...by special agreement and due to contractual considerations, a version of the internet show will be heard weekly on KACV-FM (in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

), at least through the summer." The show was removed from KACV-FM in January 2011.

Online streaming

Beginning in approximately 2006, ''The Dr. Demento Show'' began offering pay-per-show audio streaming at the show's official website. Large archives from 1992 to the present, as well as a few select archives from the early 1970s, are available, but most of the syndicated programs from 1978 to 1992 are not because the broadcast rights are currently in limbo (

Dial Global Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The company ...

and later

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 8 ...

purchased Westwood One in the early 2010s, but spun off several of its music shows to Compass Media Networks; it's unknown whether the Dr. Demento syndicated archive was among the programs). Some live local shows which aired in Los Angeles from this period were added. As part of the contract between Dr. Demento and radio stations, radio stations were prohibited from streaming the program online. Several radio stations were forced to drop the program because of this policy, thus reducing Dr. Demento's affiliate count (at the end of the show's terrestrial run only six stations were carrying the show, versus over 100 at its peak), further exacerbating the show's financial problems and inability to sell advertising. Despite the show's terrestrial cancellation, new online episodes are expected to be produced for the foreseeable future. The show ended its terrestrial broadcast on a

cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...

, with the last terrestrial broadcast devoted to songs involving the word "big" and the first post-terrestrial broadcast devoted to songs involving the word "little." The online show follows a format similar to that of the terrestrial show; no longer being limited by a radio time slot or commercial breaks, the show usually exceeds two hours and may include "bonus tracks" at the end of the show. The weekly "Funny Five" has been replaced by a monthly Top Ten in order to allow for more comprehensive special topic segments. The new format, along with the ability to play records that previously would have been censored on the radio, has allowed Hansen to delve more deeply into his collection than was possible on the syndicated radio show.

Other media

From 2003 to 2005,

XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable television. Its se ...

aired a weekly "Best of Dr. Demento" show (featuring a mixture of old and new material) initially on the Special X channel and then on the 60s on 6,

Deep Tracks Deep Tracks is a Sirius XM Radio channel featuring lesser-known classic rock music selections such as album tracks, one-hit wonders, concert recordings, "forgotten 45s" and "B-side" tracks. Brian Beddow is Deep Tracks' current programming dire ...

, and

Laugh USA Laugh USA is a Sirius XM Radio channel featuring family comedy and broadcasts on channel 98. The channel's slogan is "Comedy for Everyone." The comedy aired sometimes contains mild profanities and slightly risqué material, and is only very rare ...

channels. He was interviewed in the 2005 documentary film about

outsider music Outsider music (from " outsider art") is music created by self-taught or naïve musicians. The term is usually applied to musicians who have little or no traditional musical experience, who exhibit childlike qualities in their music, or who su ...

ian

Wild Man Fischer Lawrence Wayne "Wild Man" Fischer (November 6, 1944 – June 16, 2011) was an American street performer known for offering erratic, a cappella performances of "new kinds of songs" for a dime on the beaches and the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. ...

, titled '' Derailroaded: Inside The Mind Of Wild Man Fischer''. In September 2007, Dr. Demento portrayed the role of

Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; grc-gre, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Κῷος, Hippokrátēs ho Kôios; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history o ...

on '' The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd.'' In addition to his syndicated show, he still makes occasional guest appearances for other shows. Among his guest-hosting stints were for

Montel Williams Montel Brian Anthony Williams (born July 3, 1956) is an American television host, actor and motivational speaker. He is known for hosting the long-running daytime tabloid talk show '' The Montel Williams Show'', which ran in syndication from 199 ...

on the now-defunct

Air America Media Air America (formerly Air America Radio and Air America Media) was an American radio network specializing in progressive talk radio. It was on the air from March 2004 to January 2010. The network was founded as a left wing alternative to counter ...

(despite the network's politically driven format, the guest stint followed his normal format of novelty music, specifically Halloween music, since the show aired on October 30, 2009, the day before Halloween) on ''

Anything Anything with Rich Russo ''Anything Anything with Rich Russo'' is a weekly two-hour freeform radio program that airs on Sunday nights at 9 PM in the New York City market. The program's weekly playlists range from deep tracks of known artists, punk, non album b-sides, bu ...

'' on

Super Bowl Sunday Super Bowl Sunday, officially Super Sunday in the NFL, is the day on which the Super Bowl, the National Football League (NFL)'s annual championship game, is played. Sometimes described as an unofficial national holiday, it recently occurred on t ...

in 2011 and 2013, and annually with classical music host Jim Svejda on New Year's Eve. In April 2013, Meep Morp Studios began seeking donations to fund a documentary named ''Under the Smogberry Trees: The True Story of Dr. Demento'' through Kickstarter. ''Under the Smogberry Trees'' was meant to be a filmed history of “The Dr. Demento Show”, covering the lasting impact of funny music on popular culture, and including current interviews with Dementites connected to and/or inspired by the show. The Kickstarter campaign ended successfully on May 4, 2013, with a total of $118,722 in donations from 1,764 backers. On September 27, 2016, Hansen announced he had terminated his support for Meep Morp's version of the film, was working on producing his own version of "Under the Smogberry Trees" with Devin Lucas as director, and forbade Meep Morp from continuing to use his name or likeness for their film. Meep Morp stated that, after the film had substantially been completed and the studio prepared to begin taping the interview portions with Hansen in July 2014, he abruptly refused the interview and issued a cease and desist order to the studio instead, stating that he and Talonian would be taking full control of the film and its profits. Neither version of the film has been released as of 2022.

Honors

Dr. Demento has been inducted into both the Comedy Music Hall of Fame (in June 2005) and the

National Radio Hall of Fame The Radio Hall of Fame, formerly the National Radio Hall of Fame, is an American organization created by the Emerson Radio Corporation in 1988. Three years later, Bruce DuMont, founder, president, and CEO of the Museum of Broadcast Communicati ...

(in November 2009). Dr. Demento was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame in 2014.

Personal life

Hansen was married to Sue Hansen (née Sue Charles) from 1983 until her death on September 10, 2017. Their relationship was

childless by choice Voluntary childlessness, also called being childfree, describes the voluntary choice to not have children. In most societies and for most of human history, choosing not to have children was both difficult and undesirable. The availability of rel ...

. Sue was a former clerk and training officer at the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

railroad for 12 years. Hansen describes himself as "an armchair

railfan A railfan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff or trainspotter ( Australian/British English), or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally interested in trains and rail transport systems. Rai ...

", sometimes sampling his extensive collection of railroad-related songs on his show. Hansen has a long time interest in the roots of

rock 'n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

in R&B and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

, and he has written about it in many magazine articles, liner notes to compilations and new recordings by a variety of artists, and two chapters on early R&B for ''The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll''. His shows and public appearances display an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of recorded music in general, from the earliest

Edison cylinder Phonograph cylinders are the earliest commercial medium for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity (c. 1896–1916), these hollow cylinder, cylind ...

recordings onward. His personal record collection exceeds 85,000.

Influence

Dr. Demento may be best known for bringing parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic to national attention. In 1976, Hansen spoke at Yankovic's school where Yankovic gave a self-recorded tape of comedy songs and parodies to Hansen. The first song, "Belvedere Cruisin'" about the family station wagon, was featured on the show. Positive listener response encouraged Yankovic to record more parodies; Hansen then funded Yankovic's first EP, '' Another One Rides the Bus'', which eventually led to a record deal and pop chart success in the 1980s and beyond. Hansen has appeared in a number of Weird Al's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

s as well as in Weird Al's movie '' UHF''. Other artists who attained widespread exposure after getting exposure on the Dr. Demento show include

Barnes & Barnes Barnes & Barnes are an American musical duo, formed in Los Angeles in 1970. Though commonly associated with novelty music and comedy rock, their music has also incorporated elements of new wave, synth-pop, and folk rock. The duo formed in 1 ...

(" Fish Heads"), Ogden Edsl ("Dead Puppies", "Kinko The Clown", "Daddy's Money", "

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

Meets

Eydie Gormé Eydie Gormé ( ; born Edith Gormezano; August 16, 1928 – August 10, 2013) was an American singer who had hits on the pop and Latin pop charts. She sang solo and in the duo Steve and Eydie with her husband, Steve Lawrence, on albums and telev ...

"), Larry "Wild Man" Fischer ("My Name Is Larry"),

Larry Groce Larry Groce (born April 22, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and radio host. From 1983 until 2021, Groce served as the host and artistic director of '' Mountain Stage'', a two-hour live music radio program produced by West Virginia Public ...

("Junk Food Junkie", 1975) and Elmo and Patsy ("

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" is a novelty Christmas song. Written by Randy Brooks, the song was originally performed by the then-husband-and-wife duo of Elmo Shropshire and Patsy Trigg in 1979. Lyrics The lyrics tell the story of a grandm ...

", 1979). The show helped revive and maintain interest in novelty hits from the 1950s and 1960s that received scant airplay on mainstream pop or oldies radio stations, including "Alley Oop" by the

Hollywood Argyles The Hollywood Argyles were an American musical ensemble, assembled for studio recordings by the producer and songwriter Kim Fowley and his friend and fellow musician Gary S. Paxton. They had a US number one hit record, "Alley Oop" (Lute Recor ...

, "The Ballad of Irving" by

Frank Gallop Frank Gallop (June 30, 1900 in Boston, Massachusetts – May 17, 1988 in Palm Beach, Florida) was an American radio and television personality. Radio Early days Frank Gallop went into broadcasting by chance. Born and raised in Boston's Back ...

, "The Battle of Kookamonga" by Homer and Jethro, "Monster Mash" by

Bobby "Boris" Pickett Robert George Pickett (February 11, 1938 – April 25, 2007), known also by the name Bobby "Boris" Pickett, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, and comedian known for co-writing and performing the 1962 hit novelty song "Monster Mash". B ...

, " Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (A Letter from Camp)" by

, "I Want My Baby Back" by

Jimmy Cross Jimmy Cross (November 17, 1938 – October 8, 1978), also known as Jimmie Cross, was an American radio producer and singer who attained a minor ''Billboard'' Hot 100 hit with the novelty song "I Want My Baby Back" in 1965. Life and career H ...

, and "

They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" is a 1966 novelty record written and performed by Jerry Samuels (billed as Napoleon XIV), and released on Warner Bros. Records. The song became an instant success in the United States, peaking at No. 3 o ...

" by

Napoleon XIV Jerrold "Jerry" Samuels (born May 3, 1938) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Under the pseudonym Napoleon XIV, he achieved one-hit wonder status with the Top 5 hit novelty song "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" in ...

. Hansen also revived interest in the

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...

songs of 1940s

Borscht Belt The Borscht Belt, or Jewish Alps, is a colloquial term for the mostly defunct summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains in parts of Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster counties in the U.S. state of New York, straddling both Upstate New York and the nort ...

comedian Benny Bell, especially Bell's signature tune, "

Shaving Cream Shaving cream or shave cream is a category of cream cosmetics used for shaving preparation. The purpose of shaving cream is to soften the hair by providing lubrication. Different types of shaving creams include aerosol shaving cream (also kn ...

". He introduced a new generation to the manic big-band parodies of

, the musical

black humor Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

, and the many novelty records recorded by satirist Stan Freberg in the 1950s. Another frequently featured artist was Frank Zappa, whom Hansen cited as a major influence on the show and who appeared several times as a guest. The tribute show following Zappa's 1993 death was the first time the entire two-hour show was devoted to a single artist. Another of the show's highlights occurred in the late 1980s when the satire/parody/improv hard rock trio Spinal Tap came in for a visit.

Christopher Guest Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948) is an American-British screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor, and comedian. Guest is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed, and starred in ...

Michael McKean Michael John McKean (; born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, singer, and musician known for various roles in film and television such as Lenny Kosnowski in '' Laverne & Shirley'', David St. Hubbins in '' ...

and

Harry Shearer Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, writer, musician, radio host, director and producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a member ...

appeared in full costume and stayed in character for a three-hour visit. Similar "big moments" occurred in a visit from Screamin' Jay Hawkins ("

I Put a Spell on You "I Put a Spell on You" is a 1956 song written and composed by Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins, whose own recording of it was selected as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It was also included in Robert ...

"), when the singer appeared in the studios in Culver City dressed in black cape, distributing explosive flash paper to great effect, and when

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...

came in for an interview and was presented with an "absolutely HUGE" cheesecake from

Canter's Deli Canter's Deli is a Jewish-style delicatessen, opened in 1931 in Boyle Heights, and later moved to the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California, near the border of West Hollywood, where it is now. It has been frequented by many notable movie st ...

Fairfax Avenue Fairfax Avenue is a street in the north central area of the city of Los Angeles, California. It runs from La Cienega Boulevard in Culver City at its southern end to Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood on its northern end. From La Cienega Boulevard (be ...

. Dr. Demento was parodied in an episode of ''

Mr. Show with Bob and David ''Mr. Show with Bob and David'', also known as ''Mr. Show'', is an American sketch comedy series starring and hosted by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. It aired on HBO from November 3, 1995, to December 28, 1998. Cross and Odenkirk introduced m ...

'' as "Dr. Retarded: Novelty Record Collector and Chief Head of Surgery, Mass General" and is featured as an expert in songs about "paranormal monster parties".

Rainn Wilson Rainn Percival Dietrich Wilson (born January 20, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, producer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'', for which he earned three consecutive Em ...

plays Dr. Demento in the satirical biopic '' Weird: The Al Yankovic Story''.

Discography

A number of compilations have been released by Dr. Demento, including: * ''Dr. Demento's Delights'' (1975) * ''Dr. Demento's Dementia Royale'' (1980) * ''Dr. Demento's Mementos'' (1982) * ''Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Novelty Records of All Time, Volume I: The 1940s (and Before)'' (1985) * ''Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Novelty Records of All Time, Volume II: The 1950s'' (1985) * ''Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Novelty Records of All Time, Volume III: The 1960s'' (1985) * ''Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Novelty Records of All Time, Volume IV: The 1970s'' (1985) * ''Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Novelty Records of All Time, Volume V: The 1980s'' (1985) * ''Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Novelty Records of All Time, Volume VI: Christmas'' (1985) * ''Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Novelty CD of All Time'' (1988) * ''Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Christmas Novelty CD of All Time'' (1989) * ''

Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection is a release by radio disc jockey Dr. Demento to celebrate 20 years since the beginning of his radio career and novelty song show. It covers many of the novelty and comedy songs from the 1950s to the 1980s ...

'' (1991) * ''Dr. Demento: Holidays In Dementia'' (1995) * ''Dr. Demento's Country Corn'' (1995) * ''

Dr. Demento 25th Anniversary Collection ''Dr. Demento 25th Anniversary Collection'' is a release by radio disc jockey Dr. Demento to celebrate 25 years since the beginning of his radio career and novelty song show. It covers many of the novelty and comedy songs from the 1950s to the ea ...

'' (1996) * ''Dr. Demento 2000! 30th Anniversary Collection'' (2001) * ''Dr. Demento's Hits From Outer Space'' (2003) * ''Dr. Demento Interviews, The'' (2013) * ''Dr. Demento Covered in Punk'' (2018) * ''First Century Dementia – The Oldest Novelty Records of All Time'' (2020) The Demento Society released members-only demo compilations titled ''Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes'' yearly from 1991 to 2008. In 2013, Meep Morp Studio put out a boxed set of all 17 of "Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes" to date. The box set was limited to just 50 copies, available only by donating to the Kickstarter campaign for "Under the Smogberry Trees", the Dr. Demento documentary. Each box was hand signed and numbered by Dr. Demento himself.

References

External links

Official website

Demented Music Database
– official playlist archive and more
"Under the Smogberry Trees: The Dr. Demento Story" website

*
The Mad Music Archive
– a fan-run, user-supported site with song and artist information

– updated annually

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demento, Dr. 1941 births Living people American libertarians American radio personalities Radio personalities from Minneapolis Reed College alumni UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture alumni American ethnomusicologists Culture of Minneapolis Record collectors