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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 the
Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...
, station
KPPC-FM KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial 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" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The sta ...
. After he once played "Transfusion" by
Nervous Norvus Jimmy Drake (March 24, 1912 – July 24, 1968), known professionally as Nervous Norvus, was an American musician known for the controversial novelty song "Transfusion". Early life He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived for a few years in ...
on the radio, DJ "The Obscene" Steven Clean said that Hansen had to be "demented" to play it; this event inspired his stage name. His weekly show went into syndication in 1974 and was syndicated by the
Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. 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 1976. The co ...
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 until Hansen's scheduled retirement in October 2025. Hansen holds a master's degree in
ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...
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, 1884 – 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 " The Big Rock Candy Mountains". Life McCl ...
,
Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician, bandleader and conductor specializing in spoof arrangements and satire of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment wer ...
,
Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side New York accent, accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced son ...
,
Benny Bell Benny Bell (born Benjamin Samberg, March 21, 1906 – July 6, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter who reached popularity in the 1940s, with a comeback in the 1970s. He is remembered for his risqué but cheerfully optimistic songs. Career B ...
,
Rusty Warren Rusty Warren (born Ilene Goldman; 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 i ...
, Yogi Yorgesson,
Nervous Norvus Jimmy Drake (March 24, 1912 – July 24, 1968), known professionally as Nervous Norvus, was an American musician known for the controversial novelty song "Transfusion". Early life He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived for a few years in ...
,
Allan Sherman Allan Sherman (born Allan Copelon or Allan Gerald Copelon; November 30, 1924 – November 20, 1973) was an American musician, satirist, and television producer who became known as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, '' M ...
,
Ray Stevens Harold Ray Ragsdale (born January 24, 1939), known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country music, country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian. He is best known for his Grammy-winning recordings "Everything Is Beautiful" and "M ...
,
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". Candido was known for providing many animal vocalizati ...
,
Stan Freberg Stan Freberg (born Stanley Friberg; August 7, 1926 – April 7, 2015) was an American actor, author, comedian, musician, puppeteer, radio personality and advertising creative director. His best-known works include " St. George and the Dragonet ...
, and
Tom Lehrer Thomas Andrew Lehrer (; born April 9, 1928) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician, who later taught mathematics and musical theater. He recorded pithy and humorous, often Music and politics, political songs that ...
, as well as helping to bring
"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...
to national attention.


Early life

Barret Hansen was born in
Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, the son of an amateur
pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...
. 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 college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, E ...
in
Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
, where he was promoted to
Program Director In service industries, such as education, a program manager or program director researches, plans, develops and implements one or more of the firm's professional services. For example, in education, a program director is responsible for developing ...
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 Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( ; ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
's opera ''
Wozzeck ''Wozzeck'' () is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. Composed between 1914 and 1922, it premiered in 1925. It is based on the drama '' Woyzeck'', which German playwright Georg Büchner left incomplete at his death. Berg attende ...
'' and
Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
'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, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
, from which he earned a master's degree in
folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
and
ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...
. 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 an unincorporated community 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 southern ...
with members of the rock band Spirit. He also served briefly as a roadie for Spirit, and for
Canned Heat Canned Heat is an American blues rock band that was formed in Los Angeles in 1965. The group has been noted for its efforts to promote interest in blues music and its original artists. It was launched by two blues enthusiasts, Alan Wilson and ...
, 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 P ...
. The Doctor began his weekly radio show while working for Specialty, and he later worked for
Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...
. He was responsible for preparing many of the "
Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders The Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders were a series of promotional sampler compilation albums released by Warner Bros. Records throughout the 1970s. Each album (usually a 2-record set) contained a wide variety of tracks by artists under contract to W ...
" mail-order
compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
s of
rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...
issued in the 1970s, which featured new artists and new material from established Warner and Reprise 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 two-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. The magazine was first known fo ...
'', ''
Down Beat ''DownBeat'' (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 that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...
'', 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 198 ...
'', 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 KPPC in
Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...
. 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 Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...
show was cut to 2 hours. As an early advocate of the
punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
movement, Hansen often slipped punk records onto some of his mid-1970s shows, which drew some bewilderment from his usual listeners but earned him the respect of much of the punk scene. 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
Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. 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 1976. The co ...
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 stand-up comedian and actor. His stand-up comedy persona makes use of paraprosdokians spoken in a wandering falsetto tone of voice. Career The character of Emo Philips appea ...
, 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 a ...
). Young accompanied Dr. Demento to Portland, Oregon; 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 (Hansen revealed that he was the owner of Talonian when responding to significant criticism of the company in 2007; 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 ''Bobby's World'' (originally known as ''The World According to Bobby'') is an American animated comedy children's television series that aired on Fox Kids from September 8, 1990, to February 23, 1998. The show was created by Canadian actor/come ...
'', ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'', 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 as the holiday season or the holidays, is an annual period generally spanning from November or December to early January. Incorporating Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the various celebrat ...
consisting solely of novelty
Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of Music genre, genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of Christmas ...
), 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" 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) was an American dance-band vocalist who appeared on hundreds of recordings from the 1920s to the 1940s. At Rutgers University, he was a cheerleader and played piano for a jazz gr ...
(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!" Since 1987, and continuing as of 2024, "Whimsical" Will Simpson produces a weekly "Demented News" segment for the show. He also has recorded fake comedy interviews "break-in" style, following
Dickie Goodman Richard Dorian Goodman (April 19, 1934 – November 6, 1989), was an American musician and record producer. He is best known for inventing and using the technique of the " break-in", an early precursor to sampling, that used brief clips of popul ...
, including "Hey Dickie" (1989), which is available on
iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
. 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,
Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. 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 1976. The co ...
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, gap-toothed smile, freckles, red hair, protruding ears, and scrawny body date back to late 19th-century ad ...
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 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 ''bareter'') is a system of exchange (economics), exchange in which participants in a financial transaction, transaction directly exchange good (economics), goods or service (economics), services for other goods ...
system to a system in which stations paid a rights fee for the program (though he apparently made exceptions in some major markets, such as WLUP-FM in Chicago, his largest market affiliate; Hansen continued to offer the show to WLUP for free until the station decided to drop the program ahead of a sale and format change, which was the main reason why Hansen cancelled terrestrial syndication). 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 KACV-FM (89.9 MHz, "FM90") is a college radio station in Amarillo, Texas, United States. The station is owned and operated by the city's community college, Amarillo College along with its television partner, PBS station KACV-TV (channel 2). Bo ...
(in
Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County, though most of the southern half of the city extends into Randall County, Texas, Randall County ...
), at least through the summer." The show was removed from KACV-FM in January 2011. In a statement to NPR, Hansen remarked that "Stations that call themselves Top 40 usually play a particular style of music aimed at women aged 18 to 30, and ''The Dr. Demento Show,'' for some reason, has not tested too well in focus groups among that particular demographic." He also remarked to the ''Associated Press'' that his show, an outgrowth of the long-obsolete progressive and underground rock formats, was too much of an "odd duck" to fit in with most modern
radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...
s.


Online streaming and series end

Beginning in approximately 2006, ''The Dr. Demento Show'' began offering pay-per-show audio streaming at the show's official website. Large archives from 1974 to the present, as well as a few select archives from the early 1970s, are available, early on most of the syndicated programs from 1978 to 1992 were not because the broadcast rights were in limbo due to corporate changes at Westwood One; Talonian eventually resecured the rights to the Westwood One programs in 2012. The first Westwood One show from February 26, 1978 became available in November, 2012. 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 would continue to be produced for the next 15 years. Hansen expressed some disappointment that the show would no longer be available for free to his listeners and had hoped the online version would eventually be able to secure advertisers; this never materialized, and the show remained behind a
paywall A paywall is a method of restricting access to content (media), content, with a purchase or a subscription business model, paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their website ...
by financial necessity for the rest of its production run. 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. Because of his advanced age, Hansen began at the start of 2025 to produce only two new shows each month. For the other weeks that new Dr. Demento Shows are uploaded, his longtime associates, show historian/archivist Jeff Morris and recording engineer "Musical Mike" Kieffer, either compile the playlist for the show of which Hansen would voice track the intros and outros or they would utilize segments from past radio shows that are not currently available for streaming from the official Dr. Demento web site. On May 31, 2025, Hansen announced his plans for retirement; ''The Dr. Demento Show'' will end production after the October 11, 2025 episode, with the remaining episodes from June until then focusing on the history and the greatest moments and songs of the program. The final show in October will be devoted to the top 40 songs in the show's history.


Other media

From 2003 to 2005,
XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (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 ...
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 '60s Gold, formerly known as The '60s on 6 or The '60s, is a commercial-free, satellite radio station on the Sirius XM Radio platform. It plays music from the 1960s. Airing on XM Satellite Radio, XM since 2001, the channel became available to Si ...
,
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 created by George Taylor Morris. Carl Kranz is Deep ...
, and
Laugh USA Pure Comedy 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 ...
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 have ...
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 of Los Angeles County and the Sunset St ...
, titled '' Derailroaded: Inside The Mind Of Wild Man Fischer''. In September 2007, Dr. Demento portrayed the role of
Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; ; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician and philosopher of the Classical Greece, classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is traditionally referr ...
on ''
The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd ''The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd'' is a short audio and video series distributed via podcasting. Created by Grant Baciocco and Doug Price, it is a family friendly show in the style of old-time radio. The show also draws much inspiration fro ...
.'' 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 and actor. He is known for hosting the daytime tabloid talk show '' The Montel Williams Show'', which ran in syndication from 1991 to 2008. He currently hosts ''T ...
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 coun ...
(despite the network's politically driven format, the guest stint followed his normal format of novelty music, specifically
Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
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-sid ...
'' on
Super Bowl Sunday Super Bowl Sunday is the day on which the Super Bowl, the National Football League (NFL)'s annual championship game, is played. It was the first Sunday in February from Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 until Super Bowl LV in 2021, but is now the seco ...
in 2011 and 2013, and annually with classical music host Jim Svejda on
New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...
until Svejda retired in 2022. 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 Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
. ''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 A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the other ...
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 2023.


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 or childfreeness is the active choice not to have children and not to adopt children. Use of the word ''childfree'' was first recorded in 1901 and entered common usage among feminists during the 1970s. The suffix -''free ...
, and Hansen also does not keep pets for lack of interest in them. Sue was a former clerk and training officer at the
Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...
railroad for 12 years. Hansen describes himself as "an armchair
railfan A railfan, train fan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff, anorak (British English), gunzel (Australian English), trainspotter (British English) or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally in ...
", sometimes sampling his extensive collection of railroad-related songs on his show. He credited his wife with saving his life after the hard and fast lifestyle of 1980s Los Angeles nearly killed him. Hansen has a long time interest in the roots of
rock 'n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
in R&B and
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
, and he has written about it in many magazine articles, liner notes to compilations and new recordings by a variety of artists, two chapters on early R&B for ''The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll'', and his master's thesis. His personal collection includes over 85,000 records. He self-estimated that number at 300,000 in 2010 but noted he had long since lost count. That collection included almost every record that listeners submitted to him; he attempted to listen to all of them personally in selecting each week's music.


Influence

Dr. Demento may be best known for bringing
parodist A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satirical or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can also b ...
"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...
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 that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
s as well as in Weird Al's movie ''
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
''. Other artists who attained widespread exposure after getting exposure on the Dr. Demento show include
Barnes & Barnes Barnes & Barnes were an American musical duo, formed in Los Angeles in 1970. Most commonly associated with novelty music and comedy rock, their music also incorporated elements of new wave, synth-pop, and folk rock. The duo was formed in 1970 ...
(" Fish Heads"),
Ogden Edsl Ogden Edsl (shortened from "The Ogden Edsl Wahalia Blues Ensemble Mondo Bizzario Band") was an American band, formed in 1970 in Omaha, Nebraska, by Bill Frenzer, Bill Carey, and Otis XII. Their music was often darkly comedic and satirical, and ...
("Dead Puppies", "Kinko The Clown", "Daddy's Money", "
Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...
Meets
Eydie Gormé Eydie Gormé ( ; born Edith Gormezano; August 16, 1928 – August 10, 2013) was an American singer who achieved notable success in pop, Latin, and jazz genres. She sang solo and in the duo Steve and Eydie with her husband, Steve Lawrence, on a ...
"), 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 Publi ...
("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 Elmo Shropshire in 1979 under the brand of Elmo and Patsy, the double act Shropshire had with his then-wife Patsy Trig ...
", 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 ''Alley Oop'' is a syndicated comic strip created December 5, 1932, by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin, who wrote and drew the strip through four decades for Newspaper Enterprise Association. Hamlin introduced a cast of colorful characters and ...
" 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 Records ...
, "The Ballad of Irving" by
Frank Gallop Frank Gallop (June 30, 1900 – May 17, 1988) was an American radio and television personality who was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Palm Beach, Florida. Radio Early days Frank Gallop went into broadcasting by chance. Born and r ...
, "The Battle of Kookamonga" by
Homer and Jethro Homer and Jethro were the stage names of American country music duo Henry D. "Homer" Haynes (1920–1971) and Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns (1920–1989), popular from the 1940s through the 1960s on radio and television for their satirical version ...
, "
Monster Mash "Monster Mash" is a 1962 novelty song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. The song was released as a single on Gary S. Paxton's Garpax Records label in August 1962 along with a full-length LP called '' The Original Monster Mash'', which contained ...
" by
Bobby "Boris" Pickett Robert George Pickett (February 11, 1938April 25, 2007), better known as Bobby "Boris" Pickett, was an American singer-songwriter and comedian. He is best known for co-writing and performing the 1962 smash hit novelty song "Monster Mash". Born i ...
, " Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (A Letter from Camp)" by
Allan Sherman Allan Sherman (born Allan Copelon or Allan Gerald Copelon; November 30, 1924 – November 20, 1973) was an American musician, satirist, and television producer who became known as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, '' M ...
, "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 hit with the novelty song "I Want My Baby Back" in 1965. Life and radio career Jimmy Cross was bor ...
, 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 ...
" by
Napoleon XIV Jerrold Laurence Samuels (May 3, 1938 – March 10, 2023) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and talent agent. Under the pseudonym Napoleon XIV, he achieved one-hit wonder status with the #3 hit novelty song "They're Coming to ...
. 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, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...
songs of 1940s
Borscht Belt The Borscht Belt, or Yiddish Alps, is a region which was noted for its summer resorts that catered to Jewish vacationers, especially residents of New York City. The resorts, now mostly defunct, were located in the southern foothills of the Catski ...
comedian
Benny Bell Benny Bell (born Benjamin Samberg, March 21, 1906 – July 6, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter who reached popularity in the 1940s, with a comeback in the 1970s. He is remembered for his risqué but cheerfully optimistic songs. Career B ...
, 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
Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician, bandleader and conductor specializing in spoof arrangements and satire of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment wer ...
, the musical
black humor Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
of
Tom Lehrer Thomas Andrew Lehrer (; born April 9, 1928) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician, who later taught mathematics and musical theater. He recorded pithy and humorous, often Music and politics, political songs that ...
, and the many novelty records recorded by satirist
Stan Freberg Stan Freberg (born Stanley Friberg; August 7, 1926 – April 7, 2015) was an American actor, author, comedian, musician, puppeteer, radio personality and advertising creative director. His best-known works include " St. George and the Dragonet ...
in the 1950s. Another frequently featured artist was
Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...
, 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 5 February 1948), known professionally as Christopher Guest, is a British-American actor, comedian, screenwriter and director. Guest has written, directed, and starred in his series of comedy ...
,
Michael McKean Michael John McKean (; born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, singer, and musician. Over his career he has received a Grammy Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...
and
Harry Shearer Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, musician, radio host, writer, and producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a member of The ...
appeared in full costume and stayed in character for a three-hour visit. Similar "big moments" occurred in a visit from
Screamin' Jay Hawkins Jalacy J. "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins (July 18, 1929 – February 12, 2000) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, film producer, and boxer. Famed chiefly for his powerful, shouting vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of s ...
("
I Put a Spell on You "I Put a Spell on You" is a 1956 song recorded by "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins and co-written with Herb Slotkin. The selection became a classic cult song, covered by a variety of artists. It was Hawkins's greatest commercial success, reportedly su ...
"), when the singer appeared in the studios in
Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights to the ea ...
dressed in black cape, distributing explosive flash paper to great effect, and when
Mel Brooks Melvin James Brooks (né Kaminsky; born June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and songwriter. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodie ...
came in for an interview and was presented with an "absolutely HUGE" cheesecake from Canter's Deli on
Fairfax Avenue Fairfax Avenue is a street in the north central area of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. It runs from La Cienega Boulevard in Culver City at its southern end to Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood on its northern end. From ...
. Dr. Demento was parodied in an episode of '' Mr. Show with Bob and David'' 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, writer, and director. He starred as Dwight Schrute on NBC's American adaptation of ''The Office'' from 2005 to 2013, and received t ...
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'' (1991) * ''Dr. Demento: Holidays In Dementia'' (1995) * ''Dr. Demento's Country Corn'' (1995) * '' Dr. Demento 25th Anniversary Collection'' (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 American libertarians American radio personalities Culture of Minneapolis Living people Radio personalities from Minneapolis Record collectors Reed College alumni UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture alumni Comedians from Minneapolis American male comedians