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'Dr. Demento' (born April 2, 1941, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is the stage name of 'Barret Eugene Hansen' ^[1], a radio disc jockey specializing in novelty songs and pop music parodies. He created the persona in 1970 while working at Los Angeles station KPPC-FM ¹. After Hansen played "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvus on the radio, DJ Steven Clean said that Hansen had to be "demented" to play that. Thereafter, the name stuck. His weekly show went into syndication in 1974 ¹ and from 1978-1992 was syndicated by the Westwood One Radio Networks. It is still on the air as of 2007.

Contents

Background

The rise of Dr. Demento

Favorite songs

Discography

References in pop culture

Affiliates list

External links

References

Background

Hansen was born the son of an amateur pianist and 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" ¹. He attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he wrote his senior thesis on Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck and Claude Debussy's opera Pelleas et Melisande. He graduated in 1963, and later studied at UCLA, from which he earned a master's degree in folklore and ethnomusicology.
Between his junior and senior years at Reed, Barry bought a Vespa scooter and toured the U.S., particularly the American South, where he witnessed first-hand some of the prejudice that was being perpetrated upon American Blacks at the time, and acquired records for his growing collection.
After getting his M.A. at UCLA, he lived for two years 'in a big house on a hill' in Topanga Canyon with members of the rock band Spirit ("Fresh Garbage" was a hit for them). He also served briefly as a roadie for Spirit, and for Canned Heat, before being hired as an A&R man for Specialty Records. It was while working for Specialty that the Doctor began his weekly radio show. He later worked for Warner Bros. Records.
Hansen was married to his wife Sue on November 26, 1983, in Los Angeles, CA.

The rise of Dr. Demento

To some people, he is best known as the man who brought rock parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic to national attention (and appeared in a number of Weird Al's music videos). Hansen also played a role in the success of Elmo and Patsy's 1979 Christmas song "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" and the continuing success of Bobby "Boris" Pickett's "Monster Mash".
He created the persona in 1970 while working at Los Angeles station KPPC-FM ¹. From 1972-1982, he did a four-hour live show on KMET in Los Angeles, plus a separate pre-taped top 50 in 1979 for KSAN in San Francisco. The four hour "local" show was divided up into two general segments. The first segment lasted three hours and the "Doctor" played whatever he chose, often thematically. The last hour was devoted to the so called "Funny Five" which was determined by petitions and requests.
His weekly show went into syndication in 1974 ¹ and from 1978-1992 was syndicated by the Westwood One Radio Networks. It is still on the air as of 2007, syndicated by Talonian Productions, a company created specifically to distribute the Dr. Demento Show. The show airs for two hours weekly, usually on a Sunday night, although stations are free to air the show at other times.
The Dr. Demento Show can also be heard via audio streaming at the Doctor’s website. A small fee is charged for this service. Unauthorized streams of the show have also appeared online from time to time.
Hansen has developed a particular interest in the roots of rock 'n' roll in R&B and country music, 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 encyclopedic knowledge of the history of recorded music in general, from the earliest Edison cylinder recordings onward.
Dr. Demento was inducted into the Comedy Music Hall Of Fame in June of 2005 ^[2].

Favorite songs

At the end of each year on his syndicated radio show, he counts down the top 25 comedy hits of the year, called the "Funny 25". (From 1972-1982, he also did a year-end top 50 countdown for his four-hour live show in Los Angeles, plus a separate pre-taped top 50 in 1979 for San Francisco.) The chart is based on requests, so it's not unheard of for classic comedy songs to appear on the chart for many years in a row. Despite that, there have only been 3 instances of the same artist repeating at the #1 spot with different tunes 2 years in a row.

★ "Weird Al" Yankovic
:1980 - ''Another One Rides The Bus''
:1981 - ''Yoda'' (Original Demo Version)

★ The great Luke Ski
:2002 - ''Peter Parker''
:2003 - ''Stealing Like A Hobbit''

★ Worm Quartet
:2004 - ''Great Idea For A Song''
:2005 - ''Inner Voice'' (as guest vocals for Sudden Death)
Furthermore, Ogden Edsl hit #1 in 1982 and 1983 with the same song, ''Dead Puppies''

★ On hunting themed shows, Dr. Demento features the song "Second Week of Deer Camp" by Michigan comedy music group Da Yoopers.
The 1947 song ''Pico and Sepulveda'' by Felix Figueroa & His Orchestra (actually Freddy Martin & His Orchestra) was frequently featured on Dr. Demento's syndicated radio show.^[3] During the early years of his show, this song became so requested, and hence played, that the "Doctor" decided to give the song a special status. From about 1973 onward, the song was played once a month, on the first Sunday of every month. The Doctor's unidirectional covenant he made with his listeners was that in exchange for playing this same song ad infinitum once a month via this special arrangement, it was thereafter voided from ever being voted upon, requested, and/or played in any monthly Top 10 or annual Top 50 format. For the last twenty years or so, he has played ''Pico and Sepulveda'' beneath his weekly sign-off.

Discography

A number of compilations have been released by Dr. Demento, including: ^[4]

★ ''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)

References in pop culture

★ In ''The Simpsons'' episode "Sideshow Bob Roberts", Bart's two mortal enemies are revealed to be Sideshow Bob and, without any earlier or later explanation of this claim, Dr. Demento.

★ In the ''King of the Hill'' episode "Texas City Twister", Peggy tells Luanne that they had "better get on the road before that Dr. Demento starts stinking up the airwaves". Later, Spike Jones' "Cocktails for Two" is heard on the car radio.^[5]

★ On the TV show ''Bobby's World'', Bobby imagines that the doctor he will be seeing the next day is none other than Dr. Demento.

★ In the ''Mr. Show'' episode "Eat Rotten Fruit From A Shitty Tree", the character of "Dr. Retarded" is a novelty record collector and "Chief Head of Surgery, Mass General."

Affiliates list

★ WLUP 97.9 FM: Chicago, Illinois, Sunday 11 PM - 1 AM.

★ WLVQ 96.3 FM: Columbus, Ohio, Sunday 8 - 10 AM.

★ KCMD 970 AM: Portland, Oregon, Sunday 1 - 3 PM.

★ KLOO 106.3 FM: Corvallis, Oregon, Sunday 7 - 9 PM.

★ KURE 88.5 FM: Ames, Iowa, Saturday 10 PM - Midnight.

★ KOZT 95.3 FM, Fort Bragg, California, Sunday 9 - 11 PM.

★ XM Satellite Radio - the now defunct channel "Special X" which featured nothing but novelty records; aired at various times throughout the week.

★ See also Demented Music Database.^[6]

External links

★ Dr. Demento official Web site

★ The Official World Wide Dr. Demento Streaming Site (many past shows available)

★ Demented Music Database - official playlist archive and much more!

★ Dr. Demento Discography

★

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

★ TOP 100 (or so) DEMENTED HITS (from Funny 25’s) - updated annually

References

1. "About The Dr." ''The Online Internet Site For Information on Dr. Demento music, songs, lyrics, and chat''. 2005. 03 Mar. 2006 .
2. "Comedy Music Hall of Fame." ''Comedy Music Hall of Fame''. 2005. 03 Mar. 2006 .
3. http://themadmusicarchive.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=283
4. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000APXXKY/
5. http://www.tv.com/king-of-the-hill/texas-city-twister/episode/4223/summary.html
6. Demented Music Database - official playlist archive and much more!