Best Known As: The veteran radio host who plays wacky novelty songs
Name at birth: Barret Hansen
Dr. Demento is the on-air name of Barry Hansen, the host of a syndicated radio show in the U.S. that features novelty and comedy records. Hansen studied music at Reed College in Portland, Oregon and at the University of California at Los Angeles. He first used the Dr. Demento moniker in 1970, in his early days as a Los Angeles disc jockey. By 1974 he was nationally syndicated, playing rare novelty songs from the past and present, from Spike Jones and Tom Lehrer to Frank Zappa and Weird Al Yankovic. (Dr. Demento is famous for giving Weird Al his first big break.) Hansen is also an avid record collector and expert on the history of recording who has produced several compilations, mostly for Rhino Records.
Before he was a DJ, Hansen was a roadie for the rock band Canned Heat.
Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection: The Greatest Novelty Records of All Time, Dr. Demento Presents: Greatest Novelty Records of All Time, Vol. 6, Dr. Demento Presents: Greatest Xmas Novelty CD
He was born Barret Hansen, being the proud owner of a master's degree in music from UCLA under that moniker, but he's far better known to millions of radio listeners as "Doctor Demento." In 1995, he celebrated his 25th anniversary of broadcasting the greatest novelty records of all time, both new and old. In that time, he's elevated the novelty record -- in all its myriad styles -- to a high trash culture art form. He's made hits out of 40-year-old records that no one had ever played, and was singularly responsible for the success of "Weird Al" Yankovic, whose song parodies debuted on his show. Hansen's journey from record collector to national personality is the journey of the radio everyman, but one also grounded in a solid knowledge of American music in all its glorious forms.
At the age of 19, Hansen first started broadcasting at Reed College in Portland, OR. He went on the air at the tiny ten-watt campus station with a half-hour weekly blues show, working his way up through the ranks to eventually become the student station manager. An early forerunner of his present-day format was exhibited on a show he hosted at the station called Music Museum. Hansen's love of music's eclectic side led him to briefly edit the Little Sandy Review. The Review had been a hardcore folk music magazine -- one of the first to write about Dylan -- but Hansen's tenure found him writing about eclectic electric rockers like Frank Zappa instead, this literary bent leading him to do record reviews for Rolling Stone as well.
In the late '60s, Hansen found himself gainfully employed by Specialty Records in Hollywood. This was in the days before Specialty had become strictly a reissue label, and Hansen's behind-the-scenes duties included compiling and annotating numerous excellent vinyl releases (among them several fine Little Richard packages and Doo Wop, one of the Doctor's areas of true musical expertise), producing and issuing the decidedly demented Edard Nelson single "Pale Blues," and almost signing an embryonic version of the J. Geils Band to the label.
Sitting in as a guest on a '50s rock & roll oldies radio show on KPPC-FM in Pasadena, CA, in 1970 was the turning point in his broadcasting career, and where his radio character truly began in earnest. When his DJ friend Steven Siegal asked him to bring in some off-the-wall rock & roll singles for the upcoming week's show, the seeds of what would soon become the Doctor Demento Show were sown. He went from on-the-air guest to his own Sunday night shift and, as he quickly noticed, "everybody liked the obscure blues and doo wop records well enough, but every time I played 'Transfusion' by Nervous Norvus, the phones lit up like crazy." Knowing a good thing when it landed in his lap, the good Doctor started experimenting with tunes from an era that was beyond the rock & roll pale. A good example of this was 1947's "Pico and Sepulveda," which would become his show's theme song. The die was cast.
After resigning from Specialty to make a quick U-Haul trip up to San Francisco for a summer's shift at KPPC's sister station, Hansen found himself back at the Pasadena affiliate just long enough to watch himself and the rest of the staff get fired. In December of 1971, Siegal had landed on his radio feet, this time at Los Angeles' KMET-FM. Doing it all one more time, Demento guested on Siegal's show and soon had his own show on the station, broadcasting once again on Sunday nights. While working at Warner Bros. Records -- putting sampler albums of new material together -- he invited his first special guest on the program, his "teenage hero," Frank Zappa. With a solid time slot, interesting guests, the Doctor's upbeat personality, and an arsenal of audio goodies, the show became a huge success in no time flat, and Hansen stayed at KMET for the next 15 years as one of the jewels in its radio crown.
In 1973, Demento found himself with a manager who had an eye for syndicating his show for a national audience. The process was a slow one, starting in March of 1974 with station in Seattle, but by year's end the list of subscribers topped over 100. It was the Doctor's constant programming of a 30-year-old obscurity -- "Shaving Cream" by Brooklyn, NY, native Benny Bell -- that caught the attention of his New York City affiliate, catapulting him to network TV appearances, national media attention, and the upshot of even more stations signing up for syndication.
In 1975, his profile was high enough that Warner Bros. issued the first collection of selections from his radio show, Dr. Demento's Delights, paving the way for other likeminded compilations on Rhino Records. Hansen has also stayed active with liner note and comp work on such diverse projects as Rhino's John Fahey and Spike Jones collections and the "Weird Al" Yankovic box set on Capitol. With a new syndication company firmly in place and the 2000 release of the Dr. Demento 30th Anniversary Collection: Dementia 2000 set, he showed no sign of slowing down in his pursuit of recorded dementia. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide
Dr. Demento is the stage name of Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941),[1] a radiodisc 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 1978–92 was syndicated by the Westwood One Radio
Networks. It is still on the air as of 2007.
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 firsthand some of the prejudice that was being perpetrated upon American
Blacks at the time, and acquired records for his growing collection.
After earning his master's degree, 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 married his wife Sue on November 26, 1983, in Los
Angeles, California.
Hansen created the persona in 1970 while working at Los Angeles station KPPC-FM [1]. From 1972–82, he performed 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 1978–92 was syndicated by the Westwood One Radio Networks. It is still on the air as of 2007, syndicated by Talonian Productions, a
company created by Hansen 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 2005 [2].
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 1972–82, 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 is
common for classic comedy songs to appear on the chart for many years in a row. Despite that, there have only been three
instances of the same artist repeating at the #1 spot with different tunes two years in a row.
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)
Dr. Demento 25th Anniversary Collection (1996)
Dr. Demento 2000! 30th Anniversary Collection (2001)
References in pop culture
Trivia sections are discouraged under
Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
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."
^ abcdef "About The Dr." The Online Internet Site For Information on Dr. Demento
music, songs, lyrics, and chat. 2005. 03 Mar. 2006 <http://www.drdemento.com/dr-bio.html>.
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