# Happy Birthday, Barret Eugene Hansen! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 2, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-barret-eugene-hansen/982044 "2023-04-02T20:05:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-barret-eugene-hansen/982044/1 "2023-04-02T20:05:19Z")
aka Dr. Demento, who is now 82. The man has put joy and laughter in my heart and/or ears for a few decades now. I started listening to him in early 1977 when I was sent to March AFB, so I got to hear the start of Weird Al’s career, a nice bonus, indeed. Thank you Doctor D-I will always _STAY DEMENTED!!_ ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2023, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-barret-eugene-hansen/982044/2 "2023-04-02T20:21:59Z")
Love him. Met him at conventions. Wonderful man. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2023, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-barret-eugene-hansen/982044/3 "2023-04-02T20:23:41Z")
He comes back to Reed College almost every spring to put on lectures and shows, so I usually catch him there. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2023, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-barret-eugene-hansen/982044/4 "2023-04-02T20:45:01Z")
A little video about Doctor Demento at Reed College. During the lecture seen I and my friends are in the front row. [Dr. Demento at Reed College - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajzwy3Hq-oY) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2023, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-barret-eugene-hansen/982044/5 "2023-04-02T21:13:37Z")
He did a three hour live show in Los Angeles that was different than the syndicated show. From 6-9 pm on Sundays. I called in a couple of times and talked to him. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2023, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-barret-eugene-hansen/982044/6 "2023-04-02T23:01:45Z")
Heh, I could swear I listened to him in high school, but his show didn’t start until the year after I graduated, which was 1969. His show began in 1970. > [@hajario](#): > > He did a three hour live show in Los Angeles that was different than the syndicated show. From 6-9 pm on Sundays. I called in a couple of times and talked to him. Yeah, I was/am in L.A., so we had the three hour show. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2023, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-barret-eugene-hansen/982044/7 "2023-04-02T23:06:17Z")
He definitely put Styx’ “Plexiglass Toilet Choir”, which people generally do not believe exists until they hear it (and sometimes not even then) on the map. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2023, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-barret-eugene-hansen/982044/8 "2023-04-02T23:12:00Z")
I only knew of that song from Dr D. I found out that it was by Styx very recently ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2023, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-barret-eugene-hansen/982044/9 "2023-04-02T23:17:15Z")
I discovered the Dr. Demento show on the same day in 1972 that I read my first MAD Magazine. At 9 years old, I got my first whiff of youthful rebellion and thereafter specifically sought out pastimes that my parents wouldn’t approve of. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2023, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-barret-eugene-hansen/982044/10 "2023-04-02T23:31:04Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > He did a three hour live show in Los Angeles that was different than the syndicated show. From 6-9 pm on Sundays Are you referring to the KMET-FM show (mid 70s-mid 80s)? That was _four_ hours, from 6-10 pm Sundays. The final hour from 9-10 was the weekly top 10 countdown - all live. The live show was less censored than the syndicated show. I remember Frank Zappa’s “Titties & Beer” was heavily edited for syndication (KMET would run the syndicated show when Dr. D was on vacation) whereas the live show bleeped out one “fuck”, one “shit”, one of two “ass” (“blow it out your ass” was bleeped, but “bet your ass I will sign” was untouched), and one “farted”, but left every instance of “titties”, “whore”, “bitch” unaltered. Artists I first heard on his show, besides the obvious Weird Al: Frank Zappa, Ramones (“Beat on the Brat”), George Carlin, Devo (bunch of guys in Ohio who sent in a tape of what would eventually become “Jocko Homo”), The B-52s (“Rock Lobster”). His show was the first place I heard the Beatles’ Christmas fan club records or “You Know My Name (Look up the Number)”. Thanks for warping me into the person I am today, Dr. D!! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2023, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-barret-eugene-hansen/982044/11 "2023-04-02T23:53:06Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > Are you referring to the KMET-FM show (mid 70s-mid 80s)? That was _four_ hours, from 6-10 pm Sundays. The final hour from 9-10 was the weekly top 10 countdown - all live. I am! Thanks for the memory refresher. And then from 10-12 was a call in show called (I think) Your Opinion that I also loved. People could talk about anything. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2023, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-barret-eugene-hansen/982044/12 "2023-04-02T23:54:55Z")
I baked you a cake for your birthday On top was 82 candles I lit A river of molten wax soaked it Alas, now it tastes like… **shaving cream** …