Barret Eugene Hansen, radio’s “Dr. Demento”, is retiring. On his weekly show he announced he’s 84 now and he’s decided he’s going to stop doing the show in the future. He’s going to do retrospective and flashback shows through the fall and will do some other specials in the fall as well. The online site will continue with old shows being archived and available there. Dr. Demento Show To End With 55th Anniversary – RadioInsight
I first started listening to his show when I was transferred to March AFB back in early 1977. On the Mighty KMET it was a live four hour broadcast (two hours syndicated elsewhere). From “Fishheads” to “Kinko The Clown” to “Shaving Cream” to Alan Sherman to Larry “Wild Man” Fischer to Tom Lehrer to “Weird Al” Yankovic to Barnes and Barnes etc., etc., most delightful etc.
I met him a couple of time in person at the Midnight Capitol Records Tower Record Swap, and much later when he did lectures and live shows at Reed College. He would usually do two shows every spring, one all-ages and one adults only, and I would try to go to both.
By the way, if you would like musical sample of The Funny 25 or The Funny 100 they are available on You Tube, but here is a link to the all time Funny 100 from 1974 to 2024: Dr. Demento’s TOP 100 (or so) DEMENTED HITS (from Funny 25’s) - 1974 to 2023
In the meantime I, of course, will…Stay Demented!
I’m very sorry to hear it. I’ve long been a fan of his, and have been mistaken for him a time or two.
I used to listen to him when I was a kid, on my parent’s hand-me-down radio, before I went to sleep:
Loved the show.
At one time his show was aired on some station in Chicago early on Saturday mornings. I figured out a way to hook up the audio output from my radio to the audio input to my VCR, the n left the radio on all night (with the external speakers off) and set the timer on the VCR to start recording when when the stow started. Somewhere I have a box of VCR tapes, some of which are labeled “DR Demento” with either the date or the theme of that week’s show.
I also have some CDs of his Greatest Hits. I’ll have to dig them out.
Same, & same, will need to pull it out & give a listen again.
Sorry to hear you go, Dr.
“A little bit of heaven, 94.7, Tweedle dee!”
Larry “Wild Man” Fischer once sold me a belch for a quarter on the campus of UCLA. I recently ( a few years ago) found a 45 of his Mary-go-round. His big hit!
Dr. Demento was a fixture of my late teens and early twenties. I still get a slight twinge when I drive through the intersection of Pico and Sepulveda.
I bought Dr Demento’s Delights and Dr Demento’s Mementos on vinyl at conventions years ago. I expected that I would love everything about Dr Demento- and I did. I saw a Rhino Dr Demento tape set new at some music store. I listened to all the tapes immediately. When i reached the end, I immediately played the whole thing over.
While the good Doctor certainly deserves a rest, this is a sad day,
Not as sad as the day My Wife Left Town With A Banana, but still sad.
Just curious, what kind of content would the adults only show consist of?
I would catch his show on WRKR 100.7 FM. A great station out of the Racine/Kenosha area.
They would usually be themed shows, like songs about drugs, or songs about race, or songs involving lots of swearing, or songs about sex etc. I find it amazing what was allowed over the air on the radio before restrictions came into being btw.
I would listen to his radio show religiously while in high school in the mid 1980s, on WOXY out of Oxford, Ohio. Would tape his shows onto cassette. Wish I still had those.
I discovered the Doctor in the early '80s, when a friend of mine in my Dungeons & Dragons group turned me on to his show.
A few years later, when I was in college, the campus radio station where I was a DJ carried the Dr. Demento show, and I was sometimes responsible for broadcasting it: the station was sent a set of LP records each week, which had the entire program (including the Doctor’s introductions, and commercials) all recorded on them. I’d play the albums in order, and fill in airtime with one of our own promos every 20 minutes or so, while I flipped over the LP and cued it up for the next segment.
This news is giving me the existential blues.
In high school, my friends and I got a petition going to put Star Drek in the #1 position on the countdown and he mentioned the name of our school on the air. The Doctor was my intro to Monty Python.
I think that one of the themed show I have on VCR (see my earlier post) is a Star Trek themed show. I had no idea there were so many ST parody songs.
At least he’s not sleeping with the fish(heads).
I grew up with Allan Sherman and Tom Lehrer so I was well primed when I found The Good Doctor and then Weird Al. My life has never been the same different since then.
This. Every SoCal kid of that era who had anything on the ball listened to Dr. D.
I had not realized his distribution was that widespread across the country that early.
I thought he was off the air years ago. I can’t remember the last time I heard him over the airwaves, and last time I tried finding his show on the internet I think it required a subscription. A good retirement is bittersweet and this is no different. I have a lot of good memories associated with Dr. Demento and I’m glad he’s able to retire on his own terms.
He did go off the air years ago, but has had an online show since then.
As soon as read this, “We come in Peace! Shoot to Kill!” popped into my head.