Radio Is No Longer a Novelty for Dr. Demento

(July 6) -- After 40 years of being on the radio, Dr. Demento is no longer a novelty.

Due to a decline in the number of stations running his show (down to less than 10), the man who introduced millions of pencil-neck geeks to bizarre tunes including "Fish Heads," "Dead Puppies" and "My Name Is Larry," as well as artists such as Frank Zappa, Tom Lehrer and "Weird" Al Yankovic, has bid terrestrial radio adieu.

But the good doctor is not going gentle into that good night. Instead, he's taken his show to the Internet, where he issues a new show every Saturday at Dr.Demento.com.

Demento, whose real name is Barry Hansen, is as philosophical as a 69-year-old guy can be about changing times -- even though he admits that he wishes the current media onslaught weren't tied into the ending of his radio show.

"I'm OK with it," Demento told AOL News. "I play things that I thought were funny, and over the years, I understood that they didn't always fit in with the format of a particular station."

The situation, which is called "narrowcasting," basically gives stations a particular format geared to a specific demographic.

"The station doesn't want to worry that someone will switch if they don't like a song that is being played," Demento said. "Every show, ideally, will have an audience."

Demento hopes fans who loved him when the show was at its peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s will visit him at the website and maybe introduce their kids to his music.

And while Demento's song choices are meant to elicit laughs, there is something more going on.

"I've always tried to lead people and expand their consciousness," he said.

His old friend and former manager, John Ullman, says consciousness expanding is something that the good doctor doesn't get enough credit for.

Ullman went to Reed College with Hansen before he became Dr. Demento and says he had a reputation as a music expert and as a generous guy who would share his collection with anyone who was interested in it.

"Barry introduced me to [American blues singer] Robert Johnson," Ullman said. "Because of him, I went from knowing little more about folk music other than the Kingston Trio and the Weavers to learning about Bill Monroe and Leadbelly."

Ullman says that, as Dr. Demento, Hansen did the same thing, albeit a bit wackier.

"My favorite example is when he would play three songs all set around a theme," Ullman reminisced. "One time, he played a Bo Carlson song from the '20s and '30s, a Cab Calloway song from a little later and a Spike Jones tune. All the songs were about eating beans, and this was a great way for people to learn about three great artists without having it hit over their head."

For every song parody that appeared on Demento's program, such as "Bald Headed Women" (a spoof of the Bee Gees' "More Than a Woman"), his show also featured something slightly more avant-garde.

"A lot of people say that I turned them on to Frank Zappa," Demento said. "That makes me the proudest. Unlike some artists, I don't think Zappa was being funny for funny's sake. He used humor so that people would pay attention to his other music."

The love fest wasn't one-sided: Demento told Media Life magazine that the reason he thinks he got along so well with Zappa was his vast musical knowledge.

"I was probably the only non-musician who was familiar with the two musical loves of his life, 1950s R&B (especially doo-wop and certain blues artists) and avant-garde 20th century classical (Edgard Varese in particular)," he said.

Demento's sensibility was, like Zappa's, both sophisticated and sophomoric -- and it reached a very particular demographic, according to longtime fan branding expert Rob Frankel.

"The show had a large cult following and was, in a lesser sense, the calling card for geeks and goofs in high school who enjoyed a more intelligent and often slapstick sense of humor," Frankel said by e-mail. "It was not uncommon for kids to listen to all four hours every Sunday night, and then discuss it the next morning at school."

Some even attempted to try it themselves, such as Frankel, who, with his friends, recorded a ditty in 1987 called "Let's Just Forget About the Sex."

"Dr. Demento was very kind about accepting and playing the record (it was issued on a 45)," Frankel said. "We literally dropped off the record at his KMET studio in Hollywood. It was on the show the next week. It never became the huge cult hit that others did, but it managed to get airplay for two or three weeks. Then it just faded away."

Frankel said other fans who wrote songs were a little more successful.

"I recall the first night Demento played a cheap little recording made by some dope in his living room on his accordion," Frankel said. "It turned out to be 'My Bologna,' by a kid named 'Weird' Al Yankovic.

"Demento was also responsible for introducing the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, who later became Oingo Boingo. Their lead man, Danny Elfman, became a major player in Hollywood, writing soundtracks for movies."
Over the years, Dr. Demento has been knocked by folks who prefer "serious music" ("The term 'novelty' has turned into a pejorative," he lamented), but he has had an impact on the charts.

Thanks to him, "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," by Elmo and Patsy, became a Christmas classic, and Larry Groce became a one-hit wonder with "Junk Food Junkie" in 1975.

In addition, Demento turned "Shaving Cream" -- a song that Benny Bell, an obscure Borscht Belt performer, recorded in 1946 -- into a top 30 hit 29 years later.

But the most popular song that ever appeared on Demento's show wasn't a hit in the conventional sense. It was "Fish Heads," by Barnes and Barnes, a duo composed of musicians Robert Haimer and Bill Mumy, who is best known as Will Robinson from the 1960s sci-fi series "Lost in Space."

Mumy says the duo existed before Dr. Demento but admits it was his radio show that "made us polish up some of our demented tunes and send them off to him in hopes of getting some airplay."

Haimer turned Mumy on to the good doctor, and after Demento gave them some positive feedback, they were encouraged to send more.

"That led us to tweaking and sending in 'Fish Heads.' ... The rest is showbiz history!" Mumy said by e-mail.

"Barry's a really smart and very nice gentle guy," Mumy said. "We hung out regularly for many many years. We used to go to Dodgers games together and, of course, talk music endlessly. I have lots of fun and goofy memories of those days. Barry was a champion of our music, which led to our record contracts. We will always be grateful."

Mumy adds that he and Haimer tried to show a bit of gratitude early by having him appear in the video for "Fish Heads," which was directed by "Big Love" star Bill Paxton back when he was starting out.

Whether or not Dr. Demento will ever be a "kingmaker" again remains to be seen, but he still believes that the climate for humorous songs is stronger than ever for a variety of reasons, including the fact that the novelty song is basically a singles medium that works perfectly for digital formats like iTunes.

"I know I prefer paying 99 cents for one song I like rather than $17.99 for one song I like and 12 others I never want to hear again," Demento said. "Also, it's easier than ever for someone to record a good-sounding song without having to go into a studio."

He also has high hopes for the budding crop of comedy songwriters, including a personal favorite, Steve Goodie.

"He's a Nashville songwriter who recorded a version of the Doobie Brothers song, 'Black Water,' that's about the BP oil spill, and he also did 'Tweeting on a Jet Plane' about the Northwest pilots who got lost mid-flight," Demento said.

Regardless of how popular the show becomes online, Mumy wants Dr. Demento to get his due while people can appreciate it.

"If not for Dr. Demento, countless classic novelty songs would most likely be totally forgotten," he said. "From Cab Calloway to Tom Lehrer, Zappa to Barnes and Barnes and, of course, 'Weird' Al.

"Dr. D had the tenacity and the vision to protect and share a genre of music that makes people smile. That's a good thing. A real good thing. And he did it for decades! Through good times and hard times, he kept it going. Kudos to Dr. Demento."