Demento: The Doctor Is Still In : Musicologist Marks 20 Years on the Air

It’s hard to believe that 20 years have passed since the eccentric Dr. Demento first began spinning his zany novelty tunes on the radio airwaves.

But it was back in 1971 that the good doctor, also known as Barret E. Hansen, got his first radio show, on the now-defunct underground rock station KPPC-FM. Today he continues to host a weekly show “of mad music and crazy comedy” that is syndicated to 180 stations on the Westwood One Radio Network, and he does a live broadcast locally on Sundays at 8 p.m. on KLSX-FM (97.1).

This Sunday, the self-described “king of dementia” intends to celebrate his two decades of musical mayhem with a special anniversary show at the Raymond Theatre in Pasadena, the culmination of a 14-city tour. The production, to be shown later as a cable television special on Comedy Central, will feature appearances by the best and the brightest of the weirdest and the wackiest: Bobby (Boris) Pickett of “Monster Mash” fame; Barnes and Barnes, whose “Fish Heads” is the No. 1-requested demented tune; Sheb Wooley of “Purple People Eater” fame; Tiny Tim and Weird Al Yankovic, among others.

Also in celebration of the 20th anniversary, Rhino Records has released a double compact disc album of some of Demento’s “greatest hits” and the first Dr. Demento videotape, in which he emcees a show of music-comedy videos and obscure and vintage footage from old musicals.

Lest you think he is getting ready to retire his battered top hat and mad professor demeanor, be assured that Hansen intends to continue his airwave dementia for at least another couple decades--or as long as radio stations will have him.

“I love what I’m doing and would love to do it forever,” Hansen said. “I’m the straight man to the records that I play.”

Though he looks more the part of a mild-mannered professor, and his off-air persona is low-key and scholarly, even shy, Hansen’s alter ego is off-beat and goofy and he seems never to grow tired of the obscure musical selections that have become his specialty.

“I’m real proud when people say things like, ‘It was on your show that I first heard Ray Stevens and discovered country music,’ ” he said. “I’m proud to be able to expand people’s horizons, introduce them to new music.”

Demento has immortalized such bizarre recordings as “Shaving Cream,” “Pico and Sepulveda,” “Pencil Neck Geek,” “Dead Puppies (Aren’t Much Fun)” and “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haa!”

The 50-year-old Hansen estimates that the collection he began amassing in junior high school has reached about 250,000 recordings, dating back to 1897. So voluminous is his record collection that it caused the floor in his Sherman Oaks home to sag earlier this year, prompting his recent move to a bigger place in Lakewood.

“I like to say (the saggy floor) was under the heavy metal section,” he said.

Indeed, there is a great deal more to his massive collection than humorous and novelty records. Another name for Hansen might also be Dr. Eclectico.

“I really very much fell into it,” he said. “I always loved Spike Jones and funny stuff of all kinds. But it was only part of everything I liked. I was always very eclectic.”

Hansen was raised on classical music and at an early age discovered R&B; and, slightly later, rock ‘n’ roll. Before he was even a teen-ager, he began haunting what he calls “the junk record stores” in his native Minneapolis, collecting 78s with his leftover lunch money.

“I was an inveterate junk shopper,” Hansen said. “Starting from when I was in junior high school, that continued clear through the ‘70s. If it was cheap enough, I’d buy it. Anything that looked curious or funny or like it was worth more than a nickel, I’d buy it.”

His love for music spurred him on to receive a bachelor’s degree in classical music theory from Reed College in Oregon and, later, a masters degree in folk music studies from UCLA. He wrote his bachelor’s thesis on early 20th-Century opera and his master’s thesis on the evolution of black music from blues to R&B.;

“My mother wanted me to become a writer or a college professor,” Hansen said. “And I kind of took it for granted that I would become a professor.”

And these days he is consulted on his specialty--rare and offbeat musical recordings--in much the same way a professor might be on his topic of study. A bona-fide musicologist, Hansen is regularly contacted in regard to movie scores or by musicians such as Ry Cooder and Randy Newman who are seeking some relatively obscure musical selections. This week he fielded calls from television’s “Entertainment Tonight” and NBC News regarding appropriate musical selections to highlight news events.

“First and foremost, I’m an entertainer,” he said. “But I’m an educator, too.”

Besides being a kind of musical treasure, Hansen, as Doctor Demento, is responsible for the success of such demented proteges as “Weird” Al Yankovic, whose first zany recording--”Belvedere Cruising”--debuted on his show in 1976.

“To hear a 16-year-old playing rock on an accordion was just unheard of at that time,” he said. “And I realized Al had quite a talent for the twisted lyric.”

He speaks of Yankovic’s success with almost fatherly pride.

“After you win a Grammy, you can send someone a special certificate, and (Yankovic) sent me one that certified me as his de-mentor,” Hansen said with a quiet chuckle.

Hansen got his catchy name almost by accident in 1970, when he was a guest on the KPPC show of a deejay known as “the obscene Steven Clean.”

While he was playing “Transfusion” by Nervous Norvus, the general manager’s secretary burst into the room and informed him, with no lack of disgust: “You’ve got to be demented to play that . . . on the radio.”

“Her tone was derisive, I remember that,” he said. “At first I thought she was literally saying I was nuts, I was crazy, and there was no reason I should be aired on the station. It hurt my feelings very momentarily.”

The next time he guested on Clean’s show, the deejay introduced him as Doctor Demento and the moniker stuck.

“I had to admit that it was more colorful than Barry Hansen,” he said with characteristic understatement. “I had a moment’s qualms about if I was really demented. In those early shows I was much more scholarly, but the name encouraged me to be zanier. I became more hyper, more of a showman.”

And somehow he seems to hit a zany nerve in thousands of listeners nationwide.

“I get sackfuls of mail, sometimes a thousand letters a week,” he said. Among those missives are homemade silly songs and crazy tunes, some of which he has aired.

“I get stuff from the pros to the rankest of amateurs, from little kids singing along with New Kids in the background,” Hansen said. “If they’re funny, I’ll put them on the air.”