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Dr. Demento
Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941), also known professionally as Dr. Demento, is a retired American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and unusual recordings from the dawn of the phonograph to the present.
Hansen created the Demento persona in 1970 while working at KPPC-FM in Pasadena, California. After playing "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvus on air, DJ "The Obscene" Steven Clean remarked that Hansen had to be "demented" to play it; Clean and Peter Wolf then devised a "mythical character" named Dr. Demento that would become Hansen's persona. His weekly show went into syndication in 1974 and was syndicated by the Westwood One Radio Network from 1978 to 1992. Broadcast syndication of the show ended on June 6, 2010, but the show continued weekly online until October 2025, when he retired.
Hansen holds a master's degree in ethnomusicology and has written for magazines and as a liner notes author for recording artists outside the novelty genre. He is credited with introducing generations of listeners to early and mid-20th-century artists such as Harry McClintock, Spike Jones, Jimmy Durante, Benny Bell, Rusty Warren, Yogi Yorgesson, Nervous Norvus, Allan Sherman, Ray Stevens, Candy Candido, Stan Freberg, and Tom Lehrer. He also helped bring "Weird Al" Yankovic to national attention.
Barret Eugene Hansen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of an amateur pianist. He began his record collection at age 12 after finding that old 78 rpm records were 5¢ each at a local thrift store and credits his parents with introducing him to novelty music, commenting that his passion for music might not have developed had he been born later and been exposed to television at a younger age. He attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, serving as Program Director of KRRC in 1960 and general manager in 1961. He wrote his senior thesis on Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck and Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. He graduated in 1963 and later earned a master's in folklore and ethnomusicology from UCLA.
After completing his masters degree, he lived for two years in Topanga Canyon with members of the rock band Spirit, briefly working as a roadie for them and Canned Heat. He joined Specialty Records as an A&R man and started his weekly radio show while there, later moving to Warner Bros. Records. He prepared many "Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders" mail-order compilations in the 1970s, which were advertised on inner sleeves and only available by mail order at $1 per LP. Most were double LPs, priced at $2, at a time when double LPs typically cost $9.98. As Barry Hansen, he contributed magazine articles (Rolling Stone, Down Beat, Hit Parader), liner notes, and wrote the "Rhythm and Gospel" chapter in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll.
Hansen created Dr. Demento in 1970 at KPPC in Pasadena, California. Positive listener response led him to turn his rock oldies show into an all-novelty format. At the end of 1971, he moved to KMET in Los Angeles, hosting a four-hour live show from 1972 to 1983. From about 1974, the local version was four hours while the syndicated show was two. He often played punk records in the mid-1970s, earning respect among the punk scene. The show moved to KLSX, then to KSCA, until KSCA changed format in February 1997.
The show went into national syndication in 1974, produced by Larry Gordon of Gordon/Casady, and from 1978 to 1992 was with Westwood One, marking its national popularity peak. Producers included Lynnsey Guererro (1978–1982), and Robert Young (1982–1990), who expanded the show's reach, coordinated live performances, and later released the e-book "Producing Demento."
From 1992 to 2000, syndication was by On the Radio Broadcasting. Hansen established Talonian Productions and distributed the show himself from then onward; he did not reveal his ownership of Talonian publicly until 2007. Between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s, he continued live broadcasts on KMET and Los Angeles stations, and made TV appearances on The Gong Show (1988–89), Bobby's World, The Simpsons, and on the music video for Barnes and Barnes' "Fish Heads" and Weird Al Yankovic's "I Lost On Jeopardy".
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Dr. Demento
Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941), also known professionally as Dr. Demento, is a retired American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and unusual recordings from the dawn of the phonograph to the present.
Hansen created the Demento persona in 1970 while working at KPPC-FM in Pasadena, California. After playing "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvus on air, DJ "The Obscene" Steven Clean remarked that Hansen had to be "demented" to play it; Clean and Peter Wolf then devised a "mythical character" named Dr. Demento that would become Hansen's persona. His weekly show went into syndication in 1974 and was syndicated by the Westwood One Radio Network from 1978 to 1992. Broadcast syndication of the show ended on June 6, 2010, but the show continued weekly online until October 2025, when he retired.
Hansen holds a master's degree in ethnomusicology and has written for magazines and as a liner notes author for recording artists outside the novelty genre. He is credited with introducing generations of listeners to early and mid-20th-century artists such as Harry McClintock, Spike Jones, Jimmy Durante, Benny Bell, Rusty Warren, Yogi Yorgesson, Nervous Norvus, Allan Sherman, Ray Stevens, Candy Candido, Stan Freberg, and Tom Lehrer. He also helped bring "Weird Al" Yankovic to national attention.
Barret Eugene Hansen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of an amateur pianist. He began his record collection at age 12 after finding that old 78 rpm records were 5¢ each at a local thrift store and credits his parents with introducing him to novelty music, commenting that his passion for music might not have developed had he been born later and been exposed to television at a younger age. He attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, serving as Program Director of KRRC in 1960 and general manager in 1961. He wrote his senior thesis on Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck and Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. He graduated in 1963 and later earned a master's in folklore and ethnomusicology from UCLA.
After completing his masters degree, he lived for two years in Topanga Canyon with members of the rock band Spirit, briefly working as a roadie for them and Canned Heat. He joined Specialty Records as an A&R man and started his weekly radio show while there, later moving to Warner Bros. Records. He prepared many "Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders" mail-order compilations in the 1970s, which were advertised on inner sleeves and only available by mail order at $1 per LP. Most were double LPs, priced at $2, at a time when double LPs typically cost $9.98. As Barry Hansen, he contributed magazine articles (Rolling Stone, Down Beat, Hit Parader), liner notes, and wrote the "Rhythm and Gospel" chapter in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll.
Hansen created Dr. Demento in 1970 at KPPC in Pasadena, California. Positive listener response led him to turn his rock oldies show into an all-novelty format. At the end of 1971, he moved to KMET in Los Angeles, hosting a four-hour live show from 1972 to 1983. From about 1974, the local version was four hours while the syndicated show was two. He often played punk records in the mid-1970s, earning respect among the punk scene. The show moved to KLSX, then to KSCA, until KSCA changed format in February 1997.
The show went into national syndication in 1974, produced by Larry Gordon of Gordon/Casady, and from 1978 to 1992 was with Westwood One, marking its national popularity peak. Producers included Lynnsey Guererro (1978–1982), and Robert Young (1982–1990), who expanded the show's reach, coordinated live performances, and later released the e-book "Producing Demento."
From 1992 to 2000, syndication was by On the Radio Broadcasting. Hansen established Talonian Productions and distributed the show himself from then onward; he did not reveal his ownership of Talonian publicly until 2007. Between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s, he continued live broadcasts on KMET and Los Angeles stations, and made TV appearances on The Gong Show (1988–89), Bobby's World, The Simpsons, and on the music video for Barnes and Barnes' "Fish Heads" and Weird Al Yankovic's "I Lost On Jeopardy".